Aric Almirola stone cold in Sonoma stunner

Kyle Larson is one of the best drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series and motorsport in general, as well as a former Cup winner at Sonoma Raceway. It was not surprising that he would dominate the lower Xfinity Series‘ inaugural trip to his home circuit on Saturday, crushing the field in practice and qualifying before leading the bulk of the race.

What was surprising, however, was that a late restart and rare stumble would do in his hopes of completing the daily sweep. Instead, Aric Almirola was the Cup driver in Victory Lane.

Larson led 53 of 80 laps ad swept both stages, asserting his dominance in such convincing fashion that he was leading the field by over thirteen seconds. Jeffrey Earnhardt‘s crash with fifteen laps remaining set up a restart for which Larson began in the second row behind Alex Labbé and Daniel Suárez, who elected not to pit. While the front row sparred with Almirola, Larson got caught up in a battle for third with A.J. Allmendinger before Larson clipped a stack of tyres in the final hairpin.

With his Cup colleagues fighting each other, Almirola drove off to his fourth career Xfinity win and first in any national series on a road course. The win was also the first for RSS Racing.

“This is so special. It’s hard to explain,” said Almirola. “I know it’s an Xfinity win. It’s not a Cup win, but after COTA, I told Davin (Restivo, Cup engineer) and Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief), I was like, ‘I really don’t think I should run any more 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 race track, 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.”

Even if in a lower series, Almirola hopes the victory can help turn his fortunes around on the Cup side. Since deciding to put off his retirement plans at the end of 2022, he has endured a difficult 2023 campaign with just one top ten and sitting twenty-fifth in points.

“It’s been a really tough year on the Cup side and to come out here and get a win and get to celebrate,” he continued. “My kids came out. We’re going to spend the week in California for our off week and they’re going to get to go to Victory Lane. That is so special. The pictures we have at home with our family in Victory Lane mean the most to me, so I’m so excited to share this Victory Lane here.”

With Ty Gibbs in fourth, the top four were all Cup regulars.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	4	28	Aric Almirola*	RSS Racing	Ford	79	Running
2	5	10	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
3	1	17	Kyle Larson*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
4	7	19	Ty Gibbs*	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	79	Running
5	12	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	79	Running
6	26	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	79	Running
7	2	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
8	13	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
9	10	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	79	Running
10	6	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
11	3	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
12	14	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	79	Running
13	8	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
14	20	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
15	23	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	79	Running
16	9	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	79	Running
17	24	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
18	15	91	Ross Chastain*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
19	25	36	Josh Bilicki	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
20	27	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	79	Running
21	28	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
22	18	08	Kyle Weatherman	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	79	Running
23	32	4	Ty Dillon*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
24	33	43	Dylan Lupton	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
25	11	29	Alex Labbé	RSS Racing	Ford	79	Running
26	30	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
27	17	07	Daniel Suárez*	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
28	34	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	79	Running
29	31	53	Brad Pérez	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	79	Running
30	36	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	Running
31	38	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	79	Running
32	29	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	78	Running
33	19	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	76	Running
34	21	44	Sage Karam	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	71	Transmission
35	22	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	60	Suspension
36	35	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	59	Accident
37	37	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	44	Suspension
38	16	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	21	Transmission
DNQ		6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet		
DNQ		35	Leland Honeyman Jr.	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet		
DNQ		66	Mason Filippi*	MBM Motorsports	Ford		

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points