Aric Almirola Ties Career-Best Finish; Making Case To Stay In The No. 43

Aric Almirola is really starting to find his comfort zone in the seat of the No. 43 car. Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images for NASCAR By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical What a couple of runs Aric Almirola has given the famous No. 43 car in the last two Sprint Cup Series races at Kansas and Martinsville. In Kansas Almirola had arguably the race of his life. He led a total of 69 laps on the day, second only to eventual winner Matt Kenseth. That day Almirola turned back the clock for fans of the No. 43 as that car was wicked fast. Heck Almirola was still in contention for the win after slamming the wall hard with a flat tire. However it was a second cut tire that doomed him on lap 212. A defeat like that could have been really deflating, but Almirola seems determined to keep his ride at Richard Petty Motorsports. This week he came out with a vengeance at Martinsville Speedway (a place where his famous car owner “The King” won an impressive 15 times). After rolling off the grid from 10th, Almirola dropped like a brick. He fell from the top-20 and was nearly lapped at one point, but he stayed calm and poised all day long. He kept his car clean and after numerous adjustments all day long Almirola found himself in the mix for the win in the closing laps after a two-tire call by his crew chief. Ultimately on a late restart he would wind up in the fourth-position to stay, but that was enough to tie his career-best finish at Homestead back in 2010. Following the race Almirola praised his crew chief: “That was a good run for us.  Todd Parrott made a gutsy call there.  We were horrible at the beginning of this race and I mean horrible.  I don’t know how we didn’t go several laps down, but we fought hard all day.  We fought for every position.  We made all kinds of adjustments on this Ford Fusion all day and Todd Parrott made a great call there to take two tires at the end to get us some track position and it took off.  I was really surprised at how fast it went on two tires, so I’m proud of everybody on this Gwaltney Ford Fusion.  They worked really hard and we deserved this one.” Crew Chief Todd Parrott was paired with Almirola seven races ago and it seems that the two are really starting to gel. The duo finished 12th in Charlotte, had arguably the best car in Kansas and notched a top-five in Martinsville. For Almirola he is fighting to keep his job, it may be the same case for Todd Parrott as well. Keep an eye on the No. 43 car in Texas, as Todd Parrott has visited victory lane twice at the 1.5-mile speedway. Once with Dale Jarrett in 2001, and again with Elliott Sadler in 2004. – Toby Christie is the lead Motorsports writer for Sicknissified.com, and he is also the co-host of The Final Lap Weekly. Toby can be reached via twitter or email. Tweet him @Tobalical or email him at tobalical@sicknissified.com. You can also follow Sicknissified.com on facebook and twitter.