Practice #1 : Martinsville Speedway

• Thursday, October 31st, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Justin Allgaier looks for another shot at NASCAR Xfinity title

There truly is no “middle class” in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings, as drivers head for Martinsville Speedway for Saturday’s National Debt Relief 250 (4 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

There are only “haves” and “have nots.” The former group includes Austin Hill and AJ Allmendinger, winners at Homestead and Las Vegas, respectively, in the Round of 8; and Justin Allgaier and defending series champion Cole Custer, who are significantly above the current elimination line for the Championship 4 Round (35 and 28 points, respectively).

The “have nots” include Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith, who realistically must find a way to win at Martinsville to earn a spot in the Nov. 9 title race at Phoenix Raceway.

Allgaier, who has raced in the Xfinity Series full-time since 2009, is seeking the only significant accomplishment that has eluded him during that span—a series championship.

The 38-year-old from Riverton, Illinois, won last year’s elimination race at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4 Round but finished second in the final standings behind Custer, who won the title race.

“We were in a similar position entering Martinsville last year and were fortunate enough to come away with the win and move on to the Championship Four,” said Allgaier, who has five top fives and seven top 10s in eight starts at the 0.526-mile short track. “That just further gives me all the confidence in the world in (crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and everyone on this (team) as we look ahead to this weekend.

“Martinsville has been a strong track for us, and I know we will be just as solid once we hit the track for practice on Friday. We just need to be smart all day long and keep the fenders as clean as we can on our JR Motorsports Camaro.”

• National Debt Relief 250
• Pole Winner: Parker Retzlaff
• Age: 21
• Team : No 31 - The Visual Pak Companies Chevrolet
• Owner: Jordan Anderson
• Crew Chief: Chad Kendrick
• Parker Retzlaff won the Pole Award for the National Debt Relief 250 with a lap of 19901 seconds, 95151 mph
• This is his second pole in 74 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his second pole and sixth top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in five races at Martinsville Speedway
• Anthony Alfredo (second) posted his seventh top-10 start of 2024 and his third in six races at Martinsville Speedway
• Chandler Smith (third) posted his second top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway It is his 26th in 32 races this season
• Jesse Love (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Aric Almirola completes season sweep in Martinsville elimination race

Tickets punched and punches thrown—it was Martinsville after all, and in Saturday’s National Debt Relief 250, Aric Almirola made Martinsville Speedway his personal playground.

Leading 150 of 250 laps in a No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that was the clear class of the field, Almirola won his second race in his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the 0.526-mile short track and earned a spot for his car in the series owners’ Championship 4.

In the process, Almirola denied JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and JGR’s Chandler Smith a chance to advance to the Championship 4 Race for the drivers’ title.

Pulling away after a restart on Lap 235, the part-time Xfinity Series driver beat runner-up Sammy Smith to the finish line by 0.587 seconds, with Chandler Smith trailing in third.

With Almirola winning the race, Justin Allgaier (fifth Saturday) and defending series champion Cole Custer (fourth) qualified for the Nov. 9 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix on points, joining Round of 8 race winners AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill.

Jesse Love (12th Saturday) and Sam Mayer (30th) were eliminated from the Playoffs along with the two Smiths, though Chandler gave a parting shot in the form of a punch to Custer, with whom he had tangled on the race track.

For Almirola, who won at Martinsville in April in his first Xfinity attempt, the victory was the third of the season in 13 starts and the seventh of his career.

“We had an amazing car here in the spring, and we made a few tweaks to it,” said Almirola, who also swept the first and second stages. “I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the spring. And we showed up (Friday) and we were awful. I was like ‘Oh, no, what did we do?’

“They went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car, and it was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to. This is such a special place. This is by far my favorite race track. I’m just so thankful.”

After Chandler Smith executed a bump-and run on Custer for a pass on Lap 220, Custer lined up behind Smith on the outside for a restart on Lap 227. In a race that produced 13 cautions for 84 laps, Custer shoved Smith’s Camry toward the wall in Turn 1, perhaps denying the latter a chance to race for the win.

After the race, Smith confronted Custer and threw a punch at the reigning champion.

“I was planning to do a lot more than that, to be completely frank with you,” Smith said. “I was extremely pissed off. I gave him five laps before that caution came out (for Brandon Jones spin on Lap 220). I beat his bumper off and never shipped him or anything. The laps were winding down, and I was in a must-win. The 20 (Almirola) started to drive away—he was really good all day—I can’t waste any more time with him.

“I finally had a good enough run and pushed him up the race track and went on our way. But I gave him a chance for five laps before that. I think he was the first guy all day that chose the outside lane from third place (for the Lap 227 restart). That was very interesting, and he didn’t even give me a chance to make the corner when we got to Turn 1.”

Custer thought that made the drivers all-square, though Smith disagreed.

“Obviously, he wasn’t happy, but what goes around comes around,” Custer said. “He put us in the wall a few times this year. He used the bump-and-run on me. I used the bump-and-run on him…

“I don’t know how we’re not even. And then he punched me in the face. I couldn’t really tell if he even punched me in the face, it was so soft.”

Along with Almirola, Hill and Allmendinger, Allgaier put his No. 7 Chevrolet in the Championship 4 for the owners’ title.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 250
• Margin of Victory: 0.587 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 11 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Average Speed: 60.000
• Cautions: 13 for 84 laps
• Lead Changes: 12
• Green Flag Passes: 1,550 (9.3 passes per green flag lap)

• National Debt Relief 250
• Race Winner: Aric Almirola
• Age: 40
• Team : No 20 - He Gets Us Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Tyler Allen
• Aric Almirola won the National Debt Relief 250, his seventh victory in 117 Xfinity Series races
• This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his second victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Martinsville Speedway
• Sammy Smith (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Martinsville Speedway It is his 16th top-10 finish in 2024
• Chandler Smith (third) posted his third top-10 finish in four races at Martinsville Speedway
• Jesse Love (12th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 7 points over Cole Custer