Category: Xfinity (XFT)

SONOMA, Calif. – Aric Almirola knew Sonoma Raceway is a track that wouldn’t make him look like a “wanker.”

Far from it. Holding off the dominant car of Kyle Larson — until Larson made a critical mistake — and then outrunning road course ace AJ Allmendinger over the final laps, Almirola won Saturday’s DoorDash 250 at the 1.99-mile road course.

The victory was Almirola’s fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first since 2017, when he won at Talladega for owner Fred Biagi.

The win also was the first-ever for Georgia-based RSS Racing, which fields cars for brothers Ryan and Kyle Sieg. The Stewart-Haas Racing shop prepared the car for Almirola.

Driving the No. 28 Ford, Almirola took the checkered flag 1.868 seconds ahead of runner-up Allmendinger, with Larson running third 3.329 seconds back. Almirola had taken the lead from the fifth position on a Lap 65 restart, an advantage he held the rest of the way.

“Oh, man, this is so special,” said Almirola, who was making his second Xfinity start of the season after a 24th-place finish at Circuit of the Americas in April. “It’s hard to explain. I know it’s an Xfinity win — it’s not a Cup win, but after COTA (I said), ‘I don’t think I should run any more road course races in an 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 that 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.”

Larson swept the first two stages and held a lead of more than 13 seconds over Allmendinger when Jeffrey Earnhardt backed into the barrier in Turn 10 on Lap 60 and caused the race’s second caution.

If the subsequent restart on Lap 65 was crucial to Almirola’s victory, Larson’s mistake on Lap 72 was even more so. On Lap 72 of 79, Larson drove hard into the Turn 11 hairpin within inches of Almirola’s back bumper and clipped one of the stacks of tires defining the corner.

Larson’s Chevrolet shot to the left of the racing line, and by the time he had righted the car, Allmendinger had passed him for second.

“I just got too greedy,” said Larson, who led a race-high 53 laps to Almirola’s 17. “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 they (Hendrick Motorsports) brought. 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.”

Ty Gibbs ran fourth, as full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers claimed the top four finishing positions. Parker Kligerman led the Xfinity regulars in fifth, followed by Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer.

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

–By NASCAR NewsWire, Special to Field Level Media

SONOMA, Calif. — Denny Hamlin made the most of a second lap in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying to edge Tyler Reddick for the pole position for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Running the fastest lap of the day, Hamlin toured the 1.99-mile road course in 77.719 seconds (92.178 mph) to earn his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Sonoma and the 38th of his career.

Reddick had covered the distance in 77.812 seconds (92.068 mph) before Hamlin knocked him off the provisional pole late in the session.

Michael McDowell, who posted the fastest lap in Round 1, qualified third at 92.060 mph, followed by Christopher Bell (91.308 mph) and road course ace AJ Allmendinger (91.873 mph). Sunoco rookie Ty Gibbs was sixth fastest, and Chris Buescher, the 2022 Sonoma runner-up, was seventh.

Interestingly, crew chief Chris Gabehart suggested to Hamlin that he settle for his first lap in the final round. At the time, Hamlin was second fastest.

“Chris was trying to get me to unbuckle after our first lap in the final round,” Hamlin said. “He was like, ‘That’s a great day, that’s a good starting spot,’ and I just asked like ‘You don’t want me to try again — I feel like maybe I could do it.’

“And so I’m glad that we did try again.”

Seeking his first career Cup Series pole, McDowell was frustrated with his third-place result, which matched his finishing position in last year’s race.

“I think we had the car to beat today, so that’s what stinks about qualifying third,” McDowell said. “I feel good about our race trim. The cars I outqualified there I felt like we were way better in race trim. The only one I felt that was better than us was maybe the 5 (Kyle Larson), so we’ve got a good car for (Sunday) and we’ll get after it.

“It’s good to be disappointed with third. I haven’t had a career pole here in the Cup Series, so I was hoping today would be it. I gave it all I had and just a little bit too much and over-stepped it.”

The surprise of the session was Larson, who failed to advance to the second round after topping the speed chart in final NASCAR Cup Series practice by .558 seconds over Martin Truex Jr., who claimed the eighth starting position for Sunday’s race, the 16th of the season.

Larson had started from the pole for the last five Sonoma races, winning once, in 2021. Earlier in the day, he won the pole for Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

Chase Elliott, returning from a one-race suspension for wrecking Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, made one attempt during Saturday’s final round but slid sideways in Turn 4 before regaining control.

The bobble cost Elliott precious time and dropped him to 10th on the grid next to defending race winner Daniel Suarez, who qualified ninth.

–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.