Aric Almirola Tag

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

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – The events that occurred on the 200th lap of the 2017 Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway are ones that Aric Almirola and his family would like to forget. Ahead of Almirola, Joey Logano and Danica Patrick had wrecked violently in turns one and two. Unfortunately for Almirola, he had already committed to running the high line in the corner. He ran into some fluid and slid out of control into Logano’s car at over 160mph. The impact was so violent itRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Martin Truex Jr. finally ended his Kansas hex. Truex streaked away on the final restart with two laps left in Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. Truex led a race-high 104 of 267 laps to win for the ninth time in his career and for the second time this season. Three times in the past, Truex had led the most laps in a Kansas race—without winning. But onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Kansas Speedway is not normally a track known for its vicious crashes, but with 67 laps to go in Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400, a three-car crash involving Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, and Aric Almirola, would bring out the red flag as safety officials worked to extricate Almirola from his car. 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 contact with the right-rear of Patrick’s car andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The number of crew chiefs suspended from this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway has now grown to three as Drew Blickensderfer, crew chief for Aric Almirola, was penalized for post-race inspection issues after last Sunday’s race at Talladega. After Almirola finished fourth in the GEICO 500, NASCAR announced that the No. 43 team had failed the post-race rear wheel steer on the Laser Inspection Station, which is the same issue that Brad Keselowski’s team encountered after their top-five finish atRead More