Story By: SAM MAHONEY / TOYOTA RACING – DARLINGTON, SC – Aric Almirola led Toyota with a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Sheldon Creed scored his third straight top-10 with a ninth-place run. It is his seventh top-10 finish in the first 11 races of the season.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Darlington Raceway
Race 11 of 33 – 200.802 miles, 147 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, Austin Hill*
3rd, Cole Custer*
4th, Sam Mayer*
5th, ARIC ALMIROLA
9th, SHELDON CREED
12th, CHANDLER SMITH
18th, TAYLOR GRAY
23rd, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Can you tell me about that run?
“It was a great run. Track position was tough today. The cars are so evenly matched. The 7 (Justin Allgaier) was certainly the class of the field, but I felt like – at given times – I could match his pace, and then when I finally got to second there – it was what I needed to figure out where we stacked up against them. Just didn’t execute perfectly on pit road – some of mine doing as well – but still a good run. Every time I get in this car, I plan to win and expect to win. Fifth is great, but I want to win – but Justin was so fast. Proud of everyone on this He Gets Us Toyota GR Supra. They’ve been working hard. They’ve been bringing great race cars to the race track. We will go to Charlotte.”
SHELDON CREED, No. 18 Ivan Stewart Tribute Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Solid top-10, and a great livery that I know means a lot to you. Can you talk about your race?
“Overall, I love throwback weekend at Darlington. To be able to throwback to an off-road legend like Ivan Stewart was really cool for us. A great looking Supra today. Certainly, wish it would have gone a little better and we could have been faster to start – just was really, really tight at the beginning of the race, and pretty much the start of every run. I would just build slowly freer, so that I could drive against the fence and move around a little more, but ultimately, just battled too tight all day – it was a little frustrating, but good to get another top-10. Just want to run better at this place.”