September 29, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Almirola beats Xfinity Series Playoff drivers at Kansas Speedway

Kansas City, Kansas — Part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Aric Almirola ran down Playoff leader Cole Custer in the closing laps of Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway and pulled away for his second victory of the season in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

In a Round of 12 Playoff opener that ended with several unhappy drivers and a handful of post-race conversations between Playoff contenders, Almirola picked up his first win at the 1.5-mile track and the sixth of his career.

Almirola beat Custer to the finish line by 0.660 seconds, with Chandler Smith trailing in third after raising Custer’s ire by squeezing the No. 00 Ford into the outside wall as Custer chased Smith for the lead—before Almirola made his late-race run.

To seal the win, Almirola had to overcome a brush with the outside wall on Lap 124 and a resulting cut tire that forced him to the pits. An opportune caution that interrupted a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 145 was all Almirola needed to get back on equal footing with the other contenders.

Almirola is the fourth driver to win two races this season in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, joining Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex.

“I’m wore out,” said Almirola, who passed Custer for the lead on Lap 197 of 200. “That was a hard day at the office for a guy that’s been sitting on the couch. I just pushed too hard there when we had the issue on pit road (a slow stop), and I got in the fence and cut the right-rear tire down.

“I knew I had to put my head down and go to work after that. We got lucky to get the caution when we did, and we were out of tires, so the fact that it went green there to the end (for the final 49 laps)… that’s where we were strong. We were really strong on the long runs.”

After the race, Custer had a brief conversation with Smith and vowed revenge.

“Everybody wants to try and talk afterwards,” Custer said. “At the end of the day, he put me in the fence, and he’s going to pay for it.”

Smith countered that he didn’t believe Custer ever had position to his outside.

“We’re racing for the win and five extra Playoff points,” said Smith, who led 114 laps. “You’ve got a very, very valid statement, I understand, but I also wouldn’t change what I did, because I was giving myself the best shot to win.”

Non-Playoff driver Connor Zilisch finished fourth, followed by Sheldon Creed, who improved his position in the Playoff standings by four spots with his seventh top five in the last nine races.

Pole winner Brandon Jones, who didn’t make the postseason, was fifth, followed by Playoff drivers Austin Hill, Shane van Gisbergen, Jesse Love and Riley Herbst.

In another post-race conversation, Hill apologized to Herbst for Lap 90 contact that sent Herbst’s Ford spinning through the infield grass at the end of the second stage. In yet another tete a tete between Playoff drivers, Sammy Smith took AJ Allmendinger to task for early contact that damaged Smith’s Chevrolet.

Smith finished 22nd and heads to next Saturday’s Playoff race at Talladega 12th in the standings, 23 points below the cut line for the Round of 8.

Allmendinger (17th Saturday) and Parker Kligerman (12th) are 10th and 11th in the Playoff standings, 13 and 15 points below the cutoff, respectively.

The shockingly bad luck haunting top-seeded Justin Allgaier continued in force on Saturday. Racing in close quarters with Creed after a restart on Lap 70, Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet broke loose, slid across traffic and nosed into the inside wall on the backstretch.

After frantic repairs, Allgaier attempted to return to the race, but a cut left-front tire sent him into the outside wall and out of action in 36th place.

Allgaier’s exit came eight days after a series of accidents knocked him out of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway and cost him the regular-season championship.

“I don’t know if I’ve had a stretch of races that have been like these last three or four weeks,” said Allgaier. “We’re not out of it by any stretch. Obviously, that’s why you do all the work to get all the bonus points you can.

“We’ve got a long road the next two weeks. I’ve got the team that can do it. We’ve just got to go have some luck on our side.”

Allgaier fell from first to ninth in the standings and trails Herbst by one point in the battle for the final berth in the Round of 8.

Custer now leads the series by five points over Chandler Smith, with Hill 15 points back. Fourth-place Sam Mayer, who ran 13th at Kansas, is 28 points behind Custer and three points ahead of Creed in fifth.

Van Gisbergen and Love are sixth and seventh in the Playoff standings, respectively eight and three points above cut line for the next round.


NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 27
Race Results for the Kansas Lottery 300 - Saturday, September 28, 2024
Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS - 1.5 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 9/28/2024 @ 07:52 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 6 20 Aric Almirola (P) He Gets Us Toyota 200 1 2 59 Running 2 16 6
2 3 00 Cole Custer (P) CW on NXT Ford 200 3 3 51 Running 4 48
3 2 81 Chandler Smith (P) QuickTie Toyota 200 2 4 50 Running 5 114
4 4 88 Connor Zilisch KOA/RTIC Chevrolet 200  5 39 Running  
5 15 18 Sheldon Creed (P) Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 200 6 7 41 Running  
6 1 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Schultz Chevrolet 200 4 8 41 Running 2 4
7 10 21 Austin Hill (P) Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 200 7 6 39 Running  
8 22 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) Safety Culture Chevrolet 200   29 Running  
9 7 2 Jesse Love # (P) Whelen Chevrolet 200   28 Running  
10 16 98 Riley Herbst (P) Monster Energy Ford 200 9  29 Running  
11 18 11 Josh Williams Call 811 Chevrolet 200   26 Running  
12 8 48 Parker Kligerman (P) Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet 200 10  26 Running  
13 5 1 Sam Mayer (P) QPS Employment Group Chevrolet 200 5 1 40 Running 1 18 1
14 24 38 Matt DiBenedetto ReMA Ford 200  9 25 Running  
15 20 5 Anthony Alfredo Ferguson Chevrolet 200   22 Running  
16 12 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 200  10 22 Running  
17 14 16 AJ Allmendinger (P) Morris-Shea Bridge Co. Inc. Chevrolet 199   20 Running  
18 28 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door/DoorLink Chevrolet 199   19 Running  
19 29 43 Ryan Ellis Snapchat Chevrolet 199   18 Running  
20 25 14 JJ Yeley MPV Express Ford 199   17 Running  
21 23 31 Parker Retzlaff EasyCare Chevrolet 199   16 Running  
22 13 8 Sammy Smith (P) TMC Transportation Chevrolet 199   15 Running  
23 19 27 Jeb Burton BG Products Chevrolet 198   14 Running  
24 21 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Ford 198   13 Running  
25 38 42 Leland Honeyman # Hardscape Contractors Chevrolet 198   12 Running  
26 33 91 Kyle Weatherman Crav'n Flavor Chevrolet 197   11 Running  
27 26 51 Jeremy Clements Impel Union Chevrolet 197   10 Running  
28 32 29 Blaine Perkins Crocodile Cloth Ford 197   9 Running  
29 36 74 Ryan Vargas Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet 196   8 Running  
30 35 07 Patrick Emerling BB Roofing Chevrolet 196   7 Running  
31 17 26 Corey Heim(i) Endava Toyota 195   0 Running  
32 34 35 Joey Gase Branson.com Chevrolet 194   5 Running  
33 31 15 Logan Bearden AirBox Ford 190   4 Running  
34 30 10 Daniel Dye(i) Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet 189   0 Running  
35 27 92 Dawson Cram(i) Trade with the Pros Chevrolet 174   0 Fuel Pressure  
36 9 7 Justin Allgaier (P) BRANDT Chevrolet 73 8  4 Accident  
37 37 45 Brad Perez APEX Coffee Roasters Chevrolet 61   1 Oil Pump  
38 11 19 Taylor Gray(i) Operation 300 Toyota 45   0 Engine  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 28 Mins, 43 Secs. Average Speed: 121.036 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.660 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 20, 81, 00, 9, 1, 18, 21, 7, 98, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 1, 20, 00, 81, 88, 21, 18, 9, 38, 39

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 6 for 33 laps; Laps: 7-10 (#8 Spin Backstretch [51]); 46-53 (Fluid on track / Stage 1 Conclusion [91]); 66-69 (#45 Stopped on Track [8]); 71-75 (#7, 18 Incident Backstretch [42]); 92-97 (#21, 98 Incident Turn 4 / Stage 2 Conclusion [43]); 146-151 (Debris on Track [39]).

Lead Changes: 14 among 5 drivers; C. Smith (P) 1-9; B. Jones 10; C. Smith (P) 11-36; A. Almirola (P) 37-48; C. Smith (P) 49; C. Custer (P) 50-75; S. Mayer (P) 76-93; C. Smith (P) 94-136; C. Custer (P) 137-144; B. Jones 145-147; C. Custer (P) 148-155; C. Smith (P) 156-190; C. Custer (P) 191-196; A. Almirola (P) 197-200.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: October 5, 2024 - Talladega Superspeedway

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CURRENT XFINITY STANDINGS

POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-
1 00 Cole Custer Ford +41
2 81 Chandler Smith Toyota +36
3 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet +26
4 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet +13
5 18 Sheldon Creed Toyota +10
6 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Chevrolet +8
7 2 Jesse Love Chevrolet +3
8 98 Riley Herbst Ford +1

On The Bubble
9 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet -1
10 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet -13
11 48 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet -15
12 8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet -23