XFINITY Series Martinsville Speedway

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Qualifying Results

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
Cole Custer celebrates in victory lane
Avondale, Arizona - November 4, 2023 : Cole Custer, driver of the #00 Haas Automation Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway.
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
Dude Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway Qualifying results
GRP RNK # DRIVER TEAM MAKE TME SPD LAP # # LAPS BHND
1 1 9 Brandon Jones JR Motorsports Chevrolet 19.694 96.151 2 2 0.000
1 2 00 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.757 95.845 2 2 0.063
1 3 18 Sheldon Creed Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.758 95.840 2 2 0.064
1 4 27 Jeb Burton Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet 19.794 95.665 2 2 0.100
1 5 7 Justin Allgaier JR Motorsports Chevrolet 19.796 95.656 2 2 0.102
1 6 20 Aric Almirola Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.802 95.627 2 2 0.108
1 7 5 Anthony Alfredo Our Motorsports Chevrolet 19.807 95.603 2 2 0.113
1 8 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Ford 19.832 95.482 2 2 0.138
1 9 1 Sam Mayer JR Motorsports Chevrolet 19.834 95.472 2 2 0.140
1 10 21 Austin Hill Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.855 95.371 2 2 0.161
1 11 2 Jesse Love Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.862 95.338 2 2 0.168
1 12 88 Carson Kvapil JR Motorsports Chevrolet 19.874 95.280 2 2 0.180
1 13 31 Parker Retzlaff Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet 19.897 95.170 2 2 0.203
1 14 38 Matt DiBenedetto RSS Racing Ford 19.905 95.132 2 2 0.211
1 15 16 AJ Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 19.938 94.974 2 2 0.244
1 16 19 Taylor Gray Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.938 94.974 2 2 0.244
1 17 8 Sammy Smith JR Motorsports Chevrolet 19.939 94.970 1 2 0.245
1 18 48 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Racing Chevrolet 19.960 94.870 2 2 0.266
1 19 97 Shane van Gisbergen Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 19.997 94.694 2 2 0.303
1 20 26 Corey Heim Sam Hunt Racing Toyota 20.012 94.623 1 2 0.318
1 21 51 Jeremy Clements Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet 20.037 94.505 2 2 0.343
1 22 98 Riley Herbst Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 20.039 94.496 2 2 0.345
1 23 11 Josh Williams Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 20.040 94.491 2 2 0.346
1 24 44 Brennan Poole Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet 20.049 94.449 2 2 0.355
1 25 42 Leland Honeyman Jr Young's Motorsports Chevrolet 20.084 94.284 2 2 0.390
1 26 91 Kyle Weatherman DGM Racing Chevrolet 20.110 94.162 2 2 0.416
1 27 15 Hailie Deegan AM Racing Ford 20.122 94.106 2 2 0.428
1 28 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Ford 20.129 94.073 2 2 0.435
1 29 43 Ryan Ellis Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet 20.139 94.027 2 2 0.445
1 30 29 Blaine Perkins RSS Racing Ford 20.148 93.985 2 2 0.454
1 31 6 Garrett Smithley JD Motorsports Chevrolet 20.210 93.696 2 2 0.516
1 32 4 Dawson Cram JD Motorsports Chevrolet 20.232 93.594 2 2 0.538
1 33 92 Dexter Bean DGM Racing Chevrolet 20.348 93.061 2 2 0.654
1 34 07 Myatt Snider SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 20.434 92.669 1 2 0.740
1 35 14 Logan Bearden SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 20.649 91.704 1 2 0.955
1 36 53 Joey Gase Joey Gase Motorsports Ford 20.653 91.686 2 2 0.959
1 37 81 Chandler Smith Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 0.000 0.000 0 0 19.694
1 38 35 Akinori Ogata Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet 0.000 0.000 0 0 19.694
1 39 74 Ryan Vargas Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet 20.675 91.589 2 2 0.981