Aric Almirola wins battle of veterans at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Three veterans squared off at the finish of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway and Aric Almirola came away with the win.

Almirola beat Alex Bowman to the start-finish line in a photo finish decided by 0.045 seconds. It is his eighth career win the Xfinity Series.

Almirola restarted to the outside of Justin Allgaier, who led five times for 130 laps but finished fifth after sliding up the track and into Almirola in the first turn during overtime.

“Under caution, we’re out on hot tires and they blew all the marbles in front of the field. I tried to shake them off and I drove them into turn one. I was sideways heading into turn one and, honestly, if Aric wasn’t there, I was crashing into the wall at 900 mph. He steered me like a rudder so I owe him a thank you,” Allgaier said.

Bowman snuck by and took the white flag ahead of Almirola, Brandon Jones and Allgaier. In turns one and two, Bowman bobbled and lost his momentum enough to where Almirola to drove to his inside and pushed him up the track. They dueled to the line with Bowman coming up short.

“He [Almirola] exited like we weren’t even there. I guess that’s a part of stock car racing. If I enter on the bottom, I get shipped. If I exit up high, I get shipped,” Bowman said. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Almirola defended his actions.

“I got him loose and I was able to get clean air on my nose when she slid off the bottom and I just throttled up and we raced to the start-finish and we rubbed, right? But like, these cars will go back to the shop. They’ll tear them apart and rebuild them. I didn’t knock his front clip off. I wouldn’t do anything differently,” he said.

1. Aric Almirola
   • Led four times for 25 laps
2. Alex Bowman
   • Led three times for 50 laps
3. Brandon Jones
   • Best finish at Phoenix since March 2022 (Second)
     • Second-to-last race in first tenure with JGR
4. Ryan Sieg
   • Best finish at Phoenix
   • Second top-10 (10th, March 2019 was the other)
5. Justin Allgaier
   • Led five times for 130 laps
6. Taylor Gray
   • Top-finishing rookie
7. Sam Mayer
   • Recovered from speeding penalty
8. Christian Eckes
   • First Xfinity Series race at Phoenix
9. Jesse Love
   • Third top-10 finish in four races
10. Nick Sanchez
    • Two top-10 finishes in four races

Parker Retzlaff finished 11th after starting 26th and showing speed throughout the day in his No. 4 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet. Retzlaff drove to 11th near the end of the 45-lap first stage but dropped back to 20th due to an issue. He reported the fuel pressure was fine under the stage caution but dipped when he was in the turns.

A couple of cautions in the second stage allowed them to diagnose it as a fuel pickup issue. Retzlaff set sail, working back into the top-15 before overtime. Retzlaff picked up a couple of spots, finishing 11th.

William Sawalich rebounded to finish 13th after starting in the rear and having a penalty.

Sammy Smith finished 14th after an incident with Dawson Cram on lap 148. Smith declined comment post-race on the incident.

Carson Kvapil finished 26th, two laps down, after cutting a right-front tire late in the race.

Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill and Dean Thompson finished 36th through 38th after an incident with Hill on lap 62.

Almirola tied him with Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the all-time wins list in the series.