AVONDALE, Ariz. – Amid the disappointment of missing out on a berth in the Championship 4, a smile graced Aric Almirola’s face as he climbed from his race car at the end of the Can-Am 500 on Sunday.
After a career year, his first with Stewart-Haas Racing, Almirola’s odds-defying run through the playoffs came to an end at ISM Raceway. Entering the weekend in a must-win situation, Almirola restarted on the front row with 12 laps left, but couldn’t get the drive he needed to battle with eventual winner Kyle Busch and faded to fourth at the checkered flag.
Almirola had actually lined up third one restart earlier, the position that he felt was his best shot to try and capitalize on a season-altering victory.
“I thought I had a better opportunity when I restarted third, to be honest with you,” noted Almirola. “That outside lane … it was just slick up there, to where you’d spin the tires and the guy on the bottom could just turn down away from you and gap the second-place guy.
“I knew I had a better shot from the second row, but it just didn’t work out, man,” he added. “I’m so proud of this team, though. We’ve got an awesome group of guys. (Crew chief) Johnny Klausmeier and this whole crew, what we’ve accomplished in our first year together as a group is amazing. All these teams that we were racing against in this round have four, five, seven and even 10 years or more of experience working together, and we were right with them. We’ve accomplished a lot in one year.”
With one race remaining, Almirola’s season stat-line consists of one win, four top-five and 16 top-10 finishes, all of which are career-high marks for the Tampa, Fla., native.
He also set personal bests in laps led with 181, average starting position (15.7) and average finishing position (12.9), and he’s guaranteed his best finish in the point standings as well.
That has Almirola extremely optimistic for what’s to come with his No. 10 Ford team.
“This field isn’t done dealing with us just yet. We’ve still got Homestead, and I believe that the future of this team is so bright,” Almirola said. “That’s honestly what has me the most fired up. I’m disappointed that we didn’t win and that we didn’t advance to the final round (of the playoffs), but we didn’t have a car that I felt was truly capable of winning. That’s just the kind of team we have. We kept fighting.
“We fight, we claw and we never give up. You saw that this weekend. We had a seventh- or eighth-place car and the next thing you know, we had a shot to win the race. That’s all you can ask for sometimes.”
One year removed from a near career-ending back injury at Kansas Speedway, Almirola was overjoyed with the strength his new team showed after shifting from Richard Petty Motorsports over to Stewart-Haas and believes that the best times lie ahead.
“I feel like we’re not even close to our maximum potential as a race team,” admitted Almirola. “We’re still learning each other, we’re still growing together, and to have a year under our belts and the season that we’ve had is pretty awesome.
“As a competitor, you like to think that you can get the championship and you want it all, but with a new team and a new situation, I’ll take making the round of eight with a shot to win my way to Homestead.”
