Aric Almirola won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity series race at Martinsville Speedway.
For Almirola, this marks Almirola’s seventh career Xfinity win and will now give Joe Gibbs Racing the chance to race for an owners championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Rounding out the top five were Sammy Smith in second, Chandler Smith in third, Cole Custer in fourth and Justin Allgaier in fifth.
On the other side of the equation, the Championship 4 is officially set for next Saturday’s Xfinity series finale race at Phoenix Raceway.
Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer both raced their way into the Championship 4 on points, joining AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill.
On pit road following the race, Chandler Smith confronted Cole Custer showing visible frustration and even throwing a punch to Custer showing his frustration with how Smith said Custer raced him in the closing laps.
“I have done him dirty a few times this year and owned up to it. Reached out to him. Apologized and made amends and all that. Right then I beat his bumper off for five laps. I didn’t never ship him and then finally I shipped him,” Smith told NBC Sports post-race.
“The caution came out, he picks behind me and doesn’t even give me a chance going into Turn 1. I get it but at the end of the day I thought it was a little bit of a (expletive) move honestly.”
Cole Custer, on the other hand said: “What goes around comes around. At the end of the day he put us in the fence a few times this year. He used his bumper on me so I used my bumper on him. It is what it is. You go and race for a championship and you’re put in these situations. I don’t mind doing it to him because he’s done it to me,” Custer told NBC Sports post-race.
Rounding out the top ten were Sheldon Creed in sixth, Anthony Alfredo in seventh, Parker Kligerman in eighth, Jeb Burton in ninth and Myatt Snider in tenth.
The NASCAR Xfinity series championship race from Phoenix Raceway gets underway on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on the CW Network.
Stage 1 Winner: Aric Almirola
Stage 2 Winner: Aric Almirola
Race Winner: Aric Almirola