April 6, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Aric Almirola claims emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process.

With considerable help—perhaps unintentional—from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed after an overtime restart, Almirola grabbed the lead from Sam Mayer and won the DUDE Wipes 250 under caution when Riley Herbst, pole winner Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis wrecked in Turn 2 on the final lap.

The victory was Almirola’s first since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition and rejoining Joe Gibbs Racing this season. The record book will show that the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota has five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins to his credit, but Almirola has always considered his first one tainted.

In 2007, he won the pole at the Milwaukee Mile and started the race but turned the car over to Denny Hamlin, who was late in his commute from a Cup date at Sonoma Raceway. Hamlin won the race, but Almirola got credit for the victory as the driver of record.

“Man, this is so awesome,” Almirola said. “To win for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach (Joe Gibbs) for 17 years, and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Coach for calling me and giving me this opportunity to have some fun and still scratch the itch of racing but still get to spend a lot of time with our family.”

Though Almirola led 148 of 251 laps, the outcome was in doubt until he took command after the final restart. Race runner-up Sam Mayer held the lead at that point, but when Almirola’s JGR teammate Sheldon Creed took Almirola and Mayer three-wide in Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, contact slowed Mayer’s progress and allowed Almirola to break clear for the lead.

“Man, those restarts here are just ruthless,” said Mayer, who wrested the top spot from Almirola on Lap 243, moments before a five-car pileup on the frontstretch caused the 10th caution of the race.

“Painful. Obviously, the 20 was really, really good today. It was good that I was able to keep up and be as fast as them and pass all those JGR cars there at the end and march up to the front. That’s the first time I’ve done that here…

“But at the end of the day, we needed a ‘W’, and I got one I feel like stolen from me there a little bit.”

Mayer’s pass on Lap 243 was one of four lead changes over the final 12 laps. On Lap 239, JGR’s Chandler Smith, who started from the back of the field after crashing in practice on Friday, muscled past Almirola, who returned the favor by moving his teammate into the top lane for a pass on Lap 241.

“Chandler, I felt like used me up pretty good, so when I got back to him, I was going to make sure he knew it,” Almirola said. “From there the race was on. Mayer did a great job of getting to me and moving me out of the way.

“And then on that restart I knew it was going to be tough. I was really thankful to be able to hold on to it. They drilled me in the left rear, and I was able to hold on to it and get a good run off (Turn) 2.”

Smith ran third, followed by Carson Kvapil, who finished fourth in his Xfinity Series debut. Justin Allgaier came home fifth after starting from the rear. Creed, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, Sunoco rookie, Jesse Love and Josh Williams completed the top 10.

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was 11th in his first trip to Martinsville.

Almirola was won the Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers. Since he is not competing at Texas next weekend, the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in Fort Worth are Mayer, Smith, Allgaier and Creed.


NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 7
Race Results for the DUDE Wipes 250 - Saturday, April 6, 2024
Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA - 0.526 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 251 Laps - 132.026 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 4/6/2024 @ 10:28 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 6 20 Aric Almirola He Gets Us Toyota 251 1 2 59 Running 6 148 6
2 9 1 Sam Mayer 10X Health Chevrolet 251 4  42 Running 2 11
3 37 81 Chandler Smith Wheelers Toyota 251  8 37 Running 2 3
4 12 88 Carson Kvapil Chevy Truck Season Chevrolet 251  4 40 Running  
5 5 7 Justin Allgaier Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet 251  1 42 Running 1 14 1
6 3 18 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 251 2 6 45 Running  
7 17 8 Sammy Smith TMC Transportation Chevrolet 251  3 38 Running 1 42
8 2 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 251 3 5 43 Running 1 27
9 11 2 Jesse Love # Whelen Chevrolet 251   28 Running  
10 23 11 Josh Williams Call811.com Chevrolet 251   27 Running  
11 19 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 251   26 Running  
12 18 48 Parker Kligerman Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet 251   25 Running 1 5
13 16 19 Taylor Gray(i) Place of Hope Toyota 251   0 Running  
14 24 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 251   23 Running  
15 7 5 Anthony Alfredo Dude Wipes Chevrolet 251 6  27 Running  
16 30 29 Blaine Perkins AutoParkit.com Ford 251   21 Running  
17 8 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 251 7 10 25 Running  
18 27 15 Hailie Deegan # AirBox Ford 251   19 Running  
19 34 07 Myatt Snider Superior Essex Chevrolet 251   18 Running  
20 33 92 Dexter Bean American Dream/Badger Environmental  251   17 Running  
21 14 38 Matt DiBenedetto Viking Motorsports Ford 251   16 Running  
22 21 51 Jeremy Clements Impel Union/Alliance Chevrolet 251   15 Running  
23 28 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Ford 251   14 Running  
24 32 4 Dawson Cram # KSDT CPA Chevrolet 251   13 Running  
25 22 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 250   12 Accident  
26 29 43 Ryan Ellis Costa Oil Chevrolet 250   11 Accident  
27 1 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Scotts Chevrolet 250  7 14 Accident  
28 36 53 Joey Gase  Ford 250   9 Running 1 1
29 31 6 Garrett Smithley TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet 249   8 Running  
30 35 14 Logan Bearden Mitchell Defense Chevrolet 247   7 Running  
31 25 42 Leland Honeyman # RANDCO Chevrolet 244   6 Running  
32 4 27 Jeb Burton Talbert's/Puryear Tank Lines Chevrolet 242 9 9 9 Accident  
33 26 91 Kyle Weatherman Tweaker Energy Drinks Chevrolet 75   4 Accident  
34 10 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 71 8  6 Accident  
35 20 26 Corey Heim(i) GearWrench Toyota 70   0 Accident  
36 15 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 70 5  7 Accident  
37 13 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 70 10  2 Accident  
38 38 35 Akinori Ogata KYOWA-EIDEMILLER Machining Toyota 41   1 Brakes  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 48 Secs. Average Speed: 61.984 MPH Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 20, 18, 00, 1, 16, 5, 39, 21, 27, 31
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 20, 8, 88, 00, 18, 9, 81, 27, 39

Caution Flags: 11 for 68 laps; Laps: 10-13 (Nos. 8, 6, 92 Incident Turn 4 [None]); 37-42 (Nos. 44, 15, 91 Incident Turn 2 [None]); 62-70 (Stage 1 Conclusion [4]); 72-80 (Nos. 15, 20, 21, 91, 42, 26, 51, 92, 14, 5, 16, 28, 31, 9 Incident Turn 1 [None]); 86-90 (No. 48 Spin Turn 2 [15]); 122-130 (Stage 2 Conclusion [48]); 171-177 (Debris Turn 3 [15]); 197-204 (Nos. 15, 6 Incident Turn 1 [4]); 235-239 (No. 39 Incident Turn 1 [92]); 245-249 (Nos. 27, 38, 51, 28, 07 Incident Frontstretch [4]); 251-251 ( [None]).

Lead Changes: 15 among 8 drivers; B. Jones 0; C. Custer 1-27; A. Almirola 28-65; S. Mayer 66-69; S. Smith 70-111; J. Allgaier 112-125; J. Gase 126; A. Almirola 127-172; P. Kligerman 173-177; A. Almirola 178-203; C. Smith 204; A. Almirola 205-238; C. Smith 239-240; A. Almirola 241-242; S. Mayer 243-249; A. Almirola 250-251.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: April 13, 2024 - Texas Motor Speedway

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