XFINITY Series Martinsville Speedway

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Loop Data Box Score

Dude Wipes 250

Saturday, April 6th, 2024

Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, VA

  • 24 Chevrolet
  • 5 Toyota
  • 8 Ford

  • Martinsville Speedway
  • DUDE Wipes 250
  • Pole Winner: Brandon Jones
  • Age: 27
  • Team : No 9 - Menards/Scotts Chevrolet
  • Owner: Rick Hendrick
  • Crew Chief: Phillip Bell
  • Brandon Jones won the Pole Award for the DUDE Wipes 250 with a lap of 19694 seconds, 96151 mph
  • This is his ninth pole in 276 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
  • This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2024
  • This is his second pole in eight races at Martinsville Speedway
  • Cole Custer (second) posted his fifth top-10 start of 2024 and his third in three races at Martinsville Speedway
  • Sheldon Creed (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway It is his fifth in seven races this season
  • Jesse Love (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

  • Saturday, April 6th, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Aric Almirola claims emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville

With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process.

With considerable help—perhaps unintentional—from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed after an overtime restart, Almirola grabbed the lead from Sam Mayer and won the DUDE Wipes 250 under caution when Riley Herbst, pole winner Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis wrecked in Turn 2 on the final lap.

The victory was Almirola’s first since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition and rejoining Joe Gibbs Racing this season. The record book will show that the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota has five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins to his credit, but Almirola has always considered his first one tainted.

In 2007, he won the pole at the Milwaukee Mile and started the race but turned the car over to Denny Hamlin, who was late in his commute from a Cup date at Sonoma Raceway. Hamlin won the race, but Almirola got credit for the victory as the driver of record.

“Man, this is so awesome,” Almirola said. “To win for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach (Joe Gibbs) for 17 years, and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Coach for calling me and giving me this opportunity to have some fun and still scratch the itch of racing but still get to spend a lot of time with our family.”

Though Almirola led 148 of 251 laps, the outcome was in doubt until he took command after the final restart. Race runner-up Sam Mayer held the lead at that point, but when Almirola’s JGR teammate Sheldon Creed took Almirola and Mayer three-wide in Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, contact slowed Mayer’s progress and allowed Almirola to break clear for the lead.

“Man, those restarts here are just ruthless,” said Mayer, who wrested the top spot from Almirola on Lap 243, moments before a five-car pileup on the frontstretch caused the 10th caution of the race.

“Painful. Obviously, the 20 was really, really good today. It was good that I was able to keep up and be as fast as them and pass all those JGR cars there at the end and march up to the front. That’s the first time I’ve done that here…

“But at the end of the day, we needed a ‘W’, and I got one I feel like stolen from me there a little bit.”

Mayer’s pass on Lap 243 was one of four lead changes over the final 12 laps. On Lap 239, JGR’s Chandler Smith, who started from the back of the field after crashing in practice on Friday, muscled past Almirola, who returned the favor by moving his teammate into the top lane for a pass on Lap 241.

“Chandler, I felt like used me up pretty good, so when I got back to him, I was going to make sure he knew it,” Almirola said. “From there the race was on. Mayer did a great job of getting to me and moving me out of the way.

“And then on that restart I knew it was going to be tough. I was really thankful to be able to hold on to it. They drilled me in the left rear, and I was able to hold on to it and get a good run off (Turn) 2.”

Smith ran third, followed by Carson Kvapil, who finished fourth in his Xfinity Series debut. Justin Allgaier came home fifth after starting from the rear. Creed, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, Sunoco rookie, Jesse Love and Josh Williams completed the top 10.

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was 11th in his first trip to Martinsville.

Almirola was won the Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers. Since he is not competing at Texas next weekend, the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in Fort Worth are Mayer, Smith, Allgaier and Creed.

  • Drivers Entered: 39 (1 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 250
  • Laps Actual: 251 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 7 Minutes 48 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 61.984
  • Cautions: 11 for 68 laps
  • Lead Changes: 15
  • Green Flag Passes: 1,273 (7.0 passes per green flag lap)

  • Martinsville Speedway
  • DUDE Wipes 250
  • Race Winner: Aric Almirola
  • Age: 40
  • Team : No 20 - He Gets Us Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Tyler Allen
  • Aric Almirola won the DUDE Wipes 250, his fifth victory in 108 Xfinity Series races
  • This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2024
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Martinsville Speedway
  • Sam Mayer (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in six races at Martinsville Speedway It is his second top-10 finish in 2024
  • Chandler Smith (third) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Martinsville Speedway
  • Jesse Love (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie
  • Chandler Smith leads the point standings by 35 points over Cole Custer
Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith race
Martinsville, Virginia - April 6, 2024 : Sam Mayer, driver of the #1 10X Health Chevrolet, and Sammy Smith, driver of the #8 TMC Transportation Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Xfinity Series DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway.
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
Dude Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway : Loop Data Box Score results
DRIVER ST MID CLO FIN HI LOW ARP PL DIF GFP GFxP PD QPS % QPS FST % T15 LED % LED LAPS DR TOT PTS
Aric Almirola 6 2 1 1 1 36 2.2 5 30 17 13 30 100.00 50 100.0 148 59.0 251 147.60 59
Sam Mayer 9 6 4 2 1 15 6.7 7 23 24 -1 22 95.65 9 100.0 11 4.4 251 110.70 42
Chandler Smith 37 4 3 3 1 37 10.1 34 59 31 28 36 61.02 25 76.9 3 1.2 251 105.70 37
Carson Kvapil 12 20 10 4 3 36 10.2 8 46 24 22 35 76.09 11 88.5 0 0.0 251 101.20 40
Justin Allgaier 5 1 7 5 1 35 10.6 0 52 33 19 27 51.92 16 74.9 14 5.6 251 96.00 42
Sheldon Creed 3 17 2 6 1 36 3.5 -3 23 23 0 23 100.00 27 98.8 0 0.0 251 118.50 45
Sammy Smith 17 16 6 7 1 34 9.9 10 38 30 8 14 36.84 13 73.7 42 16.7 251 101.70 38
Cole Custer 2 18 5 8 1 36 4.5 -6 27 36 -9 27 100.00 13 98.8 27 10.8 251 114.40 43
Jesse Love 11 10 11 9 7 16 11.2 2 39 47 -8 38 97.44 0 96.4 0 0.0 251 80.80 28
Josh Williams 23 22 16 10 10 27 15.4 13 49 32 17 24 48.98 0 45.8 0 0.0 251 78.20 27
Shane van Gisbergen 19 9 14 11 9 26 17.3 8 51 54 -3 17 33.33 0 30.3 0 0.0 251 70.30 26
Parker Kligerman 18 21 18 12 1 34 20.6 6 55 53 2 10 18.18 0 9.2 5 2.0 251 70.70 25
Taylor Gray 16 11 13 13 10 30 15.5 3 49 39 10 27 55.10 0 61.8 0 0.0 251 73.70 0
Brennan Poole 24 24 21 14 14 32 20.7 10 48 34 14 1 2.08 0 0.4 0 0.0 251 66.20 23
Anthony Alfredo 7 23 9 15 5 29 11.2 -8 50 35 15 39 78.00 0 88.5 0 0.0 251 87.50 27
Blaine Perkins 30 13 25 16 13 36 23.9 14 44 63 -19 6 13.64 0 4.8 0 0.0 251 52.00 21
Ryan Sieg 8 19 15 17 7 36 11.5 -9 35 27 8 30 85.71 1 91.6 0 0.0 251 80.40 25
Hailie Deegan 27 30 22 18 18 38 27.5 9 33 49 -16 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 251 49.80 19
Myatt Snider 34 12 20 19 12 37 24.1 15 29 37 -8 0 0.00 0 0.8 0 0.0 251 54.30 18
Dexter Bean 33 15 27 20 11 38 25.1 13 40 42 -2 0 0.00 0 0.8 0 0.0 251 51.20 17
Matt DiBenedetto 14 28 26 21 13 31 22.4 -7 33 54 -21 2 6.06 0 6.8 0 0.0 251 57.30 16
Jeremy Clements 21 14 23 22 2 32 19.8 -1 45 49 -4 11 24.44 0 19.1 0 0.0 251 61.20 15
Kyle Sieg 28 29 24 23 21 32 26.8 5 41 48 -7 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 251 47.50 14
Dawson Cram 32 26 28 24 23 38 29.2 8 27 25 2 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 251 45.00 13
Riley Herbst 22 7 8 25 3 36 11.7 -3 51 44 7 28 54.90 1 79.7 0 0.0 250 77.30 12
Ryan Ellis 29 25 19 26 13 37 22.9 3 48 50 -2 4 8.33 0 0.8 0 0.0 250 53.20 11
Brandon Jones 1 3 12 27 1 36 13.3 -26 61 57 4 27 44.26 2 70.1 0 0.0 250 67.70 14
Joey Gase 36 8 29 28 1 38 29.9 8 9 27 -18 0 0.00 0 1.2 1 0.4 250 33.70 9
Garrett Smithley 31 27 30 29 19 35 26.4 2 23 41 -18 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 249 42.30 8
Logan Bearden 35 32 31 30 26 36 31.1 5 15 28 -13 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 247 35.70 7
Leland Honeyman Jr 25 31 32 31 23 36 31.2 -6 14 17 -3 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 244 33.80 6
Jeb Burton 4 5 17 32 3 30 11.5 -28 28 41 -13 28 100.00 0 82.9 0 0.0 242 70.30 9
Kyle Weatherman 26 33 33 33 3 36 31.7 -7 14 12 2 0 0.00 0 0.4 0 0.0 75 31.00 4
Austin Hill 10 34 34 34 1 36 27.2 -24 9 10 -1 9 100.00 0 28.3 0 0.0 71 59.70 6
Corey Heim 20 35 35 35 11 35 29.5 -15 19 17 2 12 63.16 0 17.5 0 0.0 70 48.00 0
AJ Allmendinger 15 36 36 36 5 26 28.3 -21 11 7 4 11 100.00 5 25.5 0 0.0 70 70.20 7
Parker Retzlaff 13 37 37 37 6 20 29.2 -24 1 5 -4 1 100.00 0 25.9 0 0.0 70 65.50 2
Akinori Ogata 38 38 38 38 21 38 37.6 0 4 7 -3 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 41 23.20 1