Almirola Earns First Top-Five with SHR at New Hampshire

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

For the first time since joining Stewart-Haas Racing, Aric Almirola has earned a top-five finish. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver once again appeared to have a chance to record his first victory since 2014 in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Prior to the final caution on lap 258, Almirola had been leading in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion. Under yellow, a slow pit stop dropped the Ford Performance driver from the lead to third on the running order. On the ensuing restart, Almirola spun his tires, bunching up the entire inside line, and he slipped outside the top-five. On the short 40-lap run to the finish, he recovered to finish in third.

“I’m disappointed,” Almirola admitted. “You think I’d be really excited to run top five and I’m not.  We had the best car hands-down. There’s no doubt in my mind. We gave it away on pit road and then I gave it away again on the restart. I spun the tires on the restart and didn’t even give myself a fighting chance, so I’m just really frustrated.

“Chicago, we had a car capable of winning and we didn’t execute today again with another car capable of winning, and we didn’t get our Smithfield Ford Fusion in Victory Lane. It’s just frustrating. They say you’ve got to lose some before you win some and I feel like we’ve lost some now and it’s time to stop it and go to Victory Lane. I’m really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

Almirola had been strong throughout the entire 301-lap race. He finished both stages inside the top-10, his car coming alive in the final stage. Almirola often battled Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., and teammate Kevin Harvick. He ran down fellow SHR driver Kurt Busch to take the lead on lap 212. Between the time he captured the lead and the final caution, Almirola only relinquished the lead during green flag pit stops.

“It’s different from my past, but I’m competitive,” Almirola said about being disappointed to finish inside the top-five. “I’m just competitive by nature and I want to win, especially for everybody that believes in me and support me – Tony Stewart, Gene Haas, everybody at Haas Automation and Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford Motor Company and Smithfield – everybody has put so much into believing in me and giving me this opportunity to come here and I feel like I owe it to them to win and to prove them right that they made the right choice. I’m frustrated that I didn’t get to Victory Lane today.”

The top-five finish was the first of the season for Almirola and his first with Stewart-Haas Racing. It was also his first top-five finish since the Talladega Superspeedway Playoff race last season. Almirola has now led more laps this season than he has in any previous seasons in his Premier Series career. The third-place finish was also his best finish at the ‘Magic Mile.’

Almirola remains 11^thin the Championship Points Standings. He is 269-points behind Points Leader Kyle Busch and 128-points ahead of the cutoff for the Playoffs, held by Alex Bowman. Almirola still has just one Playoff Point compared to the ‘big three’ that have over 25 Playoff Points each.

Now Almirola and his SHR team will look ahead to the Gander Outdoors’s 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 29. He earned his first top-10 at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ earlier this season.