By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Aric Almirola was only two turns away from completing the drive of his life.
But after contact with Austin Dillon, his night ended with a trip into the outside wall.
Almirola was leading the field on the final lap of the 60th Annual Daytona 500 when he attempted a block on the charging Dillon. The two made contact, and Dillon ultimately hooked Almirola into the wall before continuing on in front of the field.
Dillon held on to win his first Daytona 500.
Almirola went to the care center.
Despite that, the Floridian had no disparaging remarks for Dillon or his move.
“It was the last lap and we’re all trying to win the Daytona 500,” Almirola said. “It’s the biggest race of the year and it’s a career-changing race, so we were just racing really aggressively. I put every move I knew to try and stay in the lead and, unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to hold on.
“He got to my back bumper and was pushing and just hooked me.”
Sunday’s result came in Almirola’s first race with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), following a leap from Richard Petty Motorsports in 2017. His replacement – Darrell Wallace Jr. – went on to finish second in the event.
Surprisingly the run also ended with many reasons to smile.
Almirola left for SHR after the most tumultuous season of his 11-year Cup Series career. A subpar season on-track turned into a story of recovery off it after Almirola suffered a compression fracture to his T5 vertebrae in a crash at Kansas Speedway.
The injury kept Almirola out of the No. 43 for seven races, opening the door for Wallace and fostering tension within the team that ultimately led to the 33-year-old’s move after a subpar second-half of the season on-track and an awkward one off of it.
“I’ve got an incredible opportunity with Stewart-Haas Racing and Smithfield and everybody’s support at Ford, so I’ve got a lot to be happy about,” Almirola said. “I’ve got a lot to look forward to. My boss, Tony Stewart, came in the infield care center and he gave me a big hug and he said, ‘The good news is we have a whole lot more of this to look forward to.’ We’ll move on and go to the next race.”
The sting of a loss in ‘The Great American Race’ still stuck with Almirola, but after his 11th-place finish the SHR ace left Daytona with something he hadn’t felt in a while – confidence.
“My heart is broken, but the beauty is we’ll go to Atlanta,” he said. “We’ve got an incredible race team here at Stewart-Haas Racing and we’ll have another shot next week.”