ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – Finished 4th
ARIC, YOU CAME UP JUST SHORT OF BOTH A RACE WIN AND MAKING THE CHASE. TALK ABOUT THE EMOTIONS OF THAT. “It is tough. This is what we race for. We race to win races. We race to run for a championship. This race team, we got to do it last year and we had an engine failure at Chicago and feel like we had a lot more to show in the Chase last year. We wanted another shot at it really bad. We have a really, really good race team and am disappointed we didn’t get Smithfield and Ford into the Chase again.”
“I am disappointed for sure. We have a really great race team at Richard Petty Motorsports and great sponsors. We had Waffle House on the car tonight and I told all the guys if we won we would go get free waffles but we just came up short. I am really proud of all my guys. We worked our guts out all year long and tonight was no different. I feel we have overachieved this year and really maximized our results week in and week out. I am disappointed to come up a few spots short but we gave it all we had and that is all we can do. We will go race these last 10 races and try to get a victory. Winning is good no matter when it is, regardless of the Chase or not, we will try to go stink up the show and get some wins in the last 10 races.”