CONCORD, N.C. (September 8, 2014) – There is no other NASCAR Sprint Cup organization on a faster rise than Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) in the past two seasons. RPM collected their 11th Top-10 finish, and second consecutive, of the season Saturday night at the Richmond International Raceway. Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford team finished 10th in Saturday’s 400-mile event.
Almirola also finished in the Top-10 at Atlanta giving the No. 43 team positive momentum heading into their first Chase for the Sprint Cup this weekend at the Chicagoland Speedway.
Marcos Ambrose and the DEWALT Ford team finished 27th Saturday night. Ambrose and the No. 9 team came within one lap of making The Chase earlier this year at Watkins Glen when leading in the closing two laps.
A recap of Saturday’s race follows for both Sprint Cup teams:
Aric Almirola, No. 43 Gwaltney Ford Fusion
Before celebrating the No. 43 and Almirola’s first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth, Almirola and team worked on the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford for 400 laps at Richmond International Raceway and raced from the 26th spot to a 10th-place finish. This is the team’s sixth Top-10 finish of the season. When The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicks off with the Challenger Round next week in Chicago, Almirola will be the 12th seed.
Almirola took the green flag from the 26th spot and raced into the 22nd spot before NASCAR Officials displayed the yellow flag for a Competition Caution due to rain earlier in the day. During the first run, the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford was loose in and tight in the center. Crew Chief Trent Owens called for a four-tire stop with major chassis adjustments. Almirola restarted 25th and quickly worked back to the 22nd position.
The team held the 22nd position for the remainder of the run but fell a lap down to the leader. By Lap 125, the second caution flew for debris on the backstretch with Almirola in the “Lucky Dog” spot. Owens made more chassis adjustments during a four-tire stop and focused on getting the car better off the corner.
Almirola restarted back on the lead lap in the 21st spot and drove into the 20th position. But, leader Brad Keselowski caught up to Almirola and put him a lap down again. A long green-flag run brought green-flag pit stops, and the No. 43 team pit for four tires on Lap 225. Almirola returned to the track in the 17th spot. As Keselowski continued to lap cars, Almirola had to pass those cars as well to stay the “Lucky Dog,” and he did, driving in to the 15th spot and the “Lucky Dog” position when a caution came out on Lap 263.
Again, Almirola restarted on the lead lap but at the end of the field. Almirola raced into 14th before the final caution came on Lap 331. Owens called for a four-tire pit stop. The Gwaltney crew clicked off a fast stop and picked up a spot on pit road. Almirola restarted 13th and quickly drove into the 12th spot. In the closing laps of the race, Almirola picked up two more spots and drove the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford to a second consecutive Top-10 finish.
“This is what we need to do for the next 10 weeks,” said Almirola. “For the second week in a row, we struggled a bit to get the car handling how we needed to, but Trent (Owens) and the guys made the right adjustments to get us a Top-10 finish. Making The Chase feels really good. We’ve never been in this situation, so I am really excited and proud of Trent Owens and all my guys on this Smithfield team. We have a lot of work to do and need to run this good every week for the next 10 weeks. We have to be ultra-competitive and execute flawlessly, and that is what it will have to take the next 10 weeks. We’re up to the challenge. We have two good weeks under our belt with Top-10 finishes, so we’re going into the Chase with a lot of momentum. I am really proud of my guys and can’t wait for our first Chase, and we will see what happens. We are underdogs. Nobody expects us to be in this thing anyway, so we don’t have a whole lot of pressure on us. We can go out there, and let ‘er rip.”
Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 DEWALT Ford
Ambrose started Saturday night’s race from the 33rd position and looked to gain as many spots before the Lap 50 competition caution. A super tight condition, however, didn’t allow Ambrose to make the progress he wanted. Instead, he had to hang onto track position before falling a lap down on Lap 33. The caution on Lap 50 allowed the team to make adjustments to the car and Ambrose restarted 39th.
The team was able to move up after the caution, with Ambrose up to 31st after 100 laps. The team did lose another lap, but the car was getting better. A Lap 124 caution allowed for more changes and Ambrose again gained speed. Ambrose moved to 29th at the halfway mark of the race, but did fall to the leader again. Ambrose was a leader of cars on his lap, but it did stop the team from moving up the running order.
On Lap 215, Ambrose came down pit road to get more of the adjustments that were working. He moved up to 28th. The caution waved soon after and team took the wave around to get back a lap. Ambrose was up to 25th, but the next run the car lost some of its handle. Ambrose held onto 27th as the races entered Lap 300.
Ambrose had to pit under green with 100 laps left. The team made more adjustments and Ambrose came back on the track 30th. The car was quick after the stop and Ambrose was able to again take the wave around with 70 to go after a caution. The wave around put Ambrose up to 27th where he stayed for the final 50 laps of the race.
Ambrose finished 27th, the best on his lap. The car did get better throughout the night, but a lack of cautions early in the race didn’t allow the team to get back on the lead lap.
“I’m proud of the effort by the guys,” said Ambrose. “We just didn’t have what was needed this weekend, but we really tried to get everything out of it. The car was just super tight early. We had a couple of good runs in the middle of the race and we gained spots. We just didn’t have enough cautions early to get laps back. We’ll focus on getting a win before the end of the season.”
About Richard Petty Motorsports:
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.
