Almirola’s runner-up finish delivers seventh owner’s title for the team
AVONDALE, Ariz. (November 1, 2025) – Aric Almirola made a late race pass to secure the 2025 Xfinity Series Owner’s Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) with a second-place finish on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. The title is the seventh owner’s championship for JGR in the Xfinity Series. The No. 19 team won three races this year along with earning 10 top fives and 13 top-10 results during the 2025 season.
JGR teammate Brandon Jones also earned a top-five finish with a fourth place result in Saturday’s race. Jones won the pole and led 10 laps in Saturday’s season finale race.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Phoenix Raceway
Race 33 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Jesse Love*
2nd, ARIC ALMIROLA
3rd, Connor Zilisch*
4th, BRANDON JONES
5th, Justin Allgaier*
7th, TAYLOR GRAY
10th, JUSTIN BONSIGNORE
17th, DEAN THOMPSON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 19 Young Life Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What does it mean for Joe Gibbs Racing to win the 2025 owner’s championship tonight?
“What an absolute fight. Our car was not good to start. We had to just keep swinging at it. We were making huge adjustments, and those guys were just firing off so much better than me and I just couldn’t keep pace and finally Seth Chavka (crew chief) and the guys just kept swinging at it and swinging at it with huge adjustments and we finally got it decent to where I could maintain and keep pace with those guys. That restart was key to be able to get to third and try and keep pace with the 88 (Connor Zilisch). I knew I wasn’t racing the 2 (Jesse Love). I just knew that I needed to stay close enough that if the 2 got by the 88 then I could run him down and go and get by him for the owner’s championship. I’m just so proud. J.D. Gibbs name is on this car. Coy Gibbs name is on this car. This is not about me. This about a team. Coach Gibbs talks all the time about winning with people and this is about a lot of people at Joe Gibbs Racing. This is an owner’s championship. It has nothing to do with Aric Almirola. I was the lucky guy to be behind the wheel for a few of the wins and to get the championship tonight, but it is a team effort. I’m just so thankful for Coach and J.D. and the Gibbs family and Toyota, Young Life. Oh my gosh. This is really, really awesome. I’ve never won a championship. This is my first championship and again like I said, this isn’t about me, but I was a part of this and I’m just so proud of our organization and everybody that helps us and supports us. Praise God. This is pretty awesome.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Magicwood Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Did your Toyota GR Supra come to life after the final pit stop?
“Yeah. I’m glad that worked out because the alternative was that everybody else had a set laying, I think right at the end. I didn’t want to see a caution come out because I wanted to take advantage of the tire there at the end. My only little weakness here was just firing off. I just never could really go forward. I could maintain okay on some restarts but never could take advantage and go forward and that was really the difference maker today. At the end of that run we were the fastest car for the majority of the end. Just kind of out of track position and ran out of time. These guys worked really hard. I know this was a car really being prepared for the Final 4 and we expected to go to the Final 4 today. It would’ve been hard to beat those guys. I think that we would’ve ran probably identical to what we did today so we would’ve still probably come up a little bit short but still it’s a career best for me in I think fifth in points. So there’s a lot that got checked off the bucket list for me. I really wanted to qualify good here. That’s been a weakness of mine the last couple of races at this track. We sat on the pole today and so it was a great day for Magicwood’s and Menards and everyone else that supports us. I think that we’re going to be the hardest working team this offseason and coming out of the gate in 2026 swinging pretty hard, so I’m excited about it. I wouldn’t want to work with anybody else in this garage. I love these guys. We’ll continue to just I guess explore all of the weaknesses that we had this year and use up the simulators and do everything that we can this offseason to figure out how we can come out and maybe have a year where some of these guys had with a lot of wins.”
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