ALMIROLA VICTORIOUS IN PHOENIX IN THRILLING THREE-WIDE FINISH
Florida native captures eighth career Xfinity Series win
AVONDALE, Ariz. (March 8, 2025) – By virtue of an overtime restart and finish, Aric Almirola used a daring, last-lap pass to take home the victory in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway. The triumph by Almirola is the eighth of his career and his first at Phoenix, also giving Toyota its first Xfinity Series win of the 2025 season.
Almirola started eighth on Saturday and was firmly in the lead mix all afternoon long, finishing second in both stages before crossing the line first at the checkered flag. In two Xfinity Series starts so far in 2025, Almirola has top-five finishes in both – today’s victory and a third-place result at Atlanta.
His Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray joined him inside the top-10 on Saturday. Jones, who placed inside the top-10 in both stages today, nearly snatched victory at the end and came home third in the three-wide finish at the line. For Gray, a sixth-place finish today marks his third top-10 in four starts so far this season.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend, with race coverage on the CW Network next Saturday, March 15, at 4:30 p.m. EST.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Phoenix Raceway
Race 4 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, ARIC ALMIROLA
2nd, Alex Bowman*
3rd, BRANDON JONES
4th, Ryan Sieg*
5th, Justin Allgaier*
6th, TAYLOR GRAY
13th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
38th, DEAN THOMPSON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 19 Younglife Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What was the feeling with that last caution and then to come home with the win at the end?
“Yeah, I felt like I was better than the No. 7 (Justin Allgaier). Earlier in the race, they had a great car. We had a great car. And it was just an awesome battle. And at the end there, we were running them down pretty fast, and the caution came out and I was like ‘Oh yeah! Now we have a chance!’ We went down into (turn) one (on the overtime restart) and he (Allgaier) just got loose under me and ran me into the marbles, and I was just thankful I got my tires clean coming back to (turns) three and four. That gave me an opportunity to get to the No. 17 (Alex Bowman). And yeah, we out drag-raced them to the start/finish line and it was exciting. I’m sure the fans got their money’s worth.”
How special is it to celebrate with your family again in victory lane?
“It’s so special. I’m having so much fun! This is such a blessing.”
What does this win mean for YoungLife and in honor of J.D. Gibbs?
“It’s special, it’s really special. This isn’t about me. This is about so many more people than just me. Just really, really proud and really thankful. Hopefully, J.D. (Gibbs, co-founder of Joe Gibbs Racing) is upstairs, smiling down on us.”
Do you race any differently if you or Alex Bowman were driving for points in this race?
“No. He (Bowman) finished second, right? Yeah, I mean I didn’t crash him. I thought it was fair. I didn’t go in there and put him fuel-cell deep. I got him loose and got some clean air on my nose when he slid off the bottom and then just throttled up and we raced to the start/finish line. We rubbed, right? But these cars will go back to the shop, the crews will tear them down and they’ll rebuild them. I didn’t knock his front clip off, didn’t overly damage either of our cars. Just have some wheel marks on our cars and we rubbed the fence a little bit coming to the checkered. I’m not going to loosen him up and then just wait to go back to throttle and let him drive off and then just beat me to the start/finish line without trying. So yeah, I don’t think I do anything different.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Pelonis Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How was your day and take us through that battle at the finish.
“It was a very well-executed day. The whole day, I approached this race very differently than I have been, and it was basically to win at all the little things. So, I just kept telling my mind, ‘I want to win a restart today. I want to pass a car on a restart,’ and once I do that, I’m like, ‘okay, let’s go get the next car.’ It wasn’t about the end goal of trying to win the race, it was about executing on pit road, executing on the next restart, execute the passes. I think that kept my mind where I needed it to in the right direction. The No. 20 Menards/Pelonis pit crew was on fire, they killed it today and gave us really great track position. Restarts were really good. I had, what I thought was the opening to the win the race, but, not sure if it was excitement and on old tires. Probably a combination of all of it, but I asked a little too much (of the car) and couldn’t quite come off turn two with enough momentum. But, I knew in the end, that was going to be the deal. If I could launch good, it was going to go one of two ways there either. Have old tires, you’ll spin the heck out of them, and you get put in a bad situation or you go forward. I did a good job prepping the tires to go forward. The No. 19 (Almirola) and the No. 17 (Bowman) were racing hard, and I knew they were going to use each other up, so it was really close. This was good momentum. We haven’t started off the year great and it’s just a good overall day. Everybody’s head was in the game, everybody showed up to win the race and we’re in a stretch of races that are good for my driving style and for this organization (Joe Gibbs Racing). Looking forward to what’s to come and hopefully, get my No. 20 Toyota GR Supra into victory lane.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
Describe your race today.
“Feel like we had to work on our car all day. Finally got it somewhat close there at the end and just kind of got stuck behind the No. 7 (Allgaier) after he got into the fence. Honestly, just got stuck in his way and couldn’t really go anywhere. Think we were definitely better than a sixth-place car but just got hung up in traffic. But, I can’t thank everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing enough for bringing a fast No. 54 Operation 300 GR Supra. Just, have to be a little bit better.”
DEAN THOMPSON No. 26 MCM Transportation Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
Were you just collected in that incident?
“It looks I was a missile (into the incident), but I think I got punted into it.”
Did you see the No. 21 hit the inside wall before he spun?
“I saw a bunch of smoke (in front of me). I tried to hang a left (to avoid the incident), but I got moved.”
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