Aric Almirola finally removed the asterisk from his NASCAR record books on Saturday night, winning the DUDE Wipes 250 Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway after a wild, overtime restart.

Almirola’s first career Xfinity Series victory back in 2007 had come under controversial circumstances when he started the race at Milwaukee but turned the car over to Denny Hamlin. While he was credited with the win, Almirola had always considered it a tainted triumph.

“I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach (Joe Gibbs) for 17 years, and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing,” an elated Almirola said after taking the checkered flag.

The 40-year-old veteran seized the lead from Sam Mayer after contact from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Toyota slowed Mayer’s momentum on the restart with two laps remaining. As Mayer was jostled in the three-wide scrum, Almirola was able to clear him for the top spot.

“Those restarts here are just ruthless,” Mayer said afterward. “It was good that I was able to keep up and pass all those JGR cars there at the end and march up to the front. But at the end of the day, we needed a ‘W’, and I feel like one got stolen from me there a little bit.”

The frenetic final two laps also saw a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that brought out the caution, allowing Almirola to take the checkers under yellow. But there was no disputing the accomplishment Almirola in his first Xfinity start since ending his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career last year.

Along with the milestone first “real” Xfinity win, Almirola also collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among the four eligible drivers. Since he is not competing at Texas next weekend, the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in Fort Worth are Mayer, Smith, Allgaier and Creed.

It was a joyous celebration for Almirola and the Gibbs organization as he proudly hoisted the winner’s banner he had long craved.