Xfinity series

Ryan Truex wins second straight Xfinity race at Dover

getty images

April 27, 2024

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile track.

The New Jersey native and defending race winner started alongside 20-year old Carson Kvapil on the front row for the final overtime re-start then pulled away to take the lead and ultimately the white flag – signaling one lap to go. An accident elsewhere on track officially ended the race under caution.

“I can’t believe it, our car was just good at the end when it mattered, I was so loose all day," said Truex, 32, the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr.

“Shout out to Carson what an amazing run for what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can.

“I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track."

While Truex hoisted and will certainly savor the Dover trophy, it was also a great day for Kvapil driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The son of former NASCAR driver Travis Kvapil, finished fourth in his only other series start – at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway earlier this year – giving him a very promising pair of top five results in as many Xfinity Series races he’s competed in.

“This is pretty incredible," Kvapil said. “Definitely felt like we had a fast car going into the day, but to be competing for the win on a green-white-checkered is pretty amazing. We’ve been in this situation before just not quite at this level."

For much of the final laps, the outcome looked like it was going to be decided between former Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. Hill, driver of the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet and Creed, who now drives the No. 18 JGR Toyota restarted door-to-door on the front row on a re-start with 11 laps remaining. As that pair raced aggressively side-by-side for the lead, Kvapil put his Chevy down low, three-wide and drove past the pair to take the lead with eight laps remaining.

On the final restart of regulation- with five laps remaining - Hill and Kvapil restarted alongside one another on the front row, but Hill spun out in tight-quarter action between them in Turn 1, necessitating overtime. Kvapil was able to fend off the field on that first re-start, only to have another caution come out. On the second re-start, he and Truex started alongside each other, but Truex was able to get around Kvapil at the start and pace the field for the final two laps.

The race was briefly halted under red flag conditions for a light rain with 34 laps remaining. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer – who led a race best 95 of the 208 laps – was leading at the time and then decided to pit for tires and fuel during yellow flag laps just before the cars restarted. He had to restart at the tail end of the field, but the reigning series champion rallied back to a fifth-place finish – able to advance on three ensuing caution periods plus the double overtime.

JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer finished third, with Creed fourth followed by Custer. Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger was sixth, followed by JGR’s Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman Racing’s Kyle Weatherman, Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo and Jordan Anderson Racing’s Parker Retzlaff.

The ninth-place finish was especially big for Alfredo, earning him the final Dash 4 Cash $100,000 prize – besting Riley Herbst, Jesse Love and Ryan Sieg – in the last of the four-race incentive program sponsored by Xfinity.

“Really coming into this race, that was our motivation, it wasn’t something to just be a part of, yeah, I mean this was huge," Alfredo said. “You don’t understand how small our budget is compared to these bigger teams. People overlook it because we’ve been running so well. The last three weeks we’ve been running top-10, and everyone asks, ‘who’s your alliance with.’

“… Coming into this race we knew if we could pull it off, we could invest in our team to be that much better."

JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, a two-time Dover winner, won the opening stage of the race and ran up front – his 39 laps in the lead second only to Custer. He also pit in the waning laps and managed to rally back to a 17th-place finish.

Smith now leads Custer by a single point in the Xfinity Series championship standings as the series heads into an off-week. It resumes racing at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in the Royal Purple Bag Project 200 on May 11 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race - BetRivers 200

Dover Motor Speedway

Dover, Delaware

Saturday, April 27, 2024

1. (12) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 208.

2. (26) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 208.

3. (20) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 208.

4. (5) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 208.

5. (11) Cole Custer, Ford, 208.

6. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 208.

7. (7) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 208.

8. (6) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 208.

9. (21) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 208.

10. (17) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 208.

11. (19) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 208.

12. (15) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 208.

13. (23) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 208.

14. (25) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 208.

15. (4) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 208.

16. (2) Riley Herbst, Ford, 208.

17. (3) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 208.

18. (31) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 208.

19. (1) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 208.

20. (36) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 208.

21. (28) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 207.

22. (27) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 207.

23. (18) Kaden Honeycutt(i), Chevrolet, 206.

24. (8) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 206.

25. (38) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 206.

26. (37) David Starr, Chevrolet, 206.

27. (24) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 206.

28. (30) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 205.

29. (32) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 205.

30. (35) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 202.

31. (29) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 200.

32. (16) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 196.

33. (13) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, Accident, 192.

34. (9) Taylor Gray(i), Toyota, Accident, 183.

35. (22) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Engine, 85.

36. (34) Blaine Perkins, Ford, Electrical, 47.

37. (14) Ryan Sieg, Ford, Engine, 25.

38. (33) JJ Yeley, Toyota, Accident, 4.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 87.395 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 48 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags: 10 for 61 laps.

Lead Changes: 11 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders: B. Jones 0;B. Jones 1-13;J. Allgaier 14-47;K. Sieg 48;P. Retzlaff 49-51;J. Love # 52-72;C. Custer 73-167;J. Allgaier 168-172;A. Hill 173-188;S. Creed 189-191;A. Hill 192;C. Kvapil 193-206;R. Truex 207-208.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Cole Custer 1 time for 95 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 39 laps; Jesse Love # 1 time for 21 laps; Austin Hill 2 times for 17 laps; Carson Kvapil 1 time for 14 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 13 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 3 laps; Parker Retzlaff 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Truex 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Sieg 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,9,00,18,98,21,81,16,20,1

Stage #2 Top Ten: 00,21,2,31,18,7,98,81,8,20

Love scores first career win in thrilling overtime finish at Talladega

James Gilbert/Getty Images

April 20, 2024

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Jesse Love earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday in a typically wild double overtime finish in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – crossing the line by a slight .141-seconds ahead of Riley Herbst.

It many ways, it was victorious redemption for the 19-year old Californian, who earlier this season was leading the race in overtime at Atlanta only to run out of fuel before the checkered flag. Love’s win in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet makes him only the seventh driver to score his maiden win at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

“Just a great group of guys [on my team] and it’s been such a journey to get to this point,’’ a grinning Love said before thanking a litany of people that helped him in his young career to date.

“I had PTSD flashbacks from Atlanta,’’ Love acknowledged, adding “I love Talladega. I love the speedway and I love the fans.”

Love certainly earned this first win – starting on the outside of the front row next to his veteran RCR teammate Austin Hill, winning his fourth stage of the season (Stage 1) and leading 28 of the 124 laps. He ran top-five for most of the afternoon and when he needed to go on that final restart, he went. Jumping to the lead at the overtime green flag and holding off the field when it mattered most.

His RCR teammate Hill, the polesitter, led a race-best 42 laps and was out front with two laps remaining in regulation when he was hit from behind by Parker Kligerman. The incident sent Hill’s car into the wall and ultimately collected nine cars, including many that had been running toward the front much of the afternoon - putting the race in overtime.

On the ensuing overtime restart, Kligerman was eliminated in a four-car crash at the front as various cars started running out of gas in the field. Love lined up on the front row for the final restart among eight drivers racing for their career first wins.

Herbst’s runner-up finish in the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was his best showing of the year. Our Motorsports Anthony Alfredo finished third, followed by Young’s Motorsports rookie Leland Honeyman and Alpha Prime Racing’s Brennan Poole. Alfredo tied his career best mark and Honeyman had a career best finish.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed, Alpha Prime Racing’s Caesar Bacarella, Viking Motorsports’s Matt DiBenedetto, 2023 Talladega winner, Jordan Anderson Racing’s Jeb Burton and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer rounded out the top 10.

There were 34 lead changes among 16 drivers in a typically Talladega afternoon.

Ryan Sieg, who lost to Sam Mayer last week at Texas Motor Speedway in a photo finish – by .002-seconds – won the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.

An 11-car accident on Lap 65 proved critical to several race frontrunners as well as Dash 4 Cash eligible drivers.

Herbst hit Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy with only two laps left in the opening stage – both vying for a top 10 and some early stage points. It eliminated Allgaier from contention. Mayer was eliminated in a later multi-car crash and that left an intriguing battle between Sieg, who had to make a green flag late race pit stop because of a flat tire and A.J. Allmendinger, whose car was damaged in a crash.

Sieg and Allmendinger lined up 19th and 20th – respectively - on the second overtime re-start and Sieg was able to pull away, finishing 17th with Allmendinger 19th.

“This is huge for our team,’’ Sieg said. “It was a rough one. I thought I threw it away, but were lucky enough to get the caution at the end and come back and beat the 16. So it all worked out and is pretty extraordinary for our small team.”

Not only does he win the Dash 4 Cash paycheck, but Sieg will compete against Love, Herbst and Alfredo next week at Dover, Del. for the final race of the incentive program.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith, who finished 25th, still holds a 14-point lead over Custer atop the championship standings.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the one-mile Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway next week for Saturday’s BetRivers 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Truex is the defending race winner.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race - Ag-Pro 300

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega, Alabama

Saturday, April 20, 2024

1. (2) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 124.

2. (8) Riley Herbst, Ford, 124.

3. (11) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 124.

4. (33) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 124.

5. (27) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 124.

6. (10) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 124.

7. (29) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, 124.

8. (28) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 124.

9. (35) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 124.

10. (4) Cole Custer, Ford, 124.

11. (38) Mason Massey(i), Chevrolet, 124.

12. (31) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 124.

13. (25) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 124.

14. (1) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 124.

15. (13) Taylor Gray(i), Toyota, 124.

16. (36) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 124.

17. (24) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 124.

18. (17) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 124.

19. (14) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 124.

20. (9) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 124.

21. (5) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 124.

22. (18) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 124.

23. (26) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 123.

24. (19) David Starr, Chevrolet, 123.

25. (7) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 123.

26. (37) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 123.

27. (20) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, DVP, 120.

28. (30) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 120.

29. (3) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, Accident, 117.

30. (21) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Ignition, 113.

31. (32) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, Accident, 111.

32. (12) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, Accident, 111.

33. (23) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 65.

34. (6) Ryan Truex, Toyota, Accident, 65.

35. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, Accident, 65.

36. (15) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 65.

37. (34) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, Engine, 46.

38. (16) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 24.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 131.323 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 30 Mins, 42 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.141 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps.

Lead Changes: 34 among 16 drivers.

Lap Leaders: A. Hill 1-23;J. Love # 24-26;M. DiBenedetto 27;J. Love # 28-30;A. Hill 31-33;C. Custer 34-36;R. Sieg 37-42;C. Smith 43;R. Truex 44;C. Smith 45-46;A. Hill 47-51;J. Anderson 52;J. Love # 53-56;B. Jones 57-60;R. Sieg 61;S. Smith 62;S. Van Gisbergen # 63;S. Smith 64;A. Hill 65-68;D. Starr 69;A. Hill 70-72;R. Herbst 73-81;A. Hill 82-83;R. Herbst 84-86;P. Kligerman 87-88;R. Herbst 89;P. Kligerman 90;A. Alfredo 91-96;P. Kligerman 97;C. Custer 98;T. Gray(i) 99;J. Love # 100-110;A. Hill 111;P. Kligerman 112-117;J. Love # 118-124.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Austin Hill 7 times for 41 laps; Jesse Love # 5 times for 28 laps; Riley Herbst 3 times for 13 laps; Parker Kligerman 4 times for 10 laps; Ryan Sieg 2 times for 7 laps; Anthony Alfredo 1 time for 6 laps; Cole Custer 2 times for 4 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 4 laps; Chandler Smith 2 times for 3 laps; Sammy Smith 2 times for 2 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen # 1 time for 1 lap; Taylor Gray(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Truex 1 time for 1 lap; David Starr 1 time for 1 lap; Jordan Anderson 1 time for 1 lap; Matt DiBenedetto 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,48,21,81,16,20,97,9,98,00

Stage #2 Top Ten: 21,2,16,39,9,81,48,98,27,00

Sam Mayer beats Ryan Sieg in Xfinity Series photo finish at Texas

chris Graythen/Getty Images

April 13, 2024

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

In a race decided by less than the length of a Texas hot chili pepper, JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer pulled off a last lap pass of veteran Ryan Sieg to claim his first victory of the season Saturday in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Officially, the margin of victory was .002-second as Mayer’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Sieg’s No. 39 Ryan Sieg Racing Ford crossed the finish line door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper - the cars so close officials took a brief extra look to formally declare Mayer the winner. It was Mayer’s first win of the year and fifth of his career.

It would have been Sieg’s first win in 342 career starts in the series.

“That’s absolutely unreal," the 20-year old Mayer said, shaking his head after climbing out of his car. “This team, the amount of adversity we’ve had to fight this entire year so far and to come to a mile-and-a-half that I want to say I’m good at, but it took a lot.

“It took every ounce of me for me to do that today.”

Sieg led 17 of the final 18 laps and raced off to the front on a pair of late race restarts in the closing 20 laps of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile Texas high banks. With nine laps remaining Sieg held a 1.2-second advantage over Mayer. But Mayer cut into that margin with each lap, trailing by only .25-second with two laps remaining and then catching Sieg’s car on the back stretch on the final lap. They exchanged the lead briefly, racing door-to-door and then Sieg pulled alongside as they took the checkered flag in a photo finish – the closest ever for an Xfinity Series race at Texas.

“Awe, it sucks," said an obviously disappointed Sieg, who has two other career runner-up finishes. “We had a really good car. I just got tight, so tried to change my lines, do everything. I saw him coming and I did all I could do and at the end I was just trying to run him up into the wall to try to win the race. We were so close. This sucks.

“I’ve been second before. Too many times. But this is a good thing, means we’re running where we need to be in the top-five.

“Just got to keep fighting, we’re right there, just got to keep it up," he added. “We’ll have it in Victory Lane here shortly.”

All the late race drama came at the expense of veteran Justin Allgaier, who led a race best 117 laps and swept both stage victories, but ultimately finished third in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. It was disappointing DeJa’Vu for Allgaier, who a year ago led a dominating 133 of the 200 laps only to finish fifth.

A.J. Allmendinger finished fourth in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – a huge rally for the perennial championship contender after he missed his pit stall during the Stage 1 caution, which put him back in the field and forced him to race through the field – again.

Reigning Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer, who started from outside the front row, was a top five car all day and finished fifth in the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Custer now trails championship leader Chandler Smith – who finished 15th – by 19 points in the standings.

Two-race winner, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished sixth, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ryan Truex, JR Motorsports Sammy Smith, polesitter, RCR’s Jesse Love and Anthony Alfredo, who earned his third top-10 of the season in the Our Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet.

With the win Mayer not only course-corrects a rough start to the 2024 season – he suffered DNFs in three of the first four races – but he earns the coveted $100,000 prize from Xfinity as the Dash 4 Cash winning driver.

He’ll compete against Sieg, Allgaier and Allmendinger for the big Dash 4 Cash check again next week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

It was a rally not just for driver but for his JR Motorsports team. The perennial championship favorite has struggled early in the 2024 season – its four talented drivers not earning a top-five until last week at Martinsville. On Saturday, not only did the team – co-owned by Kelley Earnhardt Miller and her brother Dale Earnhardt Jr. – win the race but all four cars finished in the top-13 and three of the four drivers (also Brandon Jones) led laps.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway where it will race in the Ag-Pro 300 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Jeb Burton is the defending race winner.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race - Andy's Frozen Custard 300

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday, April 13, 2024

1. (10) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.

2. (14) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 200.

3. (6) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.

4. (8) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200.

5. (2) Cole Custer, Ford, 200.

6. (13) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200.

7. (7) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 200.

8. (9) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 200.

9. (1) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 200.

10. (12) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.

11. (3) Taylor Gray(i), Toyota, 200.

12. (22) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.

13. (11) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200.

14. (23) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 200.

15. (4) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 200.

16. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.

17. (17) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 200.

18. (33) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 200.

19. (15) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 200.

20. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 200.

21. (25) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200.

22. (29) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 200.

23. (20) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 200.

24. (24) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 200.

25. (16) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 200.

26. (36) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 199.

27. (5) Riley Herbst, Ford, 199.

28. (38) David Starr, Ford, 198.

29. (28) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 198.

30. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 198.

31. (31) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 198.

32. (21) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 197.

33. (30) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 197.

34. (32) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 197.

35. (26) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 197.

36. (19) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 191.

37. (34) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 191.

38. (35) Chad Finchum, Ford, Suspension, 127.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 125.977 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 53 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.002 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 35 laps.

Lead Changes: 16 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Love # 1;C. Smith 2-27;J. Allgaier 28-48;B. Jones 49;J. Allgaier 50-80;C. Custer 81;J. Allgaier 82-142;S. Mayer 143;S. Creed 144-145;A. Hill 146-170;J. Allgaier 171-174;S. Mayer 175;P. Kligerman 176-179;B. Jones 180;S. Mayer 181-182;R. Sieg 183-199;S. Mayer 200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 4 times for 117 laps; Chandler Smith 1 time for 26 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 25 laps; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 17 laps; Sam Mayer 4 times for 5 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 4 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 2 laps; Brandon Jones 2 times for 2 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 1 lap; Jesse Love # 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,81,98,9,00,20,21,39,16,48

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,00,98,9,39,8,21,2,16,1

Aric Almirola claims emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville

GETTY IMAGES

April 6, 2024

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

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 - DUDE Wipes 250

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville, Virginia

Saturday, April 6, 2024

1. (6) Aric Almirola, Toyota, 251.

2. (9) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 251.

3. (37) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 251.

4. (12) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 251.

5. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 251.

6. (3) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 251.

7. (17) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 251.

8. (2) Cole Custer, Ford, 251.

9. (11) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 251.

10. (23) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 251.

11. (19) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 251.

12. (18) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 251.

13. (16) Taylor Gray(i), Toyota, 251.

14. (24) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 251.

15. (7) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 251.

16. (30) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 251.

17. (8) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 251.

18. (27) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 251.

19. (34) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 251.

20. (33) Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 251.

21. (14) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 251.

22. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 251.

23. (28) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 251.

24. (32) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 251.

25. (22) Riley Herbst, Ford, Accident, 250.

26. (29) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 250.

27. (1) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 250.

28. (36) Joey Gase, Ford, 250.

29. (31) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 249.

30. (35) Logan Bearden, Chevrolet, 247.

31. (25) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 244.

32. (4) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 242.

33. (26) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 75.

34. (10) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, Accident, 71.

35. (20) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Accident, 70.

36. (15) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 70.

37. (13) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Accident, 70.

38. (38) Akinori Ogata, Toyota, Brakes, 41.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 61.984 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 48 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags: 11 for 68 laps.

Lead Changes: 15 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: 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.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Aric Almirola 6 times for 148 laps; Sammy Smith 1 time for 42 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 27 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 14 laps; Sam Mayer 2 times for 11 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 5 laps; Chandler Smith 2 times for 3 laps; Joey Gase 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,18,00,1,16,5,39,21,27,31

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,20,8,88,00,18,9,81,27,39

Chandler Smith wins second Xfinity race of the season at Richmond

Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

March 30, 2024

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

Chandler Smith led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon cruising to a 4.495-seconds victory over teammates Aric Almirola and Tanner Gray in the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

It marks back-to-back wins in this race for Smith – answering his first career Xfinity Series victory last Spring – and he led the final 60 laps in the No. 81 JGR Toyota, 76 laps on the day for his third career win, second of the season. It was his teammate Almirola, who won both Stages and led a race best 95 of the 250 laps in his No. 20 JGR Toyota, but the former fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver ultimately could not catch Smith, who pulled away in the closing laps.

“Never give up, never give up,” said Smith, who has top-10 finishes in all six races this year. “This car was not good. Stage 1 wasn’t good, but we were able to do some strategy there with this No. 81 Supra in Stage 2.

“Back here winning races on a consistent basis and took over the points lead too, I’m just blessed,” he added.

For his part Almirola acknowledged he just didn’t have what he needed to catch the 21-year old Georgia-native in the closing laps. He’ll have another chance at victory next week as he’s in the car again at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“We just got a little bit too loose,” Almirola said. “The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn’t have anything to go with.

“I was too loose in and couldn’t get throttle down on exit. Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car and then to let it slip away there at the end, is disappointing.”

The JGR team can also take pride in its third-place finish – considering it was the 19-year old Gray’s series debut. NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series full-timer Corey Heim was fourth followed by series rookie Jesse Love.

It was also a big outing for renowned late model racer Bubba Pollard, punctuating his series debut with a sixth-place finish in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – particularly impressive considering Pollard started 37th.

“I just got behind in qualifying there and it made for a long day,” Pollard said. “But these guys gave me a great race car, JR Motorsports.

“I needed that long green flag run just to get in a rhythm. This place is tough, it’s technical and probably one of the toughest places I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a lot of places.

“I’m happy with it. I enjoyed it and had fun and hopefully the fans enjoyed it too.”

Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, JR Motorsports Sammy Smith and reigning series champion Cole Custer rounded out the top-10. The 20-year old Parker Retzlaff, who won his first career pole position Saturday, finished 16th in the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet and led a career high 27 laps.

With their work, Smith, Almirola, Love and Kligerman have qualified for next week’s Dash 4 Cash event at Martinsville Speedway, and the highest finisher of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in the race will collect an extra $100,000 bonus.

With the win, Smith takes a 10-point driver standings lead over Hill to next Saturday’s DUDE Wipes 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). John Hunter Nemechek is the defending race winner.

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