Almirola Refreshed and Ready to Race at Martinsville Speedway in Iconic STP Colors

 After an off-weekend spent with family and friends, Aric Almirola is ready to get his Ford Fusion back on the race track. Martinsville Speedway is a track that the No. 43 car has historically run well. “The King” Richard Petty won 15 races at the half-mile oval, and the last five of those races saw the iconic STP paint scheme in Victory Lane. Almirola is ready to bring those colors back to Martinsville Speedway when he races the No. 43 STP Ford this weekend in the STP 500. A sponsor of Petty and his race team since the 1970s, this will be the first of two races in 2016 in which STP will adorn the hood of the No. 43 Ford. Almirola is 13th in Championship Point Standings going into the weekend.

Almirola’s best finish at Martinsville Speedway came in the fall of 2012 when he crossed the finish line in the fourth position. He has one Top-Five and three Top-10 finishes at the storied track. Almirola has a best starting position of third place at Martinsville.

Almirola is going to be taking over STP’s Instagram account on Sunday morning to give fans an exclusive look at what he does on race day. Fans will get to follow him from breakfast with his family all the way to the Driver/Crew Chief Meeting! Be sure to follow @Original_STP on Instagram to check out Almirola’s photos and videos throughout the morning.

When: Sunday, April 3 (All Morning)
Where: Instagram @Original_STP

Almirola will start his Sunday morning spending time with race fans at the Green Flag Experience in Martinsville Speedway’s Fan Midway. Almirola will do a Q&A to answer fan questions and get everyone excited for the race that afternoon. “The King” Richard Petty will also make an appearance at the Green Flag Experience later in the morning. The Green Flag Experience is open to the public with the purchase of a ticket through Martinsville Speedway’s website and ticket office.

When: Aric Almirola – Sunday, April 3 at 9:10 a.m.
Richard Petty – Sunday, April 3 at 9:40 a.m.
Where: Green Flag Experience in the Fan Midway at Martinsville Speedway

Make sure you’re ready to tweet this weekend! Almirola will be at the track’s tweet-up Sunday morning to get together with his Twitter followers. Make sure to follow @RPMotorsports, @Aric_Almirola and @STPracing for all of the information that you need leading up to the tweet-up!

When: Sunday, April 3 at 9:30 a.m.
Where: Outside of the Driver/Owner Motorcoach Lot
“Martinsville Speedway is a really tough place. Of all the tracks that we go to, there and Bristol take a lot of patience. Five hundred laps there is an incredibly long time, and a lot can happen. If you can be patient, keep your brakes and make sure you have a car that’s still in one piece with all of the fenders on it with at least 100 laps to go, then you’ll have a shot at a win. You’ve got to be patient there, but you’ve also got to be aggressive. The leaders can set a blistering pace sometimes, and you can find yourself a lap or two down if you don’t get aggressive enough. And, on top of that, we also have to factor in the new low-downforce package. We have a pretty good idea of what to expect at the other race tracks we go to, but Martinsville is the one question mark for everybody. Are you going to be harder on the brakes? Are you going to be looser in? What’s really going to change? But, downforce has a greater effect at 200 mph than it does at 100 mph so I don’t know that it will really have as big of effect at Martinsville as it does at the other tracks we go to. It will definitely be an important learning weekend for our No. 43 STP Ford team, but Martinsville is a track that Richard Petty Motorsports has excelled at in the past and we’re expecting good results in the STP 500 this weekend as well.”

No. 43 STP 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 with drivers Aric Almirola and Brian Scott. Almirola will return to the iconic No. 43 Ford with partners Smithfield Foods, STP, United States Air Force and the “Fresh From Florida” campaign. Scott will make his debut with the team and drive the Petty Family No. 44 Ford. Albertsons Companies, Shore Lodge, Twisted Tea and GoBowling.com will join Scott as he competes for Rookie of the Year in his first full-time season in the Sprint Cup Series. Richard Petty Motorsports will also field the No. 43 J. Streicher Ford Mustang in the NASCAR XFINITY Series with driver Jeb Burton. The team is headquartered in Mooresville, N.C.