Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan
After finishing just outside of the top 10 in five of the first 12 events so far this season, Aric Almirola can finally say that he has finished in the top-five.
The FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks wouldn’t start off that pretty for Almirola, though, as he fell down a lap in the first half of the event.
“I earned my money today that is for sure,” he commented. “This Smithfield Ford Fusion was a handful most of the day. It started off extremely tight. Trent Owens and the guys made really good adjustments on the car and got it better and better.”
Almirola was able to get back on the lead lap, and catch a caution to get caught back up in line with the leaders before falling back a lap down once again.
“Finally we weren’t the lucky dog, we raced and stayed on the lead lap and when the caution came out we got a chance to restart with the leaders,” he added. “That was the big break for us. Every time we would get the lucky dog I had to start dead last and 30-40-50 laps the leaders were right back on me.”
He then used the second half of the event to keep progressing his way up through the field, cracking the top-five on the G-W-C for a solid season.
“It was a great day for us, a really good points day for us,” he said. “I am proud of Trent Owens and all the guys at Richard Petty Motorsports. They have been working their guts out trying to bring better cars to the race track week in and week out.”
Moving forward, Almirola emphasized that they have to get better in qualifying if they want to continue doing better as his average starting spot so far this year is 24.5.
“That is our Achilles heel right now,” he commented. “We start too deep in the field every week. All in all it was a good day for us and I am ready to go to Pocono.”
