ARIC ALMIROLA WINS INAUGURAL XFINITY RACE AT SONOMA
SONOMA, CA – June 12, 2023 – Aric Almirola won Saturday’s inaugural Xfinity Series DoorDash 250 at Sonoma Raceway, marking the fourth victory of his Xfinity Series career, first on a road course, and first win for the RSS Racing team.
“Congratulations to Aric, Rod Sieg, and everyone at RSS Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing on the Xfinity race win at Sonoma” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Aric and his team executed throughout the race to stay up front and be in the position to win at the end. It’s great to win this inaugural event and see the No. 28 in victory lane.”
“I knew that this racetrack, this is one I that 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 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. Everybody at Sieg Racing. Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for the collaboration and I’m just really thankful.” commented Almirola.
Aric Almirola qualified P4 for Saturday’s DoorDash 250 at the 1.99-mile road course and was one of seven NASCAR Cup Series drivers that entered this event. There were only 2 caution periods throughout the race for a total of 8 laps with 10 lead changes among 6 different drivers. The end of the race was a battle between Almirola, Kyle Larson, and AJ Allmendinger. After a restart on lap 65, Almirola was able to take the lead after restarting in fifth position and hold off a hard-charging Kyle Larson. Almirola took the checkered flag in his No. 28 Ford Mustang, winning over AJ Allmendinger by 1.868 seconds. This victory marks the second in a row for Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines in the Xfinity Series.
Ford Performance teammate Cole Custer with Stewart-Haas Racing finished P6 posting his eighth consecutive top-10 of the season, while Brett Moffitt with AM Racing finished P12 and Riley Herbst with Stewart-Haas Racing finished P15.
The NASCAR Cup Series also raced at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday. Team Penske’s Joey Logano finished P3, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher finished P4, and Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell finished in P7.
Both the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series take a one-week break and head to Nashville Superspeedway next weekend.