“We’re showing what we’re capable,” Aric Almirola wins pole in Bristol playoff race

“We’re showing what we’re capable,” Aric Almirola wins pole in Bristol playoff race

Aric Almirola

The 2022 playoff grid seems to be having the worst days of their life. Aric Almirola is the latest non-playoff driver to upset the 16-man championship chasers. The No:10 Mustang will start the race upfront in Bristol Motor Speedway. Aric Almirola will be chasing his maiden win in the Next-Gen car.

The last two rounds of post-season racing saw two non-playoff entrants, namely Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones, securing wins by upsetting the championship contenders. If things go right for him Almirola will be the third on the list. The Cuban American being positioned in the pole might also harden the race as the rest of the field is desperate for a win.   

Almirola’s Stewart Hass Racing teammate Chase Briscoe will start the race at P2 while Alex Bowman will start at P3. Denny Hamlin will start the race at P4 while the defending champion Kyle Larson will start at P5. The worst qualified playoff drivers are Austin Dillon at P28 and Daniel Suarez at P29.

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Find out what Aric Almirola had to say about his pole win

Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola

Aric Almirola acknowledged that the car was turned in right for him and he felt good about the 55 laps he ran in the practice. He added that the No:10 car had good speed when the ran in qualifying using trim.

“Well, just keep tuning on it. I felt like we had a really good BlueOval City Ford Mustang in practice, and we ran, I think, 55 laps straight, and I felt really good about it. We swapped over to [qualifying] trim and it still has a lot of speed,” Aric Almirola said.

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Aric Almirola acknowledged that he is proud of his team’s efforts. He added that they were disappointed about not making it into the playoffs. He pointed out he will try to replicate the pace on the whole 500 laps on the race day.

“I’m proud of the effort on this. We were bummed out we didn’t make the playoffs, but we’re showing what we’re capable of. We can race with these guys. We’ll go try to do it for 500 laps tomorrow night,” Aric Almirola added.

Is it going to another non-playoff winner at Bristol victory lane?

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