BRISTOL, Tenn. – Aric Almirola led the final laps in Friday night’s Food City 300 as he held off the hard-charging Haas Factory Team teammates to win at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Pit strategy shook up the field in closing laps. Connor Zilisch, who entered the night coming off his fourth consecutive win, pitted from the lead with just over 30 laps remaining, while Almirola and Sam Mayer stayed out. As the laps ticked away, Mayer got closer to Almirola; however, his teammate, Sheldon Creed applied pressure from behind and drove by. While the two Haas Factory Team teammates battled, Almirola held on for his second win of the season.

“Yeah, just tired of getting beat by those guys,” Almirola said. “I figured I would try my chances with the lead. They’ve been so fast, and the fire off so fast on new tires. I just didn’t think I could beat them straight up on new tires. It took me about 20 laps to get going. I thought my best chance was to stay out on old tires. Seth (Chavka, crew chief) and I watched the last two or three races here and we saw where the 9 car, with Noah Gragson, won with like 100 laps on his tires, so I decided to stay out when they said pit.”

Friday night’s win was emotional for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Almirola. The victory marked his first-ever during the night weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and he did so with the late J.D. Gibbs’ name above the door.

“But in all seriousness, this has been a heavy week,” Almirola said. “I’ve thought a lot about that this week. I have incredible opportunity here to represent Young Life and so many kids that give their life to Jesus Christ because of Young Life. This race car has J.D. Gibbs name on it. J.D. played such a pivotal part in my life – not just my career, but my life. We’ve shared a lot of stories about J.D. over the years. This is just so cool to get this car to victory lane with his name on it. This is pretty awesome. I can’t wait to celebrate with my team, and my guys and family. I just want to make sure all of the praise and glory goes to God.”

Following a string of poor finishes, Creed earned a strong runner-up finish in the No. 00 Road Ranger Ford. On the final lap, Creed was right on Almirola’s bumper, but he just didn’t have enough speed to get by.

“Yeah, I had to make it exciting at least,” Creed said. “I kind of knew I wasn’t gonna get there. You’re not gonna spook Aric, but maybe if I could have got him to see me and lift, I don’t know. It was more for the show I guess, but I’m happy with a second and to come out plus on points, I’m just proud of everybody at Haas Factory and Ford, Roush Yates Engines, everybody back at the shop, Road Ranger, Pit Boss, Friends of Jaclyn, Haas Automation, Gene and Joe Custer – just appreciate everyone’s hard work.”

Mayer finished third in the No. 41 Audibel Ford. Mayer had been strong all night, but obtained damage that hindered the performance of his car. Mayer felt that if he didn’t have the tow knocked in, then he may have been much stronger in at the end.

“If we didn’t get that damage, I think we could have taken it to him, but the toe was knocked in a ton, so I just had no turn there at the end,” Mayer said. “At the end I was just kind of holding on, but to hold on to what we had was really solid, so I’m really proud of these guys and that’s the start of the playoffs you want.”

Carson Kvapil finished fourth, and Zilisch rebounded for a top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 was Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Christian Eckes, Jeremy Clements and Brennan Poole.

Allgaier won Stage 1, and Zilisch won Stage 2.

There were seven lead changes among six drivers. Zilisch led a race high of 98 laps. Allgaier led 95 laps.

The caution came out on seven occasions for 60 laps.

The second round of the NASCAR Playoffs will take place at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 27. Live coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300 will broadcast on the CW at 4 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com