Veteran Almirola handles young teammates in dominant win
It only took four races for Joe Gibbs’ reinvestment in Aric Almirola to pay off.
Almirola — and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates — led the way Saturday night in the DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway, leading 151 of the race’s 251 laps.
Almirola, who is running a partial NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule for the team in 2024, led 148 of those laps, which included a Stage 1 victory.
“It is really awesome to come and play, and that is what I really get to do – I get to play, and not a lot of people get to do that and finish their career like that,” Almirola said. “Just really humbled. Really thankful to Coach, and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing.”
The victory was Almirola’s first in the series since last June at Sonoma, and his first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing since a win in 2007 at Milwaukee — Almirola’s first victory in the series.
While Almirola started the race, he was replaced by Denny Hamlin mid-race due to Hamlin being the originally scheduled driver and at the request of the sponsor. Hamlin drove the No. 20 car to victory that night, but Almirola was credited with the win.
“I’ve had an asterisk next to my win for 17 years and I finally got one for Coach and to put a win banner up,” Almirola said. “Thank you Coach for calling me and giving me the opportunity to go win.
“To cap off the career the way I want to do it is pretty quickly. Chandler used me up pretty good so I didn’t mind bumping him when I got back to him.”
Fellow JGR teammate Chandler Smith finished third after starting 37th, unable to post a lap in qualifying on Friday. He collected stage points in Stage 2, ultimately extending his lead in the point standings to 35 over Cole Custer.
“It was really wild,” Smith said of his race. “I definitely had the good Lord looking down on me tonight – just helping me guide through all of that traffic there.”
“…Just really, really proud of everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. All of the men and women that put this thing back together last night working through the hours of the night. We had a really fast no. 81 Wheelers Toyota GR Supra.”
Sheldon Creed, who had a chance at the win on the final restart, came home sixth.
Taylor Gray, getting more seat time after his debut Top-5 finish last week at Richmond, finished 13th.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.