Ready for Good Showing under the Lights at Smithfield Foods’ Home Track
Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Foods team have proved they are a force to be reckoned with at short tracks this season. The team currently has an average finish of 8.6 at tracks one mile or less. They head to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway poised to continue that success and look to head to Victory Lane at Smithfield Foods’ home track.
Almirola has nine NASCAR starts at the .75-mile track, including four Sprint Cup Series starts. Last spring, Almirola and the No. 43 team scored an eighth-place finish, his career-best Sprint Cup finish at the track. He scored his best NASCAR finish at the track in 2011 when he brought home a seventh-place finish in the Nationwide race.
#43 @SmithfieldFoods team & @Aric_Almirola poised to improve short track avg of 8.6 at @RIRInsider this weekend. #NASCAR
The No. 43 @Smithfield Foods team and @Aric Almirola are poised to continue short track success this weekend at @Richmond International Raceway and look to improve their 8.6 average finish at short tracks this season with a win.
“The fun thing about Richmond is that the tires fall off really bad. You get slipping and sliding around and forward drive is really important. It’s the one race track we go to that you wish you didn’t have 900 horsepower. Halfway through a tire run, we literally can spin the tires at the flag stand. That just becomes a huge challenge. It’s a fun racetrack. You really have to focus on your setup there and get it right. We’ve really hit on our short track setups this year and shown a lot of speed. If we can keep that up this weekend, we will be able to make a run at a win.
“Richmond is Smithfield Foods’ home track since they are just up the road in Smithfield, Virginia. It’s a big deal for our team to run good here for them. We would love to be able to win a race here. They are going to have a lot of people out this weekend, so I hope we can put on a good show and celebrate with them in victory lane.”
No. 43 Smithfield Foods Ford
A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneurs Andrew Murstein and Douglas Bergeron, 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, Strike Ten Entertainment and Fresh From Florida, and Marcos Ambrose drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners STANLEY, DEWALT, Mac Tools and Twisted Tea. In addition, Dakoda Armstrong wheels the No. 43 WinField Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is headquartered in Concord, N.C.
