Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Aric Almirola came into Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway feeling like he had some unfinished business.
Almirola came into this weekend credited with one XFINITY Series win coming at Milwaukee back in 2007. However it hardly felt like a win. Almirola was subbing for Denny Hamlin and had dominated much of the early part of the race only to be replaced by Hamlin upon return from Sonoma, who went on to win that race. It was a taste that Almirola couldn’t get out of his mouth.
Almirola found redemption on a wild Daytona night holding off Justin Allgaier in a green-white-checker overtime finish that had to be reviewed by NASCAR due to it being a photo finish.
“It was an emotional last few laps,” Almirola said. “I thought I had a shot to win but wasn’t sure I would get it done. I got a big push from the 7 and then he pulled out and the 18 came and gave me a good push. I am really thankful for that. It is a huge night for me to get back to victory lane in the XFINITY Series. I didn’t feel like I truly won in the XFINITY Series before but tonight was my night. Now I can truly say I have truly won in every series in NASCAR.”
Ryan Sieg finished third followed by Joey Logano and Brendan Gaughan rounded out the top five.
Ryan Reed, Jeff Green, Spencer Gallagher, Chase Elliott, and Erik Jones rounded out the top ten finishers in Friday night’s race at the world center of racing.
The race saw the big one early on lap 14 which impacted the finish of several of the main contenders for the win including Austin Dillon, Darrell Wallace Jr., Daniel Suarez among others.
“I seen the 6 (Wallace) side draft the guy in front of him and the 48 (Brennan Poole) just got into him,” said Dillon, who led 10 laps before he was collected in the crash, which took his team six laps to repair before returning. “It’s just a product of guys trying too hard, too early, and a competition caution 10 laps from now. … It’s just speedway racing.”
Series points leader Daniel Suarez was involved in a wreck on Lap 48 when his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got loose from Ross Chastain and lost control of his car, ultimately hitting the wall. Suarez finished 32nd — his worst finish of 2016.
A seventh caution of the night fell on Lap 96 and brought the race to overtime.David Starr and Brennan Poole were the ones who got tangled, sending both cars spinning.
The XFINITY Series heads to the resurfaced and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway next Friday night for the Alsco 300.
