 |
||
|
Aric Almirola Has Stellar Run at New Hampshire
|
|||
 |
Behind the wheel of the No. 47 FedEx Kinko’s Silverado fielded by Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, the 21-year old finished eighth in the highly competitive NASCAR Big-Three series. His previous best finish was 10th at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 5, 2005.
It was Almirola’s first race on the tricky 1.058-mile track. In fact, Almirola had never seen the facility much less the track until he walked in the NCTS garage Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. When he strapped in the No. 47 for the first practice session, Almirola wasn’t sure what to expect.
“I was excited and nervous at the same time,” said the second-year Joe Gibbs Racing diversity racing team driver. “I thought there might be something I learned at IRP that would transfer to New Hampshire but I was wrong about that.
 |
“It took me the better part of the first practice to figure a few things out about the track so I wasn’t able to give (Randy) Goss, my crew chief, the kind of feedback I needed to. But then I got more comfortable with it and what I needed to do with my truck and we started to improve from there.”
After qualifying 15th of the 38 trucks on hand to attempt make the 36-truck field, Almirola was ready to tackle the challenges ahead in the 200-lap/211.6 mile race on the track known as the “Magic” Mile.
In a repeat of his performance at IRP, Almirola displayed the patience and skill of a seasoned veteran. He ran smoothly and consistently in the first 50 laps of the race while fighting a tight condition.
 |
On lap 58, Goss made the decision to come down pit road under caution for adjustments to help the handling of the truck for Almirola. The stop dropped the Tampa, FL native back in the running order but he again methodically worked his way back into the top-20.
When the caution flew again on lap 83, Goss decided to make a bold move and pit out of sequence with the leaders in hopes of gaining track position later in the race. The crew made a lightning quick pit stop for four tires, fuel and adjustments to give Almirola better drive off the corners.
The gamble paid off big time for the veteran crew chief and his rookie driver. Goss was able to bring Almirola down pit road one last time for fuel only and a quick final adjustment on lap 110. As a result of most of the top contenders needing tires and fuel, Almirola gained track position both with his skill behind the wheel and Goss’s skill on top the pit box.