Roush Yates Powers Iconic 43 to Victory Lane

Aric Almirola won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. This marks the 30th anniversary of team owner Richard Petty’s 200th Cup win. Robert Yates supplied the power under the hood for Petty and the tradition continues as Roush Yates Engines powered the number 43 US Air Force Ford Fusion to Victory Lane.

Roush Yates’ engines were strong all weekend, sweeping the pole position in qualifying for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Dakota Armstrong led an army of Fords in the rain-shortened Nationwide qualifying session on Friday. Armstrong won the pole for Richard Petty Motorsports with Roush Fenway Racing’s Trevor Bayne, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Reed following behind him. Reed captured a career best finish of fourth in Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250.

David Gilliland, driver of the number 38 for Front Row Motorsports, posted the fastest time in Sprint Cup qualifying, which was also shortened by rain. This was Gilliland’s third career pole and teammate David Ragan also qualified in the top 10.

After heavy rains postponed Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400, the race was moved to Sunday afternoon. Several cautions and rain delays interrupted the race throughout the day. The iconic number 43 powered his way to the front before NASCAR was forced to call the race official with 48 scheduled laps remaining due to downpours.

“Man, I just took the 43 car to victory at Daytona,” said Almirola, standing under an umbrella in Victory Lane. “This is amazing. We have had good cars, top-10 cars. We have been right where we need to be to be competitive but just haven’t gotten to that next level. This is so cool to get this team and all these guys behind me that have been working on this race team for a long time and haven’t gotten to victory lane with the 43 car, this is so special.”

“Well, 30 years ago is history and today is the future,” Petty said. “Today is today. So to be able to win the race down there, win it for the Air Force, Fourth of July, you know, the whole thing is just great. I just feel so good for the crew. They’ve been working ‑‑ they’re like everybody else, they work hard. Overall it was just a great day for us.”

Almirola’s win marks the seventh for Ford this season and the third in a row following Carl Edwards’ win at Sonoma and Brad Keselowski’s win at Kentucky. He now joins three other Ford drivers by adding his name to the list of contenders in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Standings.

RYE PR