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Aric Almirola Completes Martinsville Sweep In Dominate Fashion

by Hunter Thomas November 2, 2024 1 comment

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Aric Almirola completed the season sweep at Martinsville Speedway as he held off Sammy Smith to win the National Debt Relief 250 on Saturday.

Almirola, who won the spring race at Martinsville, picked up where he left off and dominated the afternoon. Almirola started ninth in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota, and he went on to sweep all three stages and lead a race high of 150 laps.

“What an amazing race car,” Almirola said. “So proud of Tyler (Allen, crew chief) and all of the guys on this team. We had an amazing car here in the Spring, and we made a few tweaks to it because I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the Spring.

“We showed up yesterday and we were awful. I was like oh, no, what did we do, and they went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car. It was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to. This is such a special place. This is by far my favorite race track. I’m just so thankful. Thankful for Coach (Joe Gibbs), everyone at Toyota, TRD. Thank you He Gets Us. Thank you, God. There is so much more to it than just me and this race team.”

The win marks Almirola’s third of the season and the seventh in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.

Smith finished second, but he needed a win to advance to the Championship 4. The JR Motorsports driver came up short, but he had a strong day as he ran up front, finishing eighth in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2.

Chandler Smith and Cole Custer finished third and fourth; however, following the race, Smith approached Custer on pit road and took a swing at him. Smith was angry because during a late-race restart, Custer ran him up the track, essentially knocking him out of contention for the win. Smith needed to win to advance to the Championship 4. Custer, who is fighting for a Driver’s Championship and an Owner’s Championship mentioned that the move was payback from earlier in the season.

Justin Allgaier finished fifth, and rounding out the top-10 was Sheldon Creed, Anthony Alfredo, Parker Kligerman, Jeb Burton and Myatt Snider.

There were 13 cautions for 84 laps.

Advancing to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway is Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier.

The final race of the 2024 season will be held at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, Nov. 9. Live coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race will broadcast on the CW at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com