Aric Almirola Holds off Eliott Sadler and Others to Win Talladega Xfinity race

AP Photo - Butch Dill

TALLADEGA, AL – RIS – Aric Almirola is no stranger to victory lane at a restrictor plate track, but he had never won at Talladega Super Speedway.  His first super-speedway win came in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series way back in 2014 in the Coke Zero 400.  This was different.  It was in an Xfinity Series car in a race where he was among the leaders all day.

Almirola knew he had a fast car.  After about 10 minutes of practice, he knew he had a winning car in his No.98 Ford Mustang.

A caution for debris set up a restart with 11 laps remaining, and they were frantic at the front of the field, and all through the few cars that remained.  Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler and Almirola all made plays for the Saturday win. Allgaier gave up the lead to Logano on a Logano crossover move, but Almirola got by him.

Almirola had to drive using his rearview mirror to fend off attacks for the lead from every lane. Sadler gave it one last push at the finish line, but Almirola held on for the victory.

"I made a mistake inside the car coming to the white that probably cost me a shot at winning the race. I should know better," Sadler said after his second-place finish.

Logano, who led 16 of the 113 laps, was third, followed by Ben Kennedy in fourth, then Erik Jones, Matt Tifft and Michael Annett.

"Man, we were so close, aggravating," Logano said. "The draft is so crazy and different. The runs come so quick and it's hard to block them. You have to physically block them with your car and it's really tight."

Allgaier faded to finish eighth.

"When you are the lead car, you are trying to do everything you can to hold everyone off," Allgaier said.

"They let me run this thing seven or eight times a year and I have so much fun, especially at the speedway races," said Almirola, making just his fourth XFINITY start of the season. "Doug Yates brings some awesome horsepower and our Ford Mustang was super-fast.  I knew it right from the beginning of practice."

The race was slowed by a pair of multi-car crashes that caused a red flag in each of the opening stages. The first snared nine cars, triggered by contact involving Tyler Reddick, Brennan Poole and Daniel Suarez on the end of the backstraight on Lap 20.

Eight more cars wound up damaged by the second big stack-up, which eliminated several contenders, including Daytona XFINITY winner Ryan Reed and first-time pole starter Blake Koch. Almirola, the Stage 1 winner, accepted the blame for the crash after nudging Reed sideways on Lap 49, the final lap before the Stage 2 break.

"I have a lot of respect for him as a driver and as a person, but that just wasn't cool," Reed said of Almirola. "All he had to do was back off a little bit. He just got so aggressive with that push and then didn't hit us square. He hit us off to the right side and when that happened the car was out from underneath me before I knew it."

 "I feel really bad about the 16 (Reed), Almirola said. I got in the back of the 16 and tore up a lot of cars there, but I got a good push and I got in the back of him. I was trying to help him, trying to make the Fords work together and I hooked him, so I feel sorry about that."

Almirola’s Mustang is listed as being owned by Fred Baigi, but was painted in what was close to Petty blue color, the color of the Ford Fusion he drives on Sundays for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Unofficial Race Results for the 26Th Annual Sparks Energy 300 - Saturday, May 6, 2017 - Talladega Superspeedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Status
1) 23, Aric Almirola(i), No. 98 Fresh from Florida Ford, 113, 1, 4, 3, 13, , 0, Running
2) 14, Elliott Sadler, No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, 113, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 8, Joey Logano(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 113, 2, 6, 4, 16, , 0, Running
4) 4, Ben Kennedy, No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet, 113, , 10, 1, 5, , 34, Running
5) 10, Erik Jones(i), No. 20 Reser's American Classic Toyota, 113, 4, 5, 5, 5, , 0, Running
6) 19, Matt Tifft #, No. 19 Wastebits Toyota, 113, , 9, , , , 33, Running
7) 21, Michael Annett, No. 5 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 113, 6, 8, 1, 6, , 38, Running
8) 6, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Hellmann's Chevrolet, 113, 3, 1, 3, 24, 1, 47, Running
9) 18, Daniel Suarez(i), No. 18 Peak Antifreeze & Coolant Toyota, 113, , , 1, 1, , 0, Running
10) 40, Jeff Green, No. 8 Toyota, 113, , , 1, 18, , 27, Running
11) 31, JJ Yeley, No. 14 Superior Essex Toyota, 113, 9, , , , , 28, Running
12) 30, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Alabama Soda & Abrasive Blasting Chevrolet, 113, 10, , 1, 1, , 26, Running
13) 22, Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 6 Globe Life Ford, 112, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 7, Ty Dillon(i), No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, 112, , 2, 1, 4, , 0, Running
15) 2, Kasey Kahne(i), No. 88 Armour Chevrolet, 112, 8, 3, 4, 18, , 0, Running
16) 35, Joey Gase, No. 52 Sparks Energy/Donate Life Chevrolet, 112, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 37, Timmy Hill, No. 40 CrashClaimsR.Us/X-treme PH Dodge, 112, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 32, David Starr, No. 99 Whataburger Chevrolet, 112, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 25, Ross Chastain, No. 4 GK Services Chevrolet, 112, , , 1, 1, , 18, Running
20) 16, Tyler Reddick, No. 42 BBR/Jason Aldean Chevrolet, 112, , 7, , , , 21, Running
21) 29, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 112, , , 1, 1, , 16, Running
22) 38, Harrison Rhodes, No. 01 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 112, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 15, Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 WinField United Toyota, 112, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 12, Brennan Poole, No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 111, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 28, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Veterans Motorsports Dodge, 110, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 13, Cole Custer #, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 95, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 39, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com/St. Clair Foods Chevrolet, 55, , , , , , 10, Electrical
28) 26, Mark Thompson, No. 13 Phoenix Air Toyota, 55, , , , , , 9, Engine
29) 11, Ryan Reed, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, 49, , , , , , 8, Accident
30) 17, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet, 49, 7, , , , , 11, Accident
31) 1, Blake Koch, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 49, 5, , 1, 1, , 12, Accident
32) 36, Martin Roy, No. 90 Cote/Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet, 49, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 27, Chris Cockrum, No. 25 Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet, 49, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 24, Scott Lagasse Jr., No. 24 JGL Racing Young Guns Toyota, 48, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 33, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Talladega Chevrolet, 32, , , , , , 2, Fuel Pump
36) 9, William Byron #, No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet, 32, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 5, Brandon Jones, No. 33 Nexteer Chevrolet, 20, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 3, Daniel Hemric #, No. 21 Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet, 20, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 20, Spencer Gallagher #, No. 23 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, 20, , , , , , 1, Accident
40) 34, Ray Black II, No. 07 Double D Meat Co. Chevrolet, 7, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series; (#) Rookie    Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 09 Mins, 41 Secs.

Average Speed: 139.068 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.142 Seconds
Race Comments: Aric Almirola won the 26th Annual Sparks Energy 300, his third victory in 99 NASCAR XFINITY Series races. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 24 (unapproved adjustments), No. 48 (unapproved adjustments) and No. 89 (unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: (1) 78 BJ McLeod.
Caution Flags: 5 for 20 laps: Laps: 9-11 (fluid from No. 07 in turn 1 [None]); 22-23 (No. 6, No. 9, No. 18, No. 21, No. 23, No. 24, No. 33, No. 42, No. 48 incident in turn 3 [Red Flag: 9:28] [None]); 27-32 (Stage 1 conclusion [6]); 51-55 (No. 00, No. 11, No. 16, No. 24, No. 25, No. 62, No. 90, No. 98 incident in turn 1 [Red Flag: 11:05] Stage 2 Conclusion [18]); 99-102 (debris on frontstretch [19]).
Lead Changes: 28 among 14 drivers: B. Koch 0; K. Kahne(i) 1-5; B. Kennedy 6-10; B. Koch 11; K. Kahne(i) 12-13; D. Suarez(i) 14; K. Kahne(i) 15; J. Logano(i) 16-19; A. Almirola(i) 20-27; M. Annett 28-33; T. Dillon(i) 34-37; J. Logano(i) 38-46; E. Jones(i) 47; J. Allgaier 48-51; G. Smithley 52; J. Allgaier 53-58; E. Jones(i) 59; A. Almirola(i) 60; K. Kahne(i) 61-70; E. Jones(i) 71; J. Green 72-89; R. Chastain 90; J. Allgaier 91-104; J. Logano(i) 105-106; E. Jones(i) 107; J. Logano(i) 108; E. Jones(i) 109; A. Almirola(i) 110-113; R. Sieg 114; 
Coors Light Pole Award: Blake Koch, No. 11 183.49 mph
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race": Ben Kennedy, No. 2 
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Roush Yates Engines, No. 98
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Aric Almirola, No. 98 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Matt Tifft, No. 19