Heading into Saturday’s DoorDash 250 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, penciling Aric Almirola in as a potential winner aboard the No. 28 for RSS Racing seemed ludicrous.
Especially after NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying earlier in the day, when Kyle Larson locked down the pole position by nearly a second over second-place starter A.J. Allmendinger.
A respectable fourth place qualifying effort by Almirola was admirable, though taking on Larson (five combined road course wins in NASCAR) and Allmendinger (13 combined road course wins in NASCAR) was another set of challenges at the drop of the green flag.
Despite what seemed like an improbable feat, Almirola held off some of NASCAR’s finest road course racers to earn his first career road course win.
“This is so special. It’s hard to explain,” Almirola said. “I know it’s an Xfinity win. It’s not a Cup win, but after COTA (Circuit of the Americas) I told Davin and Drew, I was like, ‘Man, I really don’t think I should run anymore road course races in the Xfinity car. It makes me look like a wanker and I lose self-confidence going into Sunday.’
“But I knew that this racetrack, this is one I can run good at. I’ve run good here my whole career. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love racing here. I’m just so thankful to everybody on this race team.”
The victory was RSS Racing’s first win in the Xfinity Series after 614 starts prior.
“I’m just really thankful that they allowed me to run this car and to come here and run with this team and these guys and I’m just so proud of everybody’s hard work,” Almirola said. “Everybody at Sieg Racing. Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for the collaboration and I’m just really thankful.”
Larson’s Late Mistake Proves Costly
Larson looked to be in control of the 79-lap race after starting from the pole, scoring Stage One and Stage Two victories and leading a race-high 53 laps.
Though everything changed after a caution flag with 19 laps to go due to a Jeffrey Earnhardt crash erased Larson’s 13.5-second lead.
From there Larson pit with the leaders, winning the race off pit road. However, Alex Labbe and Daniel Suarez stayed out to retain the front row on the restart.
On the ensuing restart with 14 laps to go, both Suarez and Labbe went wide in turn three, allowing Almirola to squeak by everyone.
Larson chased Almirola back down, hounding the rear bumper of Almirola’s No. 28 Ford Mustang for a handful of laps. With eight laps to go, Larson clipped one of the tire bundles in turn 11 with his right rear tire, pushing the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro up the track.
That was weird. Kyle Larson falls to third late at Sonoma. pic.twitter.com/R1iDEfn9yY
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 11, 2023
Allmendinger slipped by Larson for second, with the 2021 Cup Series champion having to settle for third.
Key Notes
• JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry slowed on the race track while running 15th on lap 20 before coming to a stop between turns seven and eight. A caution would be displayed with the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro stopped.
After getting repairs for a suspected fuel pressure issue, Berry regained power and returned to the 1.99-mile road course. He would finish 33rd, three laps down.
• Cup Series drivers swept the front four spots with Almirola, Allmendinger, Larson and Ty Gibbs finishing first through fourth.
• The first Xfinity Series regular on the pylon was Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman in fifth. It was Kligerman’s fifth top 10 of the season.
• Last week’s Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway winner Cole Custer brought his No. 00 Ford Mustang home in sixth.