Almirola’s win clinches the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team a spot in the Round of 8
BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 12, 2025) – Aric Almirola earned his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway with a clutch call to not pit late in the race. Almirola led the final 34 laps to win his first race at Bristol and ninth Xfinity Series victory overall. With the win, Almirola has clinched a spot for the no. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team in the Round of 8 owners’ championship fight.
Toyota’s two Playoff drivers – Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray – both battled adversity in tonight’s race. Jones overcame a 23rd place qualifying spot to battle for a top-five late before finishing 11th. Jones leaves Bristol in sixth in the Playoff standings – eight points to the good. Gray overcame being involved in the final caution of the night to drive back up to 15th in the final finishing order. Gray continues to hold the eighth and final position to the good in the Playoff battle – three points above ninth.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 27 of 33 – 159.9 miles, 300 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, ARIC ALMIROLA
2nd, Sheldon Creed*
3rd, Sam Mayer*
4th, Carson Kvapil*
5th, Connor Zilisch*
11th, BRANDON JONES
12nd, DEAN THOMPSON
14th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
15th, TAYLOR GRAY
27th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 19 Young Life Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Whose call was it that ultimately won you the race?
“Yeah, just tired of getting beat by those guys. 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. But in all seriousness, this has been a heavy week. 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.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Tuscany Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
How was your race?
“We didn’t show up how we should have, I think. We had the right intentions. We started this race in the spring really loose, and that was our kind of kryptonite. So, we came in with a lot more stability in our race car this weekend, and just kind of jumped the gun there, I think, on our setup. We had some stuff in our springs, probably, that wasn’t really able to get all that out of it after practice because of our change limitations that we can do. So, I mean, we did the best we could. This is a track position race. We qualified awful today. We qualified 23rd, and honestly, through strategy and everything, that was quite the drive, in my opinion, to get to the top three. Just, I guess, looking back at the whole thing, obviously, that’s not the right idea to pit at the end. It’s kind of hard to know that in the heat of the moment, though, you know? I rode with him (Sam McAulay, crew chief) on that, but I guess knowing how difficult this was to pass all night and really how my car can only run the top – there were some guys that could run the middle to bottom as well and make that work – but my car was only good in the third lane, and so that just limits my ability to really go full on restarts once we bury ourselves with tires at the end, no matter the grip level. So, I guess you look back at it, you don’t take the tires. I’m frustrated with just how the weekend kind of went for us, honestly. Obviously, that’s not how I pictured the playoffs to start, but everyone’s mind is in the right situation. Everyone’s thinking the right things. We just got to start a little bit better off the truck.”
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