Aric Almirola gets ‘second chance’ with Xfinity Vegas win

Aric Almirola is heading back to Phoenix Raceway at the end of the month with unfinished business.

He has an Xfinity Series championship to win for Joe Gibbs Racing.

No, this isn’t the Xfinity Series championship but Almirola winning the Focused Health 302 does send the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 to the owners championship, which does have some monetary and pride value to the organization.

This happened last year too with Almirola actually having run the entire playoffs in this car but came up short in the season finale. There was also an open question if Almirola would be in the car for the final this year, as that was originally scheduled to be run by Justin Bonsignore, but that was laid to rest after the race.

“We decided that this week  that we’re going to go try and win an owner’s championship,” Almirola said during his post-race press conference.

It’s an interesting turn of events because Almirola said after coming up short last year that he wasn’t sure he wanted to pursue that goal again. He said after running 14 races, including the entire playoff run last year, that it felt too much like running full-time, which is something he gave up to spend more time with his family and race only when needed at JGR.

This was his 14th start this season, his three wins matching the total from last year, and now he’s been convinced to chase this championship too.

But Almirola said he and wife Janice talked this over and there has been buy-in to do this with the Gibbs family, a relationship that means a great deal to him, and also where he started his NASCAR national touring career.

“There is no explanation for why it’s happening other than God has His hands in it,” Almirola said. “This shouldn’t happen, right? When I announced I was going to retire, nobody had to give me this opportunity. Then Coach comes out of blue and said ‘I want you to come run some races with us and I think you will have some fun doing it.’

“He said it would be fun for us to win some races and finish my career where it started.”

The partners on this No. 19 car are all ministry related as well, meaning Almirola also gets to race while spreading the message that is part-and-parcel to his very identity as a man. To do it that way, and win races, and maybe a championship in fewer than 20 races continues to be a dream scenario.

What would that championship mean?

“It would be the highlight of my career,” Almirola said. “Honestly, it would be. I left Phoenix last year pretty said and disappointed that I didn’t get it done for coach.

“What’s interesting to me, is that at this stage of my career, I don’t have to have this. I love it and I want it but I don’t have to have it.”

That wasn’t the case when he was a teenager and in his 20s.

“The fact that I don’t have to have it and I get to have this opportunity for Coach and the Gibbs family after they gave me my first opportunities …,” Almirola said. “I just left Phoenix last year thinking what a bummer it was to finish one spot short to bringing a championship to JGR.

“Now, all of a sudden, the way this year has played out, and finding myself here with another opportunity, maybe the Lord has blessed me with a second chance at it, and maybe I won’t screw it up this time.”

Filling out the grid

In the process, several rematches may be coming at Phoenix too in that Almirola will get a chance to take on eventual champion Justin Allgaier again just like last year. But also, Almirola may have to once again go through Connor Zilisch and his 10-win season, just like he needed to on Saturday at Vegas.

Almirola had the best car all race, sweeping both stages, but needed to outduel Zilisch in the closing laps and it took some contact too.

“It was fun to race against those guys,” Zilisch said. “I thought it was all clean. We just raced hard and I probably could have been a little nicer (to Almirola) but track position was so important that I did everything I could to keep the lead.

“But yeah, just going to keep my head down, and hopefully I get to race him a couple more times this year.”

Contact in the battle for the lead between Almirola and Zilisch

Photo by: Chris Williams / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

At this point, he didn’t realize Almirola is now racing for the owner’s championship.

So also, for the second year in a row, there will be five drivers racing for a championship of some kind with the four championship drivers joining Almirola on the owner’s side. Zilisch is all but a lock and Allgaier is too with third place finish that gives him a lot of breathing room ahead of Talladega and Martinsville.

“I guess that leaves three points spots for the owners’ and two more opportunities to go win,” Allgaier said. “I’m happy for Aric. We’ve become really close and our kids go to school together and have spent a lot of time at the volleyball court watching our kids play together and I know how hard he and that team works.

“It’s funny because we won here in the spring, won the pole, and to come out of here third, I’m kind of defeated and frustrated. That says a lot about where our teams and confidence is so we’ll keep digging.”

Updated grid

Connor Zilisch +82
Justin Allgaier +44
Jesse Love +20
Sam Mayer +8
—
Brandon Jones -8
Sheldon Creed -21
Carson Kvapil -22
Sammy Smith -24

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– The Motorsport.com Team