Pit Stops : Phoenix Raceway

• Thursday, March 6th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Xfinity Series: Eight different winners in last eight Phoenix races

Teenage sensation Connor Zilisch became the third driver in as many races to earn a NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff berth after dominating last week’s race at Circuit of The Americas in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

History suggests Saturday’s GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway (5 p.m. ET on the CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) could produce another new winner. The last eight Phoenix Xfinity Series races have had eight different winners.

Recent races at Phoenix have been defined by dominance, with the driver leading the most laps winning the last six races at the track. Last year’s spring winner, Chandler Smith, led 88 of 205 laps, taking an overtime victory. In the fall, Riley Herbst led 167 of 213 laps to win in overtime.

Richard Childress Racing is just one win away from its 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, a milestone reached only by Joe Gibbs Racing (215 wins) and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (138 wins).

• Phoenix Raceway
• GOVX 200
• Pole Winner: Alex Bowman
• Age: 31
• Team : No 17 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Hendrick Motorsports
• Crew Chief: Adam Wall
• Alex Bowman won the Pole Award for the GOVX 200 with a lap of 27276 seconds, 131984 mph
• This is his fourth pole in 57 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in seven races at Phoenix Raceway
• Sheldon Creed (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2025 and his eighth in eight races at Phoenix Raceway
• Sammy Smith (third) posted his third top-10 start at Phoenix Raceway It is his first in four races this season
• Connor Zilisch (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie His best start on an oval
• It has been 3,192 days between poles for Alex Bowman, the third longest in NXS history
• This is Hendrick Motorsport's 42nd Xfinity Series pole

• Saturday, March 8th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Aric Almirola claims thrilling overtime Xfinity Series victory at Phoenix Raceway

Aric Almirola made a dramatic last-lap pass in overtime to claim the win in Saturday’s GOVX 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway, making door-to-door contact with Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman in the final two turns. The .045-second margin of victory was the second-closest finish in the track’s history.

Almirola led 25 laps on the afternoon, but his last-lap move to the checkered flag was the only one he led in the final 50 laps of the 208-lap event. His No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota emerged from a four-wide battle for the lead on the final restart with two laps remaining, then finally overtook Bowman less than 200 feet from the finish line.

It was the eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory for the 40-year-old Tampa native, who has been racing part-time for JGR after retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition two years ago.

“I just knew I needed to get from there to here first,” Almirola said, standing by his car at the start-finish line. “I knew I was going to use him up a little bit, but 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.”

Bowman, who drives the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, was making his first Xfinity start of the year for the team. He started on the pole, led the first 70 laps of the race, and won the opening stage. After the race, he expressed frustration over the contact between his Chevrolet and Almirola’s Toyota.

“I would have hoped he would have given me a lane on exit,” said the Arizona native. “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 try to win the race. I got shoved into the fence, and the race car is destroyed. Bummer for that, but hats off to the HendrickCars.com crew.”

Almirola’s teammate Brandon Jones finished third, followed by owner-driver Ryan Sieg and reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, whose No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led a race-best 130 laps and was out front on that final overtime restart.

Allgaier, who won the second stage, was understandably disappointed in both the restart and race outcome.

He got a good jump to the green flag on the restart but was quickly swallowed up in the four-wide battle out front. The result was particularly gut-wrenching considering he was also leading late in the track’s spring race last year when he had a tire problem with only five laps remaining and instead suffered a DNF.

“I thought the 19 [Almirola] was pretty good at the end of the run, and we were pushing pace when the caution came out,” Allgaier said. “I kind of knew we were a sitting duck. They blew all the marbles off the top [of the track] right in front of us leaders, and we just picked up a ton of trash on our tires.

“Just got into [Turn] 1 and had no grip,” he said of the restart. “I’m just sad about the finish for our Brandt Chevrolet. I thought it was really, really good. I thought we had the car to beat there.

“This one is going to hurt. I feel like the last three laps of this place have hated me over the last couple years. Even though we won a championship [here] last fall, it seems like no matter what, the last few laps haven’t been our deal. We’ll go back to the drawing board. Nothing to hang our heads about.”

JGR rookie Taylor Gray, Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer, Kaulig Racing rookie Christian Eckes, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, and Big Machine Racing rookie Nick Sanchez rounded out the top 10.

A trio of race frontrunners was taken out on Lap 63 when Daytona season opener winner Austin Hill said he misjudged the lower wall and careened back up the racetrack, collecting Haas driver Sheldon Creed and Sam Hunt Racing’s Dean Thompson.

“I just messed up and misjudged the inside wall, and that might be the dumbest move that ever happened to me in racing,” Richard Childress Racing driver Hill said. “I feel bad for those guys. It was 100 percent my fault. Just a misjudgment on my part.”

The accident was not only a big impact on the wall for Hill but also had an impact on the championship standings, dropping him to fourth place heading into Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week.

Love holds a two-point edge over Allgaier atop the standings.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 200
• Laps Actual: 208 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.045 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 15 Minutes 40 Seconds
• Average Speed: 91.990
• Cautions: 6 for 46 laps
• Lead Changes: 14
• Green Flag Passes: 1,245 (7.7 passes per green flag lap)

• Phoenix Raceway
• GOVX 200
• Race Winner: Aric Almirola
• Age: 40
• Team : No 19 - Younglife Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
• Crew Chief: Seth Chavka
• Aric Almirola won the GOVX 200, his eighth victory in 120 Xfinity Series races
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Phoenix Raceway
• Alex Bowman (second) posted his second top-10 finish in seven races at Phoenix Raceway It is his first top-10 finish in 2025
• Brandon Jones (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 19 races at Phoenix Raceway
• Taylor Gray (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Jesse Love leads the point standings by 2 points over Justin Allgaier
• Today's Margin of Victory of 0045-second is the second closest finish in NXS history at Phoenix; the record is 0030 in 2011
• This is Joe Gibbs Racing's 216th NXS victory