Chaotic Overtime Finish Gives Almirola Phoenix Xfinity Win

Aric Almirola (19) takes the checkered flag ahead of Alex Bowman (17) and Brandon Jones to win Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – A trio of veteran racers took the NASCAR Xfinity Series field to school and put on a Saturday matinee that ended in one of the most memorable final laps in Phoenix Raceway history.

Restarting on the outside of the front row in overtime, Aric Almirola pulled off a climactic and aggressive rally that slammed the door shut on Alex Bowman’s shot at an elusive hometown win, capturing his eighth career Xfinity Series victory and first of the season in the GOVX 200.

Entering turn two of the race-deciding two-lap dash, leader Justin Allgaier washed up into Almirola’s No. 19 Toyota, opening the door for Bowman to shoot through the middle of four wide and pass them and third-place Brandon Jones for the top spot.

After taking the white flag, Almirola hounded the rear bumper of Bowman’s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet before diving off into turn three a lane lower than Bowman. Almirola held his ground underneath the leader, before getting loose off the final corner and shooting up into the left-side door of Bowman’s No. 17.

Some 200 yards before the finish line, Almirola squeezed Bowman into the wall and then took the checkered flag in front by just .045 seconds – the second-closest Xfinity Series finish ever at Phoenix.

Aric Almirola celebrates with a burnout after winning Saturday's GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway. (Danny Hansen/NKP for Toyota GAZOO Racing photo)

“I just knew I needed to get from there to here first,” Almirola said after climbing from his race car. “I knew I was going to use him up a little bit, but I was trying to win the race. I feel like it was warranted.

“I didn’t feel like I did anything overly egregious. I just throttled up, and it was a drag race to the start-finish line,” Almirola added. “

Bowman’s bid for a win at his home track started off with him winning the pole in qualifying and leading all 45 laps of the opening stage. Following the first set of pit stops, the Tucson, Ariz., driver slipped to second, and wound up finishing the second segment behind Allgaier and Almirola, respectively.

Despite being unable to contend with the speed of Allgaier and Almirola after losing the lead, Bowman remained a mainstay inside the top three for the entirety of the race.

While it appeared a four-wide pass through the middle coming to the white flag would be a race-winning move, Bowman was ultimate forced to settle for a runner-up after trading paint with Almirola in the final corner and ending up with a heavily-damaged race car.

“I would have hoped he would have given me a lane on exit,” said Bowman. “He just exited like I wasn’t there. He was better than us for sure, but I was just trying to capitalize on that restart and trying to win the race. Instead, I got shoved into the fence, and the race car is destroyed.

“Bummer for that, but hats off to the HendrickCars.com crew for giving us a shot all day.”

Allgaier returned to the site of his greatest success – his first Xfinity Series title last year – and looked like he was on cruise control en route to what would have been his third victory at Phoenix.

Starting the race from 14th, the JR Motorsports driver worked his way up to third by the end of the first segment, then went on to lead five times for a race-high 130 laps, earning the stage two win in the process.

But as has become tradition in spring races at Phoenix, bad luck once again struck Allgaier, as the sixth and final caution of the day came out and erased his 1.2-second lead over Almirola with two laps to go.

Noticing the jet dryers blew all the rubber off the track, Allgaier opted to restart on the bottom as the control car in overtime, which ended up being the wrong decision.

Exiting turn two, Allgaier’s No. 7 washed up into Almirola, and he was never able to recover. Instead, he brought his BRANDT Chevrolet home fifth, behind Jones and fourth-place finisher Ryan Sieg.

It marked the fourth time in the last six Phoenix Xfinity Series races that Allgaier was passed for the win in the final laps.

Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Christian Eckes, Jesse Love, and Nick Sanchez closed out the top 10. Eckes and Sanchez were the two highest-finishing first-year drivers Saturday in this season’s talented rookie class.

Notably, of the 208 laps completed in the GOVX 200 at Phoenix, the trio of Almirola, Allgaier and Bowman combined for 205 spent pacing the field – more than 98% of the race.

Aside from the late caution that generated the dramatic overtime finish, the other incident of note came on a lap-62 restart in stage two, when Atlanta winner Austin Hill misjudged his entry into turn three and slapped the inside wall before bouncing across the racetrack into traffic.

Running seventh at the time, Hill’s mistake collected Sheldon Creed and Dean Thompson in a three-car melee, causing enough damage to eliminate all three drivers from contention.

Creed finished 36th, Hill was scored 37th, and Thompson ended up last in the 38-car field as a result.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will look to follow up its remarkable Phoenix display at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in one week’s time.

Coverage of the LiUNA! 300 is slated for Saturday, March 15 at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.