Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford will make his 7th career start at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Aaron’s 499. Going into this weekend, Almirola sits 11th in the series points standings with three top-10 finishes in the last three races. This is significantly better than his 20th place finish in final NSCS points standings last season. Almirola’s success this season comes after Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) swapped crew chiefs for Almirola and No. 9, Marcos Ambrose, with ten races to go last season.
Todd Parrott took over as crew chief for Almirola after the swap. Parrott has 31 career wins and a 1999 Sprint Cup Series Championship with Dale Jarrett. “Aric has really shown the desire and dedication to get his first Sprint Cup Series win,” Parrot said. “It was great our team helped Marcos to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win and poles. We are now ready to help direct Almirola and the No. 43 team to the same results and better.”
When asked about his team’s recent success on Friday morning at Talladega Superspeedway, Parrott said, “Things have gone well so far for us this year. We have had some good finishes the last three weeks. The guys are doing a good job in the shop. My team at the race track are probably the best guys in the garage. We are really happy with the job they do, and we will just keep doing what we are doing.”
Almirola and the RPM team look to avoid the ‘big one’ and continue their streak of top-10 finishes at the series’ largest track, Talladega Superspeedway.
