Almirola Look to Add Top-Five to List of Consistent Intermediate Track Finishes

Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team proved consistent this season, especially at the intermediate tracks. They scored two Top-10, seven Top-15 and nine Top-20 finishes in the 12 intermediate races and posted an average finish of 15.6. Almirola leads Kasey Kahne by five points for the 17th spot in the Championship Point Standings, the top Chase spot.
 
Almirola made nine Sprint Cup Series starts since his debut in 2009. He tallied one Top-10 and three Top-15 finishes with his best being seventh in 2013. He also has 12 starts in the XFINITY and Truck Series with two Top-10 finishes.
 
Saturday, fans at Texas Motor Speedway will have the opportunity to meet Almirola at the U.S. Air Force display at 12 p.m. local time. Fans can also sign up all weekend at the Smithfield display to be a contestant in the final Whole Hog Challenge event before the Championship in Miami. Sunday, contestants will compete in the eating competition at 10:10 a.m. Almirola and “The King” Richard Petty will be on hand to judge the contest.
 

On Friday, in celebration of the upcoming race weekend in Fort Worth, Texas, Smithfield will be donating 25,000 pounds of protein to the Tarrant Area Food Bank in partnership with Kroger and Richard Petty Motorsports as part of the company’s Helping Hungry Homes initiative. Almirola and Petty will be on hand at the Kroger located at 3300 Texas Sage Trail, Fort Worth, Texas 76177 at 9:30 a.m. for the donation.

#43 @SmithfieldBrand team & @Aric_Almirola look to add #Top5 to consistent intermediate track record and avg #Top15 finish. #NASCAR
 

@Aric Almirola and No. 43 @Smithfield team look to add a Top-Five to their consistent track record at intermediate tracks this weekend at @Texas Motor Speedway. The team has a Top-15 average finish this year at intermediate tracks.
“We’ve run consistently in the Top-15 at intermediate tracks this year and are very proud of that. Now, we want to get to the next level. We have a few Top-10s, so now we are focusing on getting in the Top-Five. If we can do that, we’ll have a chance at running for the win. We’ll keep working on getting that top points spot outside of the Chase and end the year with some momentum. We struggled early in the weekend at Texas in March but got a good handle of the car during the race. Hopefully, we can start there and improve during practice and qualifying to compete for the win.”

RPM PR