It was Kyle Larson’s race to lose at Sonoma until Aric Almirola seized it from him. Jumping from fifth to the lead on a restart on lap 65 of 79 in Saturday evening’s DoorDash 250, Almirola never looked back.
He held off a hard-charging Larson throughout the closing laps and ended up finishing 1.868 ahead of AJ Allmendinger. It’s not only Almirola’s first-ever win at the track, but it’s his team’s first-ever win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series: RSS Racing fielded the car prepared by the Stewart-Haas Racing shop. It’s also a win that does wonders for his confidence in the series’ inaugural race at a track he loves.
“This is so special,” Almirola said. “It’s hard to explain. I know it’s an Xfinity win. It’s not a Cup win, but after COTA… I was like, ‘Man, I really don’t think I should run anymore road course races in the Xfinity car. It makes me look like a wanker and I lose self-confidence going into Sunday.’”
“But I knew that this racetrack, this is one I can run good at. I’ve run good here my whole career. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love racing here. I’m just so thankful to everybody on this race team.”
The confidence booster of the win is big for Almirola heading into the Cup Series race on Sunday. The confidence gain is “a lot,” he acknowledged.
“The cars are totally different from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series, but it’s still a win and it’s still a win at the NASCAR national level. These races are hard to win and you’re going against the best,” he said. “It was a stacked field today for the Xfinity race and I’m just so proud to go to Victory Lane here.”
The final laps especially were tense, Almirola added, trying to hold off the dominant car of Kyle Larson.
“I was looking in my rearview mirror a lot,” he explained, “just trying to make sure that I could maintain the gap. Larson was certainly the class of the field, so to have the lead and get some clean air, I knew that if I just put some clean laps together I was gonna make it tough for him to get by me.”
Despite the pressure on Almirola, Larson, who swept the wins in Stage 1 and Stage 2 and led a race-high 53 laps to Almirola’s 17, finished 3.329 seconds behind Almirola in third. While following just behind Almirola in the hairpin final turn, Larson hit the tire barriers on the inside. Though he managed to recover, the damage was done as AJ Allmendinger slipped by and Larson was left to salvage a podium finish.
“I just got too greedy,” Larson admitted. “I was kind of tucked up right behind him, clipped the tires, and it knocked the wheel out of my hands. After that the toe was off. I was really tight in the left and really loose in the right, so I couldn’t make runs at it.”
“I’m really mad at myself right now, but I’m really proud of the car,” he added. “Congrats to Aric, too. He did a really good job out in front of me, hitting his marks. He could kind of get away from me in a couple of important areas and would make me have to work hard behind him. So hats off to him and that team.”
Fourth place Ty Gibbs is also pulling double duty this weekend, competing in the Cup Series race on Sunday. He ran in fourth all day, finishing both stages and the race in that position.
“Just lost some track position in the end,” Gibbs said, “and we were a little too loose for the most part. We just have to make the right adjustments to keep going. We will keep moving forward.”
Fifth-place Parker Kligerman was the first Xfinity Series regular in the rankings. The pattern continued throughout the rest of the top ten, though, which featured Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, and Sam Mayer respectively.
The Xfinity Series returns at Nashville Superspeedway on June 24th.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – DoorDash 250
Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma, California
Saturday, June 10, 2023
1. (4) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 79.
2. (5) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 79.
3. (1) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 79.
4. (7) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 79.
5. (12) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 79.
6. (26) Cole Custer, Ford, 79.
7. (2) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 79.
8. (13) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 79.
9. (10) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 79.
10. (6) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 79.
11. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 79.
12. (14) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 79.
13. (8) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 79.
14. (20) Chandler Smith #, Chevrolet, 79.
15. (23) Riley Herbst, Ford, 79.
16. (9) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 79.
17. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 79.
18. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 79.
19. (25) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 79.
20. (27) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 79.
21. (28) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 79.
22. (18) Kyle Weatherman, Ford, 79.
23. (32) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 79.
24. (33) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, 79.
25. (11) Alex Labbe, Ford, 79.
26. (30) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 79.
27. (17) Daniel Suarez(i), Chevrolet, 79.
28. (34) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 79.
29. (31) Brad Perez, Toyota, 79.
30. (36) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 79.
31. (38) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 79.
32. (29) Connor Mosack, Toyota, 78.
33. (19) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 76.
34. (21) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, Transmission, 71.
35. (22) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Suspension, 60.
36. (35) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, Accident, 59.
37. (37) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Suspension, 44.
38. (16) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, Transmission, 21.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 76.388 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 3 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.868 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 2 for 8 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Larson(i) 1-21;A. Allmendinger(i) 22;A. Hill 23-25;J. Nemechek 26;A. Hill 27;K. Larson(i) 28-46;A. Almirola(i) 47-48;K. Larson(i) 49-61;A. Allmendinger(i) 62;A. Labbe 63-64;A. Almirola(i) 65-79.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson(i) 3 times for 53 laps; Aric Almirola(i) 2 times for 17 laps; Austin Hill 2 times for 4 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 2 times for 2 laps; Alex Labbe 1 time for 2 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,10,28,7,19,11,1,48,2,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,10,19,7,21,28,20,98,48,1
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