Almirola turns tire gamble into NASCAR Xfinity Bristol win

The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs officially began at Bristol Motor Speedway, but it was a part-time driver taking victory for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which is in the owner’s championship.

Aric Almirola got the lead by staying out on old tires, and managed to fend off a hard-charging Sheldon Creed to earn his ninth career win. As for Creed, he remains winless in his NXS career with 15 second-place finishes. He tried everything he could, lunging to the inside of Almirola in the final corner, but it just wasn’t enough.

“Yeah, I’ve just been tired of getting beat by those guys,” said Almirola about the decision to stay out. “I figured I’d try my chances with the lead. They’ve been so fast and they fire off so fast on new cars, I just didn’t think I could beat them straight up on tires. It took me about 20 laps to get going, so I thought my best chance was to stay out on old tires.”

Behind Almirola and Creed, Sam Mayer finished third, Carson Kvapil fourth, and Connor Zilisch fifth. Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Christian Eckes, Jeremy Clements, and Brennan Poole filled out the remainder of the top ten.

In the driver standings, Taylor Gray is now on the bubble, three points above Nick Sanchez. Jesse Love is also at -3pts, with Austin Hill -16pts out and Sammy Smith at the bottom of the standings at -24pts.

Stage 1

The caution flew early for an incident involving Ryan Ellis and Kyle Sieg, while Allgaier controlled the race from pole position. 

Sammy Smith fell out of the race early with an engine issue, dealing a huge blow to his chances of advancing beyond the opening round of the playoffs.

Later in the stage, Corey Day lost control and spun sideways. Unfortunately, Stefan Parsons had nowhere to go and collided with the Hendrick Motorsports driver, damaging both cars.

The final run was chaotic, as both Burton and Love stayed out in a risky attempt to get some stage points. Love got away with the lead, but blew a corner and fell back through the field.

Allgaier cut a path through the chaos to win Stage 1, followed by Zilisch and Burton, whose gamble netted AM Racing eight stage points.

Stage 2

Mayer took the lead from Allgaier on the restart, as Burton and Love began to march back from the back of the field. Creed was doing the same after suffering a speeding penalty between the stages.

Ryan Sieg, who had a strong run, was forced to pit under green with a loose wheel, putting him multiple laps down.

Mayer held onto the lead for most of the stage, but Zilisch closed in on him as they encountered heavy traffic.

On the final lap, Zilisch got to his outside and secured the Stage 2 win.

Stage 3

Zilisch remained firmly in control for the start of the final stage.

Daniel Dye triggered the next caution when he spun on his own with 90 laps to go. Allgaier took the opportunity to pit under yellow, as he was beginning to struggle mightily with his car.

Zilisch continued to lead until a caution for a spinning Carson Ware, which completely changed the complexion of the race.

A handful of cars chose to stay out on older tires, while Zilisch restarted back in seventh. A wild restart ensued with lots of contact throughout the field. Love cut a tire down, and Gray went spinning as drivers argued over space on the track.

The next restart ended up being the last, and despite plenty of movement throughout the top ten, no one was able to get around the veteran Almirola.