Aric Almirola won the NASCAR Xfinity Series first race at the 12 turn Sonoma Raceway. The win placed Ryan Sieg Racing into victory lane for the first time ahead of AJ Allmendinger and pre-race favorite Kyle Larson.
Larson began the Door Dash 250 on the pole and wasted little time pulling away from the field at the start of the race at the 1.99-mile road course. He would be unchallenged in the first stage leading every lap in the stage finishing ahead of AJ Allmendinger and Aric Almirola. The first Xfinity Series driver was fourth place Justin Allgaier with another Cup Series driver in Ty Gibbs rounding out the top-five.
Josh Berry was the reason for the first caution as his stopped car was pushed to pit road on lap 21. John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill and Sage Karam all were able to pit prior to the caution and would cycle to the front of the field as others made their stops under yellow.
Hill would lead them to the green flag but it would be short lived as Larson again moved to the front of the field. On lap 34 Josh Williams would limp around the track before making his way into the pits. Larson would cruise to the stage two win with Allmendinger, Gibbs, Allgaier, and Hill rounding out the top five.
As pit stops cycled though, Larson would come out as the race leader but Jeffrey Earnhardt would bring out a caution after he was involved in an incident. Alex Labbe and Daniel Suarez would stay out but Aric Almirola would take the lead from Labbe on lap 64 with Suarez would be hit with a restart violation. A lap later Brandon Jones would spin after contact from Jeb Burton while Larson would pass Allmendinger for second.
Larson would pull up to Almirola with 8 to go would hit a tire bundle in turn 11 damaging the right front finder of his car and allowing Almirola to scoot away and Allmendinger to pass him for second.
The win is Almirola’s fourth in the Xfinity Series, his first since Talladega in 2017. A three-time Cup Series winner, Almirola last went to victory lane at Loudon in 2021.
Sonoma Raceway Xfinity Series Results
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
A. Almirola#28
|
4
|
17
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
A. Allmendinger#10
|
5
|
2
|
1.868
|
|
3 |
K. Larson#17
|
1
|
54
|
3.329
|
|
4 |
T. Gibbs#19
|
7
|
0
|
6.659
|
|
5 |
P. Kligerman#48
|
12
|
0
|
15.777
|
|
6 |
C. Custer#00
|
26
|
0
|
15.809
|
|
7 |
J. Allgaier#7
|
2
|
0
|
16.700
|
|
8 |
A. Hill#21
|
13
|
4
|
16.826
|
|
9 |
S. Smith#18
|
10
|
0
|
17.486
|
|
10 |
S. Mayer#1
|
6
|
0
|
18.454
|
|
11 |
S. Creed#2
|
3
|
0
|
21.171
|
|
12 |
B. Moffitt#25
|
14
|
0
|
23.166
|
|
13 |
D. Hemric#11
|
8
|
0
|
24.528
|
|
14 |
C. Smith#16
|
20
|
0
|
25.215
|
|
15 |
R. Herbst#98
|
23
|
0
|
28.699
|
|
16 |
J. Nemechek#20
|
9
|
1
|
30.545
|
|
17 |
J. Clements#51
|
24
|
0
|
31.200
|
|
18 |
R. Chastain#91
|
15
|
0
|
32.931
|
|
19 |
J. Bilicki#36
|
25
|
0
|
34.844
|
|
20 |
K. Grala#26
|
27
|
0
|
36.836
|
|
21 |
K. Weatherman#08
|
18
|
0
|
38.363
|
|
22 |
B. Jones#9
|
28
|
0
|
38.632
|
|
23 |
T. Dillon#4
|
32
|
0
|
41.449
|
|
24 |
D. Lupton#43
|
33
|
0
|
41.502
|
|
25 |
A. Labbe#29
|
11
|
2
|
43.457
|
|
26 |
J. Burton#27
|
30
|
0
|
44.262
|
|
27 |
R. Sieg#39
|
34
|
0
|
48.904
|
|
28 |
B. Perez#53
|
31
|
0
|
49.680
|
|
29 |
D. Suárez#07
|
17
|
0
|
50.086
|
|
30 |
B. Perkins#02
|
36
|
0
|
54.292
|
|
31 |
J. Graf Jr#38
|
38
|
0
|
67.239
|
|
32 |
C. Mosack#24
|
29
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
33 |
J. Berry#8
|
19
|
0
|
4 Laps
|
|
34 |
S. Karam#44
|
21
|
0
|
–
|
|
35 |
J. Williams#92
|
22
|
0
|
–
|
|
36 |
J. Earnhardt#45
|
35
|
0
|
–
|
|
37 |
A. Alfredo#78
|
37
|
0
|
–
|
|
38 |
P. Retzlaff#31
|
16
|
0
|
–
|
