No. 43 Smithfield Team Competes to Keep Top Non-Chase Points Spot as Almirola Pulls Double Duty
Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield team have worked all year on being consistent and finishing up front. This weekend at the Homestead-Miami Speedway will be the same. Going into the season finale Ford Ecoboost 400 with a 23 point lead for the top non-Chase spot, Almirola hopes to continue their consistency and finish with the 17th spot in points.
Almirola has five Sprint Cup Series starts in Miami. He scored one Top-Five and two Top-10 finishes with his best finish of fourth scored in 2010. He also tallied three XFINITY Series starts where he posted one Top-10 finish of eighth. He has three Truck Series starts under his belt as well with one Top-Five finish.
Almirola will pull double duty this weekend and pilot the Biagi DenBeste Racing No. 98 Carroll Shelby Engine Company Ford in Saturday’s Ford Ecoboost 300. This will mark Almirola’s ninth start with the team this season. Together, they tallied three Top-10 and six Top-15 finishes, including a best finish of seven in the Daytona season opener.
Smithfield is ramping up for the season finale as well. Celebrity Hispanic chef and TV personality, Ingrid Hoffmann, will prepare a lunch menu for the No. 43 team with signature Latin dishes featuring a variety of delicious and flavorful products from Smithfield.
In addition, Smithfield will bring back competitive eater Matt Stonie, who set the world record for amount of bacon consumed in five minutes earlier this year at the season opener in Daytona. This time, Stonie looks to set the record for how many Smithfield Fresh Pork Ribs are consumed within five minutes. Following the attempt, Stonie will join “The King” Richard Petty and Almirola to judge and crown the ultimate amateur eating champion of Smithfield’s final Whole Hog Challenge. Fans at Homestead-Miami Speedway can watch both the record attempt and Whole Hog Challenge finale at the Smithfield display Sunday at 11:05 a.m.
Fans can also head to the Ford display Sunday morning for a Q&A with Almirola at 10:45 a.m.
“I love going to Homestead-Miami. It’s great getting off the plane to that warm Florida air. Being from Florida, it just feels like home. It’s going to be an exciting weekend with all the championship battles. We hope to be a spoiler this weekend and have two chances to do that. On the Cup side, I’m really looking forward to closing out the season with momentum. This is one of my favorite tracks to race, and we’ve been pretty good at the intermediate tracks this year. We’ve been really consistent this year, so nothing would be better than to finish it off with a good finish this weekend. I’ll be keeping busy this weekend with double duty. It’s been really fun racing with the Biagi DenBeste team. Hopefully, we can end their season with a Top-10 finish, too.
“This is a big weekend for Smithfield as well. We saw Matt Stonie set the world record for most bacon in five minutes at Daytona, and now, we’ll have the chance to see him try to set the record for most ribs eaten in five minutes. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Whole Hog Challenge Championship this weekend, too. We’ve done 16 competitions this year, so it’ll be interesting to see who has been practicing to win the trip to Daytona. Anyone who knows me knows I love Cuban food, so I’m really excited to see what Chef Ingrid cooks up for us on Sunday.”
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.
