Martinsville Xfinity results: Aric Almirola wins in overtime

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — After dominating much of the race, Aric Almirola regained the lead after an overtime restart and went on to win Saturday night’s Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Almirola also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus.

MORE: Martinsville results

MORE: Driver points after Martinsville

Sam Mayer finished a season-best second. Points leader Chandler Smith came from starting 37th to finish third. Twenty-year-old Carson Kvapil, driving for JR Motorsports, placed fourth in his Xfinity debut. Justin Allgaier completed the top five.

Almirola led 148 of the 251 laps. He lost the lead to Mayer with seven laps to go. A caution sent the race into overtime.

Almirola regained the lead on the final restart from the outside front row. Mayer moved up the track and Sheldon Creed went underneath him. They made contact, allowing Almirola to pull away and score his fifth career Xfinity Series win.

The Dash 4 Cash drivers eligible for a $100,000 bonus next week at Texas are: Mayer, Smith, Allgaier and Creed.

Stage 1 winner: Aric Almirola

Stage 2 winner: Justin Allgaier

Who had a good night: Chandler Smith’s third-place finish gives him a 3.28 average finish. That is tied for second best in series history through seven races. … JR Motorsports had not had a top-five finish until Saturday, placing three drivers in the top five: Sam Mayer (second), Carson Kvapil (fourth) and Justin Allgaier (fifth). … Josh Williams finished 10th for his first top 10 with Kaulig Racing.

Who had a bad night: Brandon Jones missed a shift on a restart at the start of the second stage, jamming up the outside line. The pile-up damaged the cars of Austin Hill, Corey Heim, AJ Allmendinger, among others. Hill, Heim, Allmendinger and Parker Retzlaff all were eliminated in the incident.

Next: The series races April 13 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1)