XFINITY: Aric Almirola Nudges Past Alex Bowman for Phoenix Win
Wow, that was something. While Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway was a decent event from start to finish, the overtime finish of the race was enough to elicit a cardiac event. In the end, Aric Almirola rallied from being roughed up at the start of the final restart to make an aggressive move of his own, which netted him the race win.
Almirola, 40, stepped back from a full-time driving career in the NASCAR Cup Series following the 2023 season, and was able to land a part-time mentor role with the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series program a season ago.
However, after scoring three wins in 14 starts a season ago, Almirola didn't have any driving plans sorted out just a couple of weeks ahead of the season-opening race at Daytona.
"I didn't know what I was doing two weeks before Daytona. I was planning on just helping at JGR, and volunteering at church, and I got a call to go run some races. What an opportunity, and so proud of [my crew chief] Seth [Chavka] and all of the guys on this team, everybody back at Joe Gibbs Racing that are building these race cars. Just having fun. This is so awesome to get to do this with my family. Yeah, I'm just having a blast."
From not expecting to be racing this year to now recording finishes of second at Atlanta and a win Saturday at Phoenix, what a start its been for Almirola.
The wild finish began with race leader Justin Allgaier, who washed wide heading into the first set of turns after the green flag was displayed in Overtime. As Almirola skidded up the track, he got into the side of Almirola, which sent Almirola up the hill as well.
It appeared the shot for the win for Allgaier and Almirola had evaporated, but Almirola wasn't willing to throw in the towel.
As polesitter and Stage 1 winner Alex Bowman inherited the lead, Almirola was able to maintain the runner-up spot despite the spat with Allgaier in Turn 1. As Bowman took the white flag, Almirola took the short cut on the frontstretch dog leg to make up a large portion of the deficit he faced to Bowman.
Through Turns 1 and 2, Almirola was close enough to get the rear end of Bowman's No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet loose, but Bowman was able to hold Almirola at bay for the lead as the duo reached the backstretch.
Heading into Turns 3 and 4, Almirola fired his car in there on the bottom lane, and on the exit of the turns, Almirola's car wiggled. As he chased his No. 19 Toyota GR Supra up the hill, he collided with Bowman. After Almirola popped Bowman into the outside wall, it was Almirola that would cross the finish line first, and be credited with the race win, the seventh of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
WHAT. A. FINISH!! pic.twitter.com/T9HrPc20Xn
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) March 9, 2025
"I just knew I needed to get from there to here first. I knew I was going to use him up a little bit, but trying to win the race," Almirola explained. "You know, I feel like it was warranted. I didn't think I did anything overly egregious. I just throttled up, and I knew it was going to be a drag race to the start-finish line. Just so proud of all of the guys on this team."
While Almirola didn't feel anything was ultra over-the-line about the move he made to take the race win, Bowman, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor for Hendrick Motorsports, didn't see it the same way.
"I mean, I would have hoped that he would have given me a lane on exit, but he just exited like I wasn't there," Bowman said in disappointment. "Which, he was better than us, for sure, but I just tried to capitalize on that restart and trying to win the race, and got shoved into the fence. And the race car is destroyed."
While it was a disappointing finish, Bowman was able to hold on to finish second to Almirola in the second-closest finish (0.045 seconds) in the history of NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Phoenix Raceway.
Brandon Jones was able to snake through the crazy situation in the last few laps to pick up a much-needed third-place finish. Jones, a five-time race winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, ranked 29th in the championship standings after a rough-luck-filled opening three races of the 2025 season.
With the solid run at Phoenix, Jones launched back up to the top-20 in the championship standings.
Ryan Sieg would come home in the fourth position in the No. 39 RSS Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse. It was a day filled with adversity for Sieg as his primary race car was damaged heavily after hitting a raised curb in the garage area following qualifying for the GOVX 200. The team would have to pull out the backup car, which sent Sieg to the rear of the field for the start of the race.
The 37-year-old racer clawed his way methodically through the field all day long, and wound up with a very respectable finish.
Allgaier, who dominated the race by winning Stage 2, and leading 130 of the 208 laps, would wind up a disappointing fifth after the miscue on the overtime restart.
Taylor Gray was the highest-finishing NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contender in sixth, and he was followed to the finish line by Sam Mayer, Christian Eckes, Jesse Love, and Nick Sanchez, who rounded out the top-10 finishers on the day.
Love, a second-year driver for Richard Childress Racing, took over the point lead with his ninth-place run. The 20-year-old will carry a slim two-point advantage over Allgaier heading into next weekend's event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Austin Hill, Love's teammate and point leader heading into the day, suffered a miserable 37th-place finish after an unforced error behind the wheel ended his day. The Georgia native, who won at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the season's second race, clipped the inside wall heading into Turn 3 on Lap 62, while running seventh.
The contact with the wall would send Hill careening back across the track, where he would collect Sheldon Creed, and rookie contender Dean Thompson. All three drivers would see their days come to an early end due to the crash.
Trouble for @_AustinHill who spins out into the wall. #XfinitySeries pic.twitter.com/DLPoZUXla2
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) March 8, 2025
As a result of his 37th-place finish, Hill dropped from first to fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.