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Become a Patron!     Being the first race of the NASCAR Playoffs, Darlington brought its fair share of surprises, drama and aggression.  With drivers like Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and William Byron all currently sitting below the cutline, the remaining two races of the Round of 16 are sure to continue that trend.    In a meeting with media Tuesday morning, Aric Almirola said “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be intense.  I have no doubt that you will see a playoff car, or a couple, run into some trouble.  It just happens.” After Darlington, Almirola currently holds the 11 th spot with an anything-but-comfortable three-point lead over the cut line.  In a race that saw trouble for many of the playoff drivers, Almirola’s #10 Stewart-Haas Ford finished in 16 th place.  “While not ideal, especially with a car that was capable of running anywhere from 7 th to 10 th most of the night, we didn’t take ourselves out.”  ...

Aric Almirola mett members of NASCAR media as one of less than a handful of drivers to have won at NASCAR's Cup level in 2021 representing the Ford Motor Company. He was happy to chat about his season overall, but has made it clear. From this moment forward, only the 10 playoff races matter. "The last 26 races no longer matter and now it’s about putting the best 10 weeks together that you possibly can.  I relate it a lot to pro sports and football in general.  You can be the wildcard team that squeaks into the playoffs and once the playoffs starts all that matters it the next week, winning the next week, and that’s how the playoffs are for us.  The last 26 races do not matter anymore and all that really matters right now is Darlington and after Darlington all that will matter is Richmond and so on and so forth.  So, yeah, we certainly are having that mentality.” said Almirola of his outlook on the playoffs.   He was optimistic overall about the first round of th...

Each week, we’re going to take a look at how the most recent race winner is doing in a collection of stat categories, and how they stack up against the field.    Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 – New Hampshire Congratulations to the Winner Aric Almirola   2021 STATS STANDINGS Michael McDowell Aric Almirola Denny Hamlin (no wins) 448 Points 377 Points 874 Points 12 th 13 th 14 th   AVERAGE POINTS Chase Briscoe Aric Almirola Erik Jones 17.14 Avg Points 16.68 Avg Points 16.36 Avg Points 23 rd 24 th 25 th   AVERAGE FINISH Erik Jones Aric Almirola Ryan Newman 20.95 Avg Finish 21.77 Avg Finish 21.82 Avg Finish 24 th 25 th 26 th   LAPS LED Christopher Bell Aric Almirola Bubba Wallace 57 Laps Led 51 Laps L...

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In case you missed it , StatChat is counting down the days ‘til the 2021 Daytona 500.  Every two days, we will have a new article featuring one of the Top 30 Drivers of 2020.    15 th Place – Aric Almirola – 2235 pts   By the Numbers:   9 Races – 2020 was a sneakily solid year for Aric Almirola.  It wasn’t always flashy, but it was his 2 nd best year as far as average finish goes.  Over the course of the 9 races from Homestead to New Hampshire, each of Almirola’s finishes were in the Top 10, with five of them being Top 5s.  Almirola only had one other Top 5 all season long.   1 DNF – One of the (many) keys to success in any racing series is to keep your car ‘clean,’ so to speak, meaning you finish the race without crashing.  Aric Almirola finished 2020 with only a single DNF (Did Not Finish), coming at the 2 nd Talladega race.    28 Lead Lap Finishes – Not only did Aric Almirola keep his car clean throu...

      The Roval weekend has came and went, and it was a bit of a let down in my opinion. This year was NASCAR's third attempt at the Charlotte infield road course, and it was the most boring of the three. Based on the history of the Roval with its crazy finishes, as well as Saturday's Xfinity race, the expectations were sky high...and it flopped. Even though it didn't meet those full expectations the end resulted in a satisfying race winner for many fans...Chase Elliott.     Stage 1 was the best stage of the race in my opinion. Although it wasn't raining, seeing the Cup guys starting a race on the rain tires for the first time ever was unique. Starting on the rain tires allowed for early race strategy, and when the first caution happened Ty Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto changed to "slick" tires to fly through the field, and Dillon snagged a stage win. Full-time underdog Timmy Hill also earned a career best stage finish of fifth place.     Stage 2 had a r...

      The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs have officially advanced to the Round of 12, and its time to speculate where each remaining playoff driver could win, and advance to the Round of 8. The Round of 12 features races at Las Vegas, Talladega, and the Charlotte Roval.       The Cup Series raced at Las Vegas before the pandemic, and Joey Logano was able to snag a win. I have four drivers who's best chance of winning is at Las Vegas. Las Vegas is Harvick's best chance because he can avoid the calamity of Talladega, and the Roval. Harvick's playoff points from his 9 wins has essentially already earned him a bye to the championship race. Brad Keselowski has been great at both Las Vegas and Talladega. Keselowski's best bet is to lock this up at Vegas so he can be as aggressive as possible at Talladega. Joey Logano the most recent winner at Las Vegas, has been fantastic here winning the last two spring races. Just like his teammate Brad Keselowski, Logano will...

      NASCAR has given us fans a massive gift. The Bristol night race has been moved from a late summer classic to an early playoff must watch. I will preview each of the 16 playoff drivers and rank them into one of four categories. The categories are a favorite, a good bet, a long shot, and save your money.      Kevin Harvick -  The regular season champion enters Bristol having already advanced to the Round of 12 via his win at Darlington. Harvick has been one of the two dominant drivers this season. Bristol however is good but not great track for him. He has three wins, and an average finish of 13.8. Between the SHR short track program being less competitive than others, and Harvick already advancing via the Darlington win, but it's 2020 Harvick is a favorite.      Brad Keselowki - Keselowski has already advanced via his win at Richmond last Saturday night. Brad won the spring race through one of the craziest finishes in Bristol histor...