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[/media-credit]Aric Almirola • No. 43 Smithfield/Helping Hungry Homes Ford
Aric Almirola will be making his first Sprint Cup start at Richmond this weekend
Almirola has one top-10 in the Nationwide Series at the track
The familiar Smithfield/Helping Hungry Homes colors will adorn the No. 43 this weekend
Almirola will compete in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown this Thursday night with Smithfield as a sponsor
Aric Almirola on the Richmond 400: “From a competition standpoint, I think we’re looking forward to getting back to a short track. We have proven to have fast cars and have been able to race up front on these tracks early in the season. Looking back, we left Phoenix, Bristol and Martinsville with some positive results. We are working on our mile-and-a-half program, but right now our short-track package has proven to be pretty competitive.
“Off the track, we’re going to have a lot of fun with the Smithfield folks. This is basically their hometown track and they are all coming out. They are going to partner with me this Thursday night in Denny’s race and I’m really looking forward to that. We’re all looking forward to a great weekend all around.”
Greg Erwin Comments on Richmond: “We feel that Richmond can be another good weekend for us. We came out of Martinsville with a top-10 and we were pretty close at Phoenix, too. Aric does a really good job on short tracks so we should run up front.
“We always have the desire to win races, but it’s always cool to have the Smithfield guys here. Everyone knows that we’ll be in their backyard so we’re excited about that, too.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 Smithfield Ford will be chassis number 804. This is the same chassis the team ran at Phoenix earlier this year.
Notes: Almirola is currently 20th in NASCAR championships points heading into Richmond.
Almirola and the No. 43 team will take part in the Goodyear tire test at Pocono Raceway this Wednesday on the track’s new surface.
Race Information
Date: April 28, 2012
Track: Richmond International Raceway
Laps: 400 Laps/300 Miles
TV Information: 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX
Radio Information: 7:30 p.m. ET on MRN
Qualifying: April 27 at 5:35 p.m. ET on SPEED
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