Parker Retzlaff 'knew he needed a change' going into 2025 Xfinity season

One of the most under-the-radar storylines through the first three months of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season has been Parker Retzlaff's impressive start to the season with Alpha Prime Racing. 

Retzlaff, a 22-year-old native of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, spent the first two seasons of his Xfinity Series career at Jordan Anderson Racing. But after the 2024 season, it was confirmed that Retzlaff wouldn't return to JAR and would need to find another ride. 

Enter Alpha Prime Racing, who signed Retzlaff just over a month after he announced his departure from Jordan Anderson Racing. 

"Overall, I knew I needed to make a change," Retzlaff told Yardbarker when asked about the move. "I don't know that if I didn't have a lot of people behind me helping me, I don't know that I make the change. I'm not very good at change.

"We were pretty late getting a deal done, but I'm glad it came together." 

Through the first 12 races of the season, Retzlaff is 21st in points with a top-five finish at Rockingham. A mark of 21st in the standings may not sound mind-blowing, but considering Retzlaff failed to qualify for the March 1 race at Circuit of the Americas, it's a solid place to be. 

"I think we started (the year) with a little bit of a struggle, just kinda meshing together," Retzlaff said. "We had some issues that we fixed after our mishap at COTA. Since then, we've been a lot better." 

Part of that turnaround, Retzlaff says, can be attributed to Martins, who is about as upstanding a team leader as you'll find in professional sports. 

"Our team keeps getting stronger every week," Retzlaff said. 

Since missing the race at COTA, Retzlaff and the No. 4 team only have one finish worse than 21st, which came after a crash at Talladega. The team's magnum opus so far this season came at Rockingham on April 19, where Retzlaff qualified second and finished runner-up, scoring a career-best finish. But despite those high water marks, the competitor in Retzlaff still sees a missed opportunity. Retzlaff originally finished third, but a disqualification of race winner Jesse Love gave runner-up Sammy Smith the victory. 

"Overall, I feel like I gave a few away at Rockingham," Retzlaff said. "If I would've cut down coming to the start-finish line (in qualifying), I could've been on the pole. (In the race), I was underneath Smith coming to the line. I thought we were racing for second at that point. If I pushed a little harder, we could be in the playoffs and I could've had my first win." 

Regardless, Retzlaff has exceeded expectations so far in 2025. He and the rest of the Xfinity Series field are back on track on Saturday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the BetMGM 300. The race will go green shortly after 4:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on the CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.