XFINITY: Almirola Captures Win; Tempers Flare Between Custer, Chandler Smith

Toby Christie | Nov 2, 2024

Aaron Giffin | Racing America

Aric Almirola was all business on Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway as the veteran racer, who is driving part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year, marched to a dominant win in the National Debt Relief 250. After taking the seventh win of his Xfinity Series career, Almirola had high praise for his team and the car they brought to the track on Saturday.

Almirola was bummed on Friday as he felt his car was out to lunch in practice. But the team banded together, made some changes, and they went on to win the race.

“Wow. What an amazing race car," Almirola exclaimed. "So proud of Tyler (Allen, crew chief) and all of the guys on this team. We had an amazing car here in the Spring, and we made a few tweaks to it because I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the Spring. We showed up yesterday and we were awful. I was like oh, no, what did we do, and they went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car. It was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to."

With the win, Almirola's No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team will advance to the NASCAR Xfinity Series owners' Championship 4.

"Thank you, God," Almirola said. "There is so much more to it than just me and this race team. Just so lucky and blessed with this opportunity with so many partners – Go Bowling. I hate – they’ve been such a great partner of mine for such a long time, and we haven’t got them to victory lane. Just so thankful. Thankful to everyone at TRD, Toyota. Our GR Supra was fast – faster than the Xfinity internet today. Just what an amazing race car. I’m so proud – so, so proud. We are going to go race for an owner’s championship in Phoenix.”

In all, Almirola led 150 of the 250 laps and won Stages 1 and 2 on his path to taking the overall win in Saturday's race. Almirola crossed the finish line 0.587 seconds ahead of JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith, who was looking to advance to the Championship 4 with a win. While he was stalking Almirola in the closing laps, he simply had nothing for the native of Tampa, Florida.

The win marks Almirola's third victory of the season, and the 40-year-old swept both NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Martinsville Speedway this year.

While Almirola was performing his celebratory burnouts on the frontstretch of the 0.526-mile short track, tempers were heated on pit road as third-place finisher Chandler Smith confronted fourth-place finisher Cole Custer and even threw a punch at his competitor during the heated exchange. The punch didn't land, evidenced by a smile on Custer's face, but Custer's move late in the race, which foiled Smith's bid to win did land.

Things get HEATED between @ColeCuster and @CSmith_Racing post-race! 😳

Settle this on @WWENXT ?? pic.twitter.com/FQ2Pc2I1tE

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) November 2, 2024

Here is the move that Custer made on Smith, who lined up in the second position on the late-race restart with Custer right behind him in the outside lane:

A stack-up on the restart shakes things up at the front of the field! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MiWEV0XTyf

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 2, 2024

Custer says the move that he put on Smith was due to the way Smith raced him for the win a few weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, ironically enough another race won by Almirola.

"I mean, I guess he's mad, but what goes around comes around," Custer said after Saturday's race at Martinsville. "At the end of the day, he put us in the fence a few times this year. He used his bumper on me, so I used my bumper on him. It is what it is. You know, you're going to race for a championship, you're put in these situations, and I don't mind doing it to him because he's done it to me."

While Smith has roughed up Custer a few times this year, Smith says he was frustrated because he felt that he and Custer had made things good as Smith had reached out to him to apologize after Kansas. The apology fell on deaf ears after Smith proceeded to bump and nudge Custer's bumper for five laps at Martinsville before eventually knocking him out of the way.

Additionally, Creed also had a Championship 4 berth that he was still competing for, the owners' championship. After their squabble, Smith downplayed the importance of the Championship 4 berth for Custer.

“He thought he was in a must-win for the owners – which he was – but at the end of the day, I get that his dad has some high up role at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing), so he probably values that a lot, but at the end of the day, I’m a driver. I’m in a must-win situation. He was not at that moment, and he didn’t even try to make the corner. Granted I moved him the lap before, but I’m beating his bumper off for the five laps before that. I gave him grace, before I finally shipped him, and then he doesn’t even try to give me a chance going into turn one. I think it was kind of a chicken[expletive] move. It is what it is."

Custer ultimately failed to achieve a Championship 4 berth for his Stewart-Haas Racing team with Almirola's win.

However, Custer, the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, did lock into the drivers' Championship 4 and he'll battle for the title at Phoenix Raceway next weekend against AJ Allmendinger, who won at Las Vegas, Austin Hill, who won at Homestead, and Justin Allgaier.

By failing to win Saturday night's race, Chandler Smith was one of the four NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 8 Playoff drivers eliminated at the conclusion of the event. Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, and Rookie of the Year contender Jesse Love were all eliminated from the Playoffs on Saturday night at Martinsville.

Next up for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is the final race of the season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 9. That race will be televised on The CW with coverage beginning at 7:30 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast of the race.