Just as he did at Bristol Motor Speedway a few weeks ago, Aric Almirola drove the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, netting him his third win of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and sixth since reuniting with the team ahead of the 2024 season.
Almirola originally entered Saturday's Focused Health 302 without any more starts confirmed for the remainder of the 2025 season, with three races remaining on the schedule after the Las Vegas race. Now, however, a Joe Gibbs Racing lineup change for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway has been confirmed.
Justin Bonsignore, who trails only Almirola with seven starts behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota this year, had been slated to compete at Phoenix in early November, but now Almirola is set to drive the car in that race.
Responding to a question from @DustinAlbino ... Aric Almirola said he will be in the JGR No. 19 car at Phoenix to try to win the owners title. It originally was a Justin Bonsignore race.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 12, 2025
Aric Almirola in, Justin Bonsignore out at Phoenix
Almirola's Las Vegas win locked the No. 19 team into the Championship 4 for the owner championship, so he is effectively set to compete for that title in three weeks. He won the race at Phoenix back in March after placing third in the 2024 season finale.
Bonsignore was also supposed to compete in the Bristol race that Almirola won in September, though he was initially said to be replacing that start with a start in the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. As of now, the No. 19 car doesn't have a confirmed driver for either race remaining (Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville) in the round of 8.
He did make his seventh start of the year at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago and was knocked out in a crash. Performance-wise, and for a team competing for an owner championship, it's hard to argue against the switch to Almirola for the Phoenix race, with Bonsignore's top finish this year being 12th (Iowa Speedway).
With the No. 19 team locked into the owner Championship 4, however, it could be interesting to see if Bonsignore does get the nod to compete at either Talladega or Martinsville.
Other than him and Almirola, five drivers have driven the "star car" at some point this year. One is Jack Perkins, a road course specialist, and the other four are full-time Cup Series drivers who are ineligible to run Xfinity Series playoff races.
The United Rentals 250 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Talladega Superspeedway starting at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 18. If you've yet to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff action!