Almirola to Open Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Sunday
After a much appreciated off-weekend, Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Nathan’s Famous Ford team are ready to tackle the first road course race of the season. The team will head to the 10-turn Sonoma Raceway and compete to stay on the Chase Grid and work their way back into the Top-10 in Championship Points.
Almirola has just four starts at Sonoma Raceway and a total of eight road course starts in the Sprint Cup Series. He scored his best Sonoma finish of 20th in 2013 and his best road course finish of 18th twice at Watkins Glen.
Last month, Nathan’s Famous launched its Original Selfie Sweepstakes. Fans can enter to win by uploading selfies featuring Nathan’s Famous products by emailing to Enter@NathansSelfie.com or uploading at www.NathansSelfie.com. Fans can also enter via Instagram and Twitter by using the hashtag #NathansSelfie. Each week, one lucky winner, will be proclaimed the Fan of the Week for the photo submitted to the website. Monthly grand prizes and weekly prizes will also be awarded.
Almirola will stop by the Sonoma Raceway Victory Lane to kick off Nathan’s Famous activities on Sunday at 9:15 a.m. He will participate in a question and answer session before contestants compete in a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier.
“After having an off-weekend, I’m ready to get back on track. Sonoma is a very difficult track. It is very slow and technical. I’m not a road course expert by any means, but having Marcos Ambrose as a teammate for the past three years really helped me become a better road course racer. Hopefully, we can improve on our road course finishes from last year and come away with our 13th Top-20 finish of the season.
“I think we have really showed our team’s improvement with consistency this year. We really need to put our heads down and work hard to keep up that consistency through the summer. We have 11 races to get ourselves in a position for ‘The Chase.’ We’re in a good spot now. We just have to continue what we are doing and keep improving our program each week.”
No. 43 Nathan’s Famous 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.
