Aric Almirola Tag

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer After finishing fourth in the 2017 Daytona 500, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season has been leaving a lot to desire for Aric Almirola. Since Daytona, Almirola has had only one Top 15 finish as the series entered Richmond International Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400. In the first practice, Almirola placed his No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion a disappointing 27th on the charts. Qualifying was not much better as Almirola missed moving on to round two, ending up 25th on the grid. InRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Chase Elliott kicked off Speedweeks last Sunday by scoring his second consecutive Daytona 500 pole and the sophomore Hendrick Motorsports driver continued his hot streak on Thursday night by winning the first of the two Can-Am Duel races. “We had such a fast NAPA Chevy tonight. I didn’t think anyone was going to help us there at the first part of the race and I had a couple of good pushes to get us out front. Eddie did a great job on top of theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The last time the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited Daytona International Speedway, Aric Almirola took home the victory in controversial and dramatic fashion. A multi-car accident on the backstretch forced NASCAR officials to throw the caution as Almirola and Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier battled side-by-side for the lead. After several minutes, it was determined that Almirola was in front of Allgaier at the time of the caution. The last time a NASCAR Xfinity Series regular won at Daytona was in the 2015 season opener whenRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor After Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, the cars of race-winner Martin Truex Jr. and 12th-place finisher Jimmie Johnson failed post-race LIS (laser inspection station). But according to NASCAR, the infraction will not result in the loss of Chase advancement for Truex. The penalty for both drivers should be of the P2 variety, which should result in a minimum of 10 points and a $15,000 fine. With Truex’s Chase advancement not in question, the penalty definitely will hurt Johnson much more. A 10-point deduction wouldRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor 2014 was a special season for Aric Almirola and Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola recorded his first career victory in a rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and as a result Richard Petty Motorsports had a driver in the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time in the organization’s history. Almirola started the Chase with a blown an engine at Chicago in the first round, which doomed his chances of advancing, but it honestly looked like the team and driver were on the verge of makingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After 500 miles around the historic Darlington Raceway last Sunday, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond for the final regular season race that will set the 16 driver field for the Chase with Saturday night’s running of the Federated Auto Parts 400. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75 mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side by side racing thatRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer One year ago, two days of on-and-off rain plagued the NASCAR triple-header weekend at the Kentucky Speedway.  Attempts at drying the track became an agonizingly long and frustrating process as persistent weepers came up through the surface. It was at that moment that Speedway officials realized that it was time for drastic measures. The track surface, that had survived fifteen winters of freeze/thaw cycles and become as bumpy as a washboard, would be replaced. More than 17,000 tons of asphalt was torn out and hauledRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Aric Almirola won his second NASCAR XFINITY Series race by much less than a nose. But to the driver of the No. 98 Fred Biagi-owned Ford, that was a vast improvement over his first victory in the series—when he wasn’t even in the car when the race ended. In Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Almirola was inches ahead of Justin Allgaier off the final corner in overtime when NASCAR called the eighth caution of the raceRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For Justin Allgaier, the superspeedways have been near misses this season. Allgaier started the weekend at Daytona International Speedway ninth fastest in the weather shortened practice, and then qualified seventh for the race. The JR Motorsports driver ran up front for the first run of the race, and was running well when the first caution flew. After the restart, the first big wreck of the race occurred directly in front of Allgaier, narrowly missing the spinning No.87 Toyota Camry of Joe Nemechek. Allgaier ended upRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the second time in as many races at restrictor plate tracks, the finish to Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona came down to NASCAR analyzing the video replay due to a last lap caution and by the time all was said and done, Aric Almirola was scored as the race winner for his second win in his home state of Florida. Almirola first visited victory lane at Daytona back in 2014 with a win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the rainRead More