Aric Almirola Tag

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Friendship can be a very strong bond. Two people that know that very well are Stewart Haas Racing’s co-owner Tony Stewart, and the team’s newest acquisition starting in 2018, Aric Almirola. Almirola and Stewart have been competing together for years. However, their careers have taken very different paths. Stewart won two championships with Joe Gibbs Racing before becoming an owner himself and winning a third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship in 2011. Almirola, who was once a Joe Gibbs Racing development driver spent timeRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Almirola, who currently drives the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports, takes over a ride that has been piloted by Danica Patrick for each of the last five full seasons. “I’ve known Aric since 2004 and have always been impressed with him on the racetrack,” said Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas. “I’ve raced with him and seen him mature into a really good racecar driver. He can compete for wins here at Stewart-Haas Racing and help our other driversRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Martin Truex Jr. survived a restart penalty and an unscheduled pit stop to return to what has become a thoroughly familiar locale—Victory Lane—in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. In a dramatic race that brought Truex his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, calamity eliminated four drivers from the series Playoff. Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson all saw their postseason hopes end with the final event in the Round of 12.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Each week NASCAR Editor David Morgan will break down who’s hot and who’s not after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. Today, we break down the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. WINNERS Brad Keselowski – With Ford having won the first three restrictor plate races of the season, Keselowski and the remainder of the Ford contingent came into Talladega with Sunday’s Alabama 500 circled as a prime opportunity to complete the season sweep and punch their ticket into the next round of theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – On the Longest Day at Talladega—in a war of attrition that required three red flags and left 14 cars running at the finish—Brad Keselowski powered his No. 2 Team Penske Ford past the No. 31 Chevrolet of Ryan Newman on the final lap to win Sunday’s Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Two laps after the final restart on Lap 186 of 188, Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano ganged up on Newman, who held the runner-up position after Keselowski shot past him. TrevorRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Surviving a race of attrition just to crash coming to the checkered flag may be dramatic, but it does not win you the race. Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola did just that, finishing fifth. The Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was anything but calm for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitor. With just a handful of undamaged cars and several competitive repaired cars, Almirola was in the thick of the battle for the lead in the No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion. Even inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Smithfield Foods, which has sponsored Richard Petty Motorsports and Aric Almirola since 2012, will be leaving the famed No. 43 car at the end of the 2017 season and heading over to Stewart-Haas Racing as a primary sponsor next season. The announcement made Tuesday was short on details, but noted that more information, including the driver who will be added to the Stewart-Haas Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stable will be announced at a later date. Currently, Stewart-Haas fields cars for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After eight weeks of recovery time, Aric Almirola will be returning to the cockpit of the No. 43 Ford this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Almirola was injured at Kansas Speedway in early May, suffering an acute compression fracture to his T5 Vertebra in his back after a vicious multi-car crash with Joey Logano and Danica Patrick. Entering Turn 1 on lap 200, Logano appeared to have something break on the right-front of his car, which turned his Ford to the left, making contactRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer With Aric Almirola still sidelined from a back injury suffered at Kansas Speedway, Casey Mears will pilot the No. 98 Fresh From Florida Ford Mustang at Daytona International Speedway. Mears is coming off a 21st place finish at Pocono Raceway three weeks ago. Mears brings his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series experience to Biagi DenBeste Racing and the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 as he slides into the same Mustang that has won two of the last three restrictor plate races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series withRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer With Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) driver Aric Almirola still recovering from his injury at Kansas Speedway, and substitute Darrell Wallace, Jr. having no experience at Sonoma Raceway, RPM elected to take a different route. Road racing veteran and IMSA regular, Billy Johnson will pilot the No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. This will be Johnson’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut. Johnson is fresh off the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans where he co-drove the No. 66Read More