Saturday at Kansas Speedway was an up-and-down race for Aric Almirola, facing several different setbacks throughout Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300.
It started early on, with a slow stop to end the first stage, but pit road wasn’t any nicer the second time around. When the air gun broke during the stop, the crew wasn’t able to get all five lugs tight, forcing him back to pit road.
To make matters even worse, as he was driving back through the pack from outside the top-20, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver made contact with the outside wall, forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire.
Despite every single one of those challenges, a well-timed caution flag and an extremely fast racecar allowed the driver of the No. 20 Toyota GR Supra to finish in first place, chasing down the leaders late in the going to win the Xfinity Series playoff opener.
“Everybody, all the pit crew guys, they have been fast with this group, but Victory Lane has alluded them, so I’ve told them all week that I’d love nothing more to share a beer with you guys in Victory Lane and get our picture made,” Almirola said post-race.
Throughout the 49-lap run to the finish, Almirola was able to make major gains on the leaders, closing a gap to teammate Chandler Smith from more than five seconds, to under one second in about 35 laps.
It was a three-way battle for the longest time, before defending Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer was able to dispose of Chandler Smith and take the race lead, allowing Almirola to scurry by within the same lap.
Then it was one-on-one to the finish, as Almirola chased down the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in a matter of six laps, making the pass on Custer with just four laps to go by driving to his inside off Turn 4.
Once the pass was made, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver pulled away, winning by 0.660 seconds.
The victory locks the No. 20 into the next round of the Owner’s Playoffs for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, as Almirola scored the team’s eighth win of 2024 — albeit using the crew typically from the No. 19 team.
Cole Custer was able to keep second place at the finish with Chandler Smith in third, but the regular-season champion wasn’t impressed by the driving of the No. 81 pilot.
Connor Zilisch finished fourth, his second top-five in two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, the second driver to do so this season. Both of those starts were in the part-time No. 88 for JR Motorsports.
Sheldon Creed rounded out the top five, finishing fifth. Polesitter Brandon Jones only mustered a sixth-place finish despite having a fast racecar, with Austin Hill, Shane Van Gisbergen, Jesse Love, and Riley Herbst in the top-10.
JR Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith were the two post-season drivers that ran into the most trouble on Saturday, with Smith smacking the outside wall on the fourth lap of the race, and Allgaier getting involved in a wreck on Lap 73.
Allgaier, who entered the Playoffs as the No. 1 seed, now sits a single point below the cutline heading to Talladega Superspeedway.
Justin Allgaier (-1), AJ Allmendinger (-13), Parker Kligerman (-15), and Sammy Smith (-23) leave Kansas sitting below the cutline, with two races to go in the Round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte’s ROVAL.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to action on Saturday, October 5th on The CW from Talladega Superspeedway.
