Aric Almirola returns to Texas Motor Speedway after finishing seventh in his first race in a Gen-6 car at the 1.5-mile track. Behind the wheel of the No. 43 Farmland Ford, Almirola and teammate Marcos Ambrose will tally Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 500th start since the team’s inception in 2009. Almirola looks to hit another milestone this weekend and drive the No. 43 to Victory Lane for the first time since 1999.
Almirola has three top-10 finishes and six top-15 finishes at the Fort Worth, Texas track in all three national NASCAR Series competition. He scored his best track finish of seventh this spring with the No. 43 team as well as in the truck series race the spring of 2010.
In 2013, Farmland is expanding its Helping Hungry Homes initiative and is providing cash and protein donations to food banks in selected markets as part of a continued partnership with Richard Petty Motorsports and the No. 43 Ford team. To kick off race weekend in Texas, Farmland will present a cash and protein donation to Tarrant Area Food Bank that will help feed thousands of families, children and seniors in the Ft. Worth area. Almirola and Richard Petty will participate in the announcement.
Comments from Farmland Ford Fusion Driver Aric Almirola:
“Texas is completely different. The shape is very similar to Atlanta and Charlotte but completely different in its own right. The way the banking falls away off Turn Two and the entry to Turn Three is really flat, so both of those corners are tricky. The asphalt is old and wore out, which is fun to race on a track like that. I’m really looking forward to going to Texas. We had a really good car there in the spring. We ran really well there and were really fast. We have learned a lot over these last several months since we were there in April. I feel like we will be really good this week.
“I’m really proud to be a part of Richard Petty Motorsports’ 500th start. This team has gone through a lot in the past few years. We’ve really come a long way and have made strides this season to get to where we know we can be. Hopefully, we can hit the 500 mark and celebrate in Victory Lane this weekend.”
Comments from Farmland Ford Fusion Crew Chief Greg Ebert:
“With the new Gen-6 car, we have shown a lot of improvement over the season at 1.5-mile tracks. Texas is a really fast track, so we’ll work hard to make sure the car handles well. We’ll really focus on turning well in the corners, so we can pick up speed on the straightaways. We finished really well at Texas this spring, and I think we can follow that up with another good finish this week.”
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