Winfield Team Looks to Capitalize in Final Short Track Race of Season
Dakoda Armstrong and the No. 43 WinField team head to Phoenix International Raceway to make the final short track stop of the 2015 season. With the season winding down and a very tight points race between 11th and 14th, Armstrong is focused on using every opportunity to climb the Championship Standings. The team used fuel strategy last week at Texas to stay out during green flag stops to gain an extra point by leading a lap. Currently, Armstrong is 14th in the Championship Points Standings, five points outside of 13th. Only 21 points separate 11th from the 14th position.
Armstrong has three XFINITY Series starts at Phoenix, earning his best finish of 18th in the spring of 2014. Armstrong also has one Truck Series start in 2013, where he finished 19th. As an organization, RPM has seven XFINITY Series starts with three Top-10 finishes, with a best effort of seventh in the fall race of 2012.
“Phoenix is a fun track. It’s not your normal short track. This place is actually really fast, and aerodynamics play a larger role compared to Richmond or Bristol. It’s a flat track with four completely different corners. The perfect setup here isn’t about being the fastest in 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. It’s a balance in being fast enough on both sides of the track. The surface has weathered a good bit since we last came here in March, so the second groove should have opened up even more. You’ll see a lot of good racing. We have an opportunity to jump up a spot or two here in the points. We just have to stay out of trouble early and save our equipment to be able to charge hard at the end of the race.”
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.
