Three years ago, Aric Almirola was getting ready for a full season of late model stock car racing at the .4-mile Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C. Tomorrow, thanks to Joe Gibbs Racing's diversity initiative, the Cuban-American makes his NASCAR Nextel Cup debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It's surprising even to him:
"Definitely I'm surprised ... To all of a sudden be making my first Cup start with only 10 Busch Series races under my belt, it's pretty fast.Uh ... yeah. Fast like the track he's going to be on tomorrow--with 42 other drivers, the majority of whom still have championship hopes.
Almirola has run in the Craftsman Truck Series too, but ...
" ... but the Cup car is a totally different animal. The Truck and Busch car just have a lot of downforce built into them. The Busch car has a really big spoiler, and it's the same with the Truck. They just have a lot of downforce and they're really secure. The Cup car, on the other hand, is not so secure. The guys – Wally Brown (co-crew chief) and everybody that's on that team – did a really good job working the entire test at getting me comfortable, and on the second day we were pretty fast ... I'm sure everybody will be really loose for the race, so we can just go out and have a good time and log all the laps and learn as much as we can."... and try not ruin anyone else's day with your inexperience. Nothing personal ... but, please?
Add your comments