No. 43 Smithfield Team Look to Continue Positive Momentum
A ninth- and fourth-place finish in the last two races catapults Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team into Kansas. The team hopes momentum from the good runs will continue this weekend at Kansas Speedway. The team moved up three spots in the Championship Standings and looks to continue their journey forward at a track that is historically good for them.
Almirola has 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track. He scored three Top-10 finishes with his best of eighth coming in the spring of 2013 and 2014. Almirola also has experience leading the field at Kansas Speedway. In the fall race in 2012, Almirola led 69 laps and was poised for the win when a blown tire ended the team’s day early. Last season wasn’t as good as the team hoped. They raced as high as 14th in the spring race and finished 18th. In the fall, an accident early ended their day early.
“We’re definitely on a good run here. The last two weeks have been really good for us. This team has worked hard all season, and we’re finally getting the results to show for it. We hope the momentum continues this weekend at Kansas. I like Kansas and have had fast cars here in the past. We’ve been working hard on our intermediate track program. Even though it’s been a few weeks since we raced at an intermediate track, the program is still at the forefront of what we are working on at the shop. The key is to unload fast and tweak the car to get better. We hope we have that this weekend with the No. 43 Smithfield Ford.”
No. 43 Smithfield 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 one team in competition in the NASCAR premier series with driver Aric Almirola. Almirola will return to the iconic No. 43 Ford with partners Smithfield Foods, STP, United States Air Force and Fresh From Florida. The team is headquartered in Mooresville, N.C.
