TC Daily Pit Stop: Aric Almirola Holds Off Sheldon Creed's Last-Ditch Effort for Bristol Xfinity Win; Allmendinger Scores First Cup Pole in 10 Years
TC Daily Pit Stop: Saturday, September 13, 2025
Almirola Holds Off Creed’s Last-Ditch Effort to Score Bristol Xfinity Win
Sheldon Creed really wanted to snag his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series win. On Friday night, on the final lap of the Food City 300, Creed, who was running second, barreled his car deep into Turns 3 and 4 in an effort to get up alongside Aric Almirola, the race leader.
Fortunately, Almirola will never have to worry about what Creed would have potentially done to score his first win, as he was able to have just enough of a lead on Creed to pull off of the final turn to score his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season.
“I kind of shipped it in there in [Turns] 3 and 4, kind of knowing I wasn’t going to get there,” Creed explained. “Yeah, I tried to make it — I don’t know. I knew I wasn’t going to spook him, and maybe, I don’t know, if he would have lifted or if I could have got next to him, I don’t know if something would have happened, but yeah, just rallied all night.”
Almirola obtained the lead late in Friday night’s race by flipping his strategy off sync from Connor Zilisch. Almirola made the call as he felt it gave him the best chance to win the race. He was right.
“Yeah, I’ve just been tired of getting beat by those guys. I figured I’d try my chances with the lead,” Almirola explained in a post-race interview on The CW. “They’ve been so fast, and they fire off so fast on new tires. I just didn’t think I could beat them straight up on new tires. It took me about 20 laps to get going, so, I thought my best chance was to stay out on old tires.”
READ MORE
OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS
ALMIROLA PUTS NO. 19 IN NEXT ROUND OF OWNERS PLAYOFFS
With a victory at Bristol, Aric Almirola has put the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 into the ‘Round of 8’ in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner’s Playoffs. Here are the driver and owner championship Playoff Grids after Bristol:
A Lot Has Changed in the 10 Years Since AJ Allmendinger’s Last Pole
Heading into Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway, it had been more than 10 years since AJ Allmendinger last scored a pole position in NASCAR’s Premier series. After a stunning 15.117-second lap in qualifying, which allowed Allmendinger to top 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds for the pole, the long drought was over for Allmendinger.
Allmendinger now has five career poles at five different NASCAR Cup Series tracks.
But just how much has the world changed since the last time Allmendinger sat on the pole in August 2015? Let’s take a dive into how different NASCAR, the United States, and even the World was back then.
READ MORE
OFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP
QUALIFYING RECAP
Other NASCAR Headlines:
Dominant Bristol Win By Layne Riggs Leaves First-Lap Spin Forgotten
Five Drivers Who Could Be NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Spoilers at Bristol
Previewing the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol
TRUCKS: Sutton to Sport Tennessee Volunteers Paint Scheme at Bristol
Could Burton's AM Rebuild Raise Stock Enough for Second Chance in Cup?
William Byron to Pilot Special Valvoline/Blood Cancer United Paint Scheme at ROVAL
SATURDAY’S TV SCHEDULE
7:30 PM ET: NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (USA/HBO Max)
Bristol Race Weekend Resources:
Cup: Entry List | Practice | Qualifying
Xfinity: Entry List | Practice | Qualifying | Race
Truck: Entry List | Practice | Qualifying | Race
2025 NASCAR Season Resources:
Schedules: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Driver Points: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Owner Points: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Rookie Standings: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Manufacturer Standings: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
2025 Driver/Team Charts: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
2026 Driver/Team Charts: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR O’Reilly | NASCAR Trucks