Almirola and No. 43 Smithfield Team Ready to Fight Back into The Chase

A late-race wreck in last weekend's Coke Zero 400 put Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team back in points. They now have a 24 point deficit to making The Chase. Knowing consistency is what got them this far this season, Almirola will look to get a Top-10 finish at Kentucky Speedway and try to work his way back into The Chase. Of course, a win would solve that problem, too, but the No. 43 team won't take any big risks to make that happen yet.

Almirola has three Sprint Cup Series starts at Kentucky Speedway with a best finish of 15th. He also has two XFINITY Series starts with a best finish of sixth and three Camping World Truck Series starts where he scored two Top-Fives including a best finish of third. The No. 43 team has been successful at intermediate tracks this year and tallied three 11th-place finishes.

Once again, race fans will have the chance to compete in the Whole Hog Challenge for a chance to win a trip to Miami and compete for the Grand Prize. Fans can head to the Smithfield display all weekend to sign up. Almirola and "The King" Richard Petty will be on hand at the Smithfield display in the fan area to judge the eating contest on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Almirola will also make an appearances at the Honda display at 3:35 p.m. in the fan area and do a question and answer session at the Ford display at 4:10 p.m., both on Saturday.