MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Aric Almirola made the decision to retire from full-time Cup competition after 2023 and take on a partial schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing. Once again, he proved why this was the right decision by winning at Martinsville Speedway.
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The Florida native delivered a dominant effort on Saturday evening. He led 150 of the 250 laps and swept the stage wins to seal his second win at the Virginia short track this season.
More importantly, Almirola put the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into the owner's Championship 4. He will have an opportunity to win a title for Joe Gibbs.
MORE: Almirola wins, full results
Sammy Smith crossed the finish line second. Chandler Smith, Cole Custer, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. Custer and Allgaier pointed their way into the Championship 4 while the Smiths both failed to advance beyond the Round of 8.
While Almirola was in the dominant car, he had some challengers late in the race. The Smiths, who both needed a win to reach the Championship 4, moved into second and third place in the closing laps.
They both drew close to Almirola, but neither could get within striking distance of his bumper despite having better corner entry speed. There were no opportunities for the bump-and-run. The two drivers just had to sit back and watch as Almirola closed out a dominant performance.
The playoff picture: The Xfinity Series Championship 4 is complete. Austin Hill and AJ Allmendinger both secured spots with wins. Custer and Allgaier locked up spots on points. The Smiths, Jesse Love, and Sam Mayer were all eliminated at Martinsville.
Notable: The No. 20 has nine wins this season. Almirola has delivered three of them. Christopher Bell, Ryan Truex, and John Hunter Nemechek all have two wins each in the entry.
Stage 1: A three-car incident brought out the caution and set up a one-lap shootout. Josh Williams got into the back of Sam Mayer, who got into the back of Parker Retzlaff. Mayer and Retzlaff both hit the wall.
Aric Almirola won the opening stage over Cole Custer. Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Josh Williams, Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed, and Jeb Burton were top 10. Mayer finished the stage in 31st place after stopping on pit road for repairs.
Stage 2: A caution late in stage 2 set up a split decision. The leaders all headed down pit road while Ryan Sieg and three other drivers stayed out on the track.
Sieg continued to lead as the laps clicked down, but Almirola took the lead with one lap to go. He won the second stage and locked up another 10 points. Sieg, Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, William Sawalich, and Brennan Poole were all top 10.
Jesse Love in 12th, Sam Mayer in 14th, and Austin Hill in 15th all missed out on stage points.
Next: The Xfinity Series season comes to a close on Saturday, Nov. 9. The four remaining playoff drivers will take on Phoenix Raceway for the final time this season. The driver with the best finish will be the champion.
