Almirola to Race with U.S. Air Force on the Hood for Memorial Day Weekend

The No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford will take to the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend. The U.S. Air Force and Richard Petty Motorsports are partnering for NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance program and fallen special tactics combat controller Staff Sgt. Forrest B. Sibley’s name will be featured on the windshield header for the weekend. After a strong showing in the Sprint Showdown this past Saturday, Aric Almirola is hoping that the momentum will continue this weekend, and the team will bounce back from 25th in the Championship Point Standings after bad luck struck in Dover. 

Almirola is continuing to build his strength at intermediate tracks in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford. With an average finish of 18th place at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Almirola’s best finish at the track came when he finished in the 10th position in last season’s fall race. He started from the pole position in the first of his eight Cup Series starts at the mile-and-a-half track.

Fans will have the opportunity to see Almirola when he participates in the U.S. Air Force DEP enlistment ceremony at the U.S. Air Force display in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Fan Midway. After the enlistment ceremony, Almirola will be available for autographs.

Where: U.S. Air Force Display in Charlotte Motor Speedway Fan Midway
When: Sunday, May 29 from 2:00 – 2:30 p.m.

“We ran really well last weekend in the Sprint Showdown. I was pressing pretty hard to get past Kyle Larson for second place in the closing laps of the second segment but got lose and hit the fence. That killed our chances to advance. But, I liked how the car was running. Our first lap of the race was our first lap of on-track activity for the entire weekend, and my team adjusted very quickly to make the changes we needed. And, we were moving to the front. We’ll take what we learned last weekend in the Showdown and apply it this week to unload a No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion with a lot of speed. I think the Coca-Cola 600 is going to be a good race for us. The new low-downforce package is creating great racing and a lot of grooves each week, and I think Charlotte will continue in that trend.”

RPM PR