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Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola managed to push his #10 Ford Pro Ford Mustang into a top-ten finish at last weekend's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Despite not having the pace to keep up with the cars around him, the 38-year-old managed to survive a race of attrition at the Hampton, Georgia track.
The Florida native touched upon how not only the #10 car and team lacked pace, but Ford-manufactured cars in general were on the back foot. He elaborated to track-side media after the 400-mile-long race and said:
“We just didn’t have the speed we needed to go up and compete. That one restart where I was leading the bottom lane we didn’t have what we needed to keep up. Our car was pretty good. We got it driving good there at the end, but we couldn’t muster up the speed we needed to go hang with those Chevrolets. The Chevrolets were really, really fast.”
Almirola's claims were backed up by Team Penske's Ryan Blaney as he felt the #9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Chase Elliott was in a different league in terms of pace. Blaney tried to battle it out with the Hendrick Motorsports driver at one point in the race, only to fall short and settle for a P5 finish at the end.
Aric Almirola's thoughts on Atlanta Motor Speedway's second appearance in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season
Aric Almirola was critical of Atlanta Motor Speedway's second appearance of the NASCAR Cup Series season last weekend. The refurbished track saw cars race on its 1.5-mile-long oval last Sunday for the Quaker State 400, after making a prior appearance earlier this year for the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500.
The Hampton, Georgia track saw changes earlier this year to make racing at the venue safer, with changes to the SAFER barriers around the track. The entry into Turn 4 of the track was also 'softened' after tire test feedback.
Drivers were split in their opinions on the altered track last time around, and the reception was not all positive last weekend either. Aric Almirola made his thoughts clear on the quality of racing at the track and said:
“I didn’t think it was better racing. I thought the racetrack was a little more narrow. We couldn’t run the top up against the fence like we could in the spring. That kind of limited the options and kind of choked everybody down to two-wide.”
Catch NASCAR at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17, 2022.
