Almirola holds on for Xfinity victory
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Aric Almirola earned the third Xfinity Series win of his career by holding off a hard-charging pack in the closing laps of the Sparks Energy 300 on Saturday afternoon.
But driving the No. 98 Ford to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway didn’t exactly surprise him.
“We ran about 10 laps in practice,” Almiralo recalled, “and I said, ‘Put it on jack stands. We’re ready to go. This thing is fast.’”
The car was indeed fast, and Almirola used a fuel-only stop to earn his first Xfinity victory since last summer at Daytona International Speedway.
A caution for debris set up a restart with 11 laps remaining, and they were frantic at the front of the field. Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler and Almirola all made plays for the win. Allgaier gave up the lead when Logano made a crossover move, but Almirola got by him.
Almirola had to drive using his rearview mirror to fend off attacks for the lead from every lane, and Sadler gave it one last push at the finish line.
“I made a mistake inside the car coming to the white that probably cost me a shot at winning the race,” Sadler said after his second-place finish. “I should know better.”
Logano was third, followed by Ben Kennedy, Erik Jones, Matt Tifft and Michael Annett.
“Man we were so close, aggravating,” Logano said. “The draft is so crazy and different. The runs come so quick, and it’s hard to block them. You have to physically block them with your car, and it’s really tight.”
Said Allgaier, who slipped to eighth: “When you are the lead car, you are trying to do everything you can to hold everyone off.”
JR Motorsports retained its hold at the top of the Xfinity Series standings as Sadler, Allgaier and William Byron are 1-2-3 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team.