Eager to Score Their First Win of the 2015 Season
Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team continue to prove consistency. Last weekend’s Top-Five finish was the team’s third Top-Five this season and second in the last four races. In the 29 races this season, the team finished in the Top-15 16 times. This weekend, they hope to continue to spoil the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in their backyard at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. While continuing their consistency, the No. 43 team is eager to score their first win of the 2015 season, and at their home track would be the perfect place.
Almirola has seven Sprint Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track and tallied a pole in his Cup debut in 2012. He collected his best Sprint Cup finish in 2014 when he finished 11th. He also has 10 XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series starts where he scored one Top-Five and five Top-10 finishes. Earlier this year in the Coca-Cola 600, Almirola and the No. 43 team started 21st and raced as high as 14th. Unfortunately, they battled overheating from debris throughout the race which hurt their fuel mileage and finished 17th.
Almirola will join “The King” Richard Petty to judge the Smithfield Whole Hog Challenge. Fans can sign up to compete throughout the weekend at the Smithfield display in the fan zone. Saturday, Almirola and Petty will judge the eating contest as contestants compete for a trip to Miami where they have the chance to be crowned Champion and attend the season opener in 2016.
Remaining consistent in the final races, @Aric Almirola and the No. 43 @Smithfield @Ford Performance team are eager to score their first win of the 2015 season this weekend at @Charlotte Motor Speedway. Team has shown consistency at intermediate tracks with a 15th-place average finish this season.
> “These last four weeks have been really good for us. We’ve finished in the Top-Five twice and Top-10 three times. Our goal was to make the Chase, and our performance these last few weeks shows we can compete at that level. It’s important that we continue to remain consistent in the final seven races, but we’re also going to throw all we have at getting a win. That’s our goal before the season closes. I think we are getting close. We ran well at Charlotte earlier in the year but struggled with overheating which hurt us during such a long race. Hopefully, we won’t have that problem this weekend and contend for another Top-Five or even a win. We’ve run really well at intermediate tracks this year. Our average finish on the intermediate track is 15th which is a significant improvement from a 23rd-place average last year. I’m really proud of this team and excited to close out the year with some good momentum.”
No. 43 Smithfield Ford
A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by
NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneur Andrew Murstein, is one of the most recognized brands in all of motorsports. With a history of over 200 wins and business partnerships with national and global leaders, today the race operation fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force, STP and Fresh From Florida, and Sam Hornish Jr. drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners Medallion Bank and Twisted Tea. In addition, Dakoda Armstrong wheels the No. 43 WinField Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The team is headquartered in Mooresville, N.C.
