Avondale, Arizona – Aric Almirola made a dramatic pass as a last touch in overtime to win the race for the Govx 200 Nascar Xfinity series on Saturday at the Phoenix Raceway, establishing a door contact with Alex Bowman from Hendrick Motorsports in the last two shoots. The margin of victory .045 second was second clearest place in the history of the track.
Almirola led 25 laps, but his last move to the checkered flag was the only one he had led in the last 50 laps of the 208 laps event. His n ° 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Racing Toyota came out of a battle of four large for the head of the final restart with two remaining laps, then finally exceeded Bowman less than 200 feet from the finish line.
It was the eighth victory of the Nascar Xfinity Nascar series for the native of Tampa, 40, who ran part -time for JGR after retiring from the competition of the Nascar Cup full -time series two years ago.
“I just knew I had to go from here first here,” said Almirola, standing near his car on the start line. “I knew I was going to use it a little, but I was trying to win the race. I have the impression that it was justified. I didn’t feel like I did something too blatant. I just strangled, and it was a dragster race to the start -up line. »»
Bowman, who drives the number 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet full -time in the Nascar Cup series, made his first start of Xfinity of the year for the team. He started on the post, led the first 70 laps of the race and won the first step. After the race, he expressed his frustration in the face of contact between his chevrolet and the Toyota of Almirola.
“I would have hoped that he would have given me a way at the exit,” said the native of Arizona. “He just came out as if I was not there. He was better than we sure, but I was just trying to capitalize on this restart and try to win the race. I was pushed into the fence and the racing car is destroyed. Bummer for that, but a hat with the crew of Hendrickcars.com. »»
Almirola’s teammate, Brandon Jones, finished third, followed by the owner of the owner Ryan Sieg and the title champion of the Nascar Xfinity Justin Allgaier series, including Chevrolet n ° 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led a record of 130 laps and was in front during this last restart.
Allgaier, which won the second step, was naturally disappointed with both the result of the restart and the race.
He made a good leap to the green flag on the restart, but quickly swallowed during the battle of four large at the front. The result was particularly heartbreaking given that it was also at the top of the track spring race last year, when it had a tire problem with only five laps to play and rather suffered a DNF.
“I thought that the 19th (Almirola) was quite good at the end of the race, and we pushed the pace when the prudence came out,” said Allgaier. “I knew in a way that we were a sitting duck. They skipped all the top beads (from the track) right in front of us, the leaders, and we just picked up a ton of waste on our tires.
“I just started in (turn) 1 and had no grip,” he said about the restart. “I’m just sad about the finish of our Brandt Chevrolet. I thought it was really, really good. I thought we had the car to beat there.
“This one will hurt. I have the impression that the last three laps in this place have hated me in the past two years. Even if we won a championship (here) last fall, it seems that whatever happens, the last laps were not our agreement. We will return to the drawing board. Nothing on which we hang our heads.
The recruit of JGR Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer of the factory team of Haas, the recruit of Kaulig Rookie Christian Ecker, Jesse Love by Richard Childress Racing and the recruit of Big Machine Racing Nick Sanchez completed the Top 10.
A trio of racing frontrunners was withdrawn in the 63rd round when the winner of the Daytona season, Austin Hill, said that he had misused the lower wall and supported the championship, collecting the pilot of Haas Sheldon Creed and the dean of Sam Hunt Racing.
“I just spoiled and badly judged the interior wall, and it may be the most stupid movement that has ever happened to me in the race,” said Richard Childrade Racing Driver Hill. “I feel bad for these guys. It was 100% of my fault. Just an error in judgment on my part.
The accident was not only a big impact on the Hill wall, but also had an impact on the classification of the championship, leaving it in fourth place towards Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week.
Love has a two -point advantage on Allgaier at the top of the ranking.
The NASCAR XFINITY series returns to competition next Saturday in LIUNA! In Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4.30 p.m. HE on CW, PRN, Siriusxm Nascar Radio). John Hunter Nemechek is the winner of the reigning race.
Nascar Xfinity Series Race – Govx 200
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday March 8, 2025
1. (8) Aric Almirola, Toyota, 208.
2. (1) Alex Bowman (I), Chevrolet, 208.
3. (16) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 208.
4. (30) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 208.
5. (14) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 208.
6. (9) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 208.
7. (13) Sam Mayer, Ford, 208.
8. (20) Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 208.
9. (5) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 208.
10. (7) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 208.
11. (26) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 208.
12. (15) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 208.
13. (6) William Sawalich #, Toyota, 208.
14. (3) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 208.
15. (11) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 208.
16. (4) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 208.
17. (23) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 208.
18. (32) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 208.
19. (17) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 208.
20. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 208.
21. (19) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 208.
22. (34) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 207.
23. (22) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 206.
24. (18) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 206.
25. (33) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 206.
26. (24) CARSON KVAPIL #, Chevrolet, 206.
27. (31) Matt Dibenedetto, Chevrolet, 205.
28. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 205.
29. (36) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 204.
30. (29) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 204.
31. (38) Greg Van Alst, Chevrolet, 201.
32. (25) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 193.
33. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 186.
34. (27) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, 185.
35. (35) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, accident, 144.
36. (2) Sheldon Creed, Ford, accident, 64.
37. (10) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, accident, 61.
38. (12) Dean Thompson #, Toyota, accident, 61.
Average speed of the race winner: 91.99 MPH.
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes, 40 seconds. Victory margin: 0.045 seconds.
Warnings: 6 for 46 laps.
Lead changes: 14 among 5 drivers.
Tour leaders: A. Bowman (i) 1-48; c. Zilisch # 49; has. Almirola 50-71; has. Bowman (i) 72; J. ALLGAIER 73-81; has. Almirola 82; J. ALLGAIER 83-93; c. Kvapil # 94; J. ALLGAIER 95-143; has. Almirola 144; J. Allgaier 145-149; c. Zilisch # 150; J. ALLGAIER 151-206; has. Bowman (i) 207; has. Almirola 208.
Summary of the leaders (driver, head of time, towers led): Justin Allgaier 5 times for 130 laps; Alex Bowman (i) 3 times for 50 laps; Aric Almirola 4 times for 25 laps; Connor Zilisch # 2 times for 2 laps; CARSON KVAPIL # 1 TIME for 1 turn.
Step N ° 1 Top Ten: 17,19,7,88,00,8,48,20,41
Step N ° 2 Top Ten: 7,19,17,20,8,41,2.54,1,39
Credit: NASCAR wire service
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Aric Almirola won the victory of the XFINITY series of the hour at Phoenix Raceway
