Aric Almirola has some added incentive to succeed in Sunday’s 1000bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver came tantalizingly close to winning his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race last week at Dover International Speedway. Almirola led 64 laps and had control of the race until the complexion was changed dramatically by a late caution.
Almirola came to pit road for four tires under caution and was ready to make a charge back to the front. But he slipped racing off Turn 2 down the backstretch and subsequently collected Brad Keselowski to trigger a multi-car accident.
He wound up finishing 13th and fell to ninth in the playoff standings, 10 points below the cutline heading to the second race of the round at Talladega.
“It would’ve been nice to seal the deal at Dover last weekend and not have to worry about Talladega, but that didn’t work out, so now we have to go race,” Almirola said. “I think for us being in the position we’re in, we can’t just ride around and be cautious and let those guys score stage points without us scoring stage points.
“Hopefully, we’ll have some luck on our side and we’ll stay out of the big one and score stage points, and really be on offense.”
Piloting a Ford should be an advantage for Almirola as the manufacturer has been very strong in restrictor-plate racing of late particularly at the 2.66-mile Alabama track. Ford has won six straight at Talladega and Almirola believes that strength will continue this weekend.
“The Fords typically run well at Talladega and up front,” said Almirola, who has four straight top 10s at Talladega.
“I think Stewart-Haas Racing has been right on the heels of Team Penske and their success at Talladega. So as much as Talladega is a wild card, I think it kind of plays into our favor given that our cars are so fast.”
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But Almirola knows nothing will come easy at the challenging track. The variables of restrictor-plate racing and the shear intensity of Talladega will make Sunday’s race a difficult proposition for every driver to succeed.
“I have had some great races at Talladega and won an Xfinity race there, run top five quite a few times in the Cup Series,” Almirola said. “It has been a good place for me, but it’s still the unknown. You can get caught up in a wreck that had nothing to do with you, or you could be the cause of the wreck.
“Things just happen when you’re running 200 miles per hour and an inch apart from each other for three hours. One mistake and it usually collects a lot of people. You just have to hope you’re in the right place at the right time. If we are, it could be a good day for us.”
