By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
With only one top-five finish in the opening 27 rounds of 2018, Aric Almirola was pumped to grab his second Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
Not only was it a strong performance for his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford throughout the night, but it came in the second race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
And though he eased the pressure with a fifth-place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 400, the 16-driver championship fight has taken its toll on Almirola after the opening two rounds.
“It was stressful. Really intense,” Almirola said. “I can’t tell you how incredibly intense these playoff races are. To show up for every practice with one mindset, which is to go execute, to run every lap as hard as you can go with your tongue hanging out. It’s so intense.”
Despite the ferocious fever in Richmond, Almirola proved to be the second-best car from the SHR stable. With teammate Kevin Harvick running consistently in second to third all night, Almirola improved his pace from the drop of the green flag.
Starting sixth, Almirola finished right there in Stage 1. From there, the No. 10 advanced to third in Stage 2 before settling behind the “Big Three” in the fourth spot.
Losing a spot to Chase Elliott, a fifth-place run was a special one for Almirola, given the newness of playoff pressure for himself and the No. 10 team.
“I’m really proud of the guys on this team,” he said. “We’ve dug deep these last couple weeks and had two solid weekends. We have ourselves in a pretty good position going into the ROVAL next week.”
In a race that is expected to be caution-filled next week at the ROVAL, many expected similar fate at Richmond. However, the night has only one non-stage yellow. This came as a surprise for Almirola.
“I’m really surprised we didn’t have any cautions,” he said. “We typically see the race go green in the beginning. That’s been a norm here for a couple years. Usually at the end, business picks up, guys start running into each other and we usually see a caution. I was surprised.
“I thought that would play into our favor. Our car was really good on the short run. I’m proud of the weekend we ran here. We unloaded from the truck with good speed and we ran really well.”
#Almirolling his way to a P5 finish! pic.twitter.com/2rZ3dl1PYG
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 23, 2018