Parker Retzlaff Emerges As One Of Nascar’s Top Prospects

A bright green and black Chevrolet Camaro surprised the Nascar Xfinity Series field this past weekend. Parker Retzlaff, a 19-year-old, qualified fourth at one of the sport’s most challenging short tracks, the historic half-mile Martinsville Speedway.

It’s not the first time Retzlaff has surprised his peers. The teenager, who hails from a small Wisconsin town with a population of just 8,300, is now one of the most talked about prospects in all of Nascar. In his Xfinity Series debut, he qualified sixth at Phoenix Raceway, a track known to also challenge many drivers.

Retzlaff finished 11th in the 250-lap race at Martinsville last weekend, a respectable outing for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport. This season, Retzlaff is working with rookie crew chief Joshua Graham as the third-year Xfinity Series organization expanded to a second car with Jeb Burton behind the wheel.

“Once we start having good races and some better luck, there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t be racing for top 10s every week,” Retzlaff said. “I feel like we’ve had really good stuff this year when we have things go right.

“But we’ve had a lot of issues at the beginning of the year that are out of everyone’s control. We just need better luck. We need to have nothing to go against us and we can see where we’re truly at.”

Retzlaff’s Martinsville run is exactly what he needed to boost his confidence after failing to crack the top 15 following an impressive fourth-place run in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway – the best finish ever for the team on a non-road course.

The rookie driver is determined to turn his season around. With support from 2013 Xfinity Series champion Austin Dillon and Team Dillon Management, Retzlaff is receiving plenty of guidance on how to put together full races.

“I’m relying on Austin, especially for things like road course stuff because I never went there,” Retzlaff said. “All of these places that I’ve never been to, I can go to him for help. Everyone at TDM has been really helpful since I’ve only run a few Xfinity Series races. I use them to learn as much as I can before I get to the racetrack.”

Team Dillon Management helped Retzlaff secure his full season deal with Jordan Anderson Racing — a Chevrolet team like Richard Childress Racing, which Dillon himself competes for in the Cup Series. He has a full season partnership with FunkAway, an anti-odor spray, which began working with him late in the 2022 season.

Now, Retzlaff can focus on being a racecar driver. He doesn’t need to worry about searching for a sponsor — for now — and he can hone in on his craft.

Through eight races, he has an average finish of 18.8. Now that they have the kinks out of the way, Retzlaff believes team No. 31 is poised for a strong summer run.

“Jordan is a younger [team owner] and we’re both trying to build right now,” Retzlaff said. “He’s trying to build this team and I’m trying to get more races. I really like Jordan. I have known Jordan for the last five or six years. I watched them race last year and I knew it was going to be a good place. I knew he would give me the best equipment.”

For Anderson himself, he’s putting everything he can into this effort. As a driver in the Craftsman Truck Series, he never won a race and decided it was time to give others a chance to shine in his equipment. He started the Xfinity Series effort in 2021 and raised eyebrows with his No. 31 car earning six top 10s that season with four different drivers.

Now, as an owner, he’s giving a teenager his big break. If Retzlaff can win a race this year, it’ll all be worth it.

“I’m enjoying it a lot,” Retzlaff said. “He’s been good to me and everyone around me. He’s putting together the best team he can, and he’s still trying to get better. Everyone is getting better together. We know the communication we need to have.”

The Xfinity Series races next at Talladega Superspeedway, where Anderson earned a top five in 2021 and it’s a track similar to Daytona, where Retzlaff earned his best career finish just two months ago.