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Aric Almirola wins at Kansas, spoils NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff race

JHby:Jonathan Howard•about 12 hours•

Jondean25

Aric Almirola Kansas
Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

Today, Aric Almirola played playoff spoiler and won at Kansas Speedway. He took down Cole Custer for the win in a tight finish. This is the second win of the NASCAR season for Almirola and the eighth win for this No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

Coach Gibbs put together a very solid all-star team in this No. 20 car. Drivers are winning races in this car almost every other week. While Almirola has had ups and downs on and off the track this year, he’s back in Victory Lane.

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Aric Almirola watched Chandler Smith and Cole Custer fight for multiple laps. Then, when the time was right, he made his move.

This race had a lot of green flag laps, but the end was pure drama. A final restart with a little more than 50 laps to go set us up for a fantastic battle between Custer, Smith, and Almirola. In the end, the experienced veteran made the right moves to get past the young drivers and win at Kansas.

There was also plenty of drama throughout the field. AJ Allmendinger and Sammy Smith, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill, and Custer and Smith even had a bit of a conversation after the race was over and done.

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We did not see any punches thrown like Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson in 2023.

Aric Almirola wins at Kansas, racing for rest of playoffs

For the rest of the Xfinity Series Playoffs, Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel. His goal is to deliver an owner championship to Joe Gibbs Racing. Plain and simple. That is the one and only goal. Win races, win the championship.

Today was a disaster for Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier. Smith had a problem in the middle of the race after contact from Allmendinger. He now sits 12th overall, 23 points below the cutline. Allgaier is now -1 to the cutline, just below Herbst.

Shane van Gisbergen had a great race. He picked up another top-10 on an intermediate track. P8 at Kansas looks good next to his P7 from Darlington and P4 from Indy. It feels like SVG is starting to turn the corner when it comes to oval racing.

Aric Almirola gets the win at Kansas, the playoff field is jumbled around, and Talladega is next. Expect the worst, hope for the best, and pray that your driver has a good points cushion when the Roval and elimination comes around in two weeks.