DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 9, 2010) – Darlington Raceway was the latest site for a Goodyear tire test on Tuesday. A total of five teams were on-hand to test tires at the legendary South Carolina track. Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose and Elliott Sadler all tested their respective Sprint Cup Series rides while Aric Almirola and Timothy Peters tested their Camping World Truck Series vehicles in preparation for the series’ return to Darlington on August 14, 2010.

After a couple of early morning spins, the drivers stopped in the media center to discuss the test session. One thing that remained constant across all of the drivers is how difficult of a track Darlington is to drive.

“This place is like no other, it is as intimidating and challenging as it gets,” said Marcos Ambrose. “You’re winging it around the top with no room for error with a lot of speed and a lot of grip on the track. It will punish you if you don’t drive it the right way, it’s an amazing place. I think anyone who wants to run in NASCAR needs to come here to prove themselves because this is as tough as it gets.”

Richard Childress Racing driver, Clint Bowyer, talked about how being close to the coast creates a slick surface for drivers to contend with.

“This track sits and sand and grit gets down in it and makes it really slick and it takes a while to burn that off,” said Bowyer. “You would think that the jet dryers would blow that off but being this close to the beach it settles overtime. Now we’ve got it burned off and the speeds are doing good.”

Almirola and Peters were both excited to see the track for the first time in a Camping World Truck Series ride and both were predicting an exciting race for race fans on August 14 when the trucks return for the Too Tough To Tame 200.

“This is one of the coolest tracks we go to with a ton of history. Just getting here you drive down a two lane road, most of the racetracks we go to you get off the interstate, go down a six-lane road and pull into the racetrack,” said Almirola. “This place still reminds me of Martinsville and the old school racetracks where it’s out in the middle of nowhere and you’re surrounded by a bunch of diehard NASCAR fans that come to watch the race. I think it’s awesome that the Camping World Truck Series is coming here and it’s going to put on one hell of a race, it’s going to be exciting.”

“I was glad that we were able to come for Goodyear. It helps me out a lot; this is the first time I have been on the racetrack. I have been here to watch several races but I had to work my courage up to make myself get up close to the wall and get up to speed,” said Peters. “I’m looking forward to getting to come here to race. It’s going to be an exciting race for the fans, but it’s going to be a challenge for us. We always run close together week-in and week-out, it’s going to be action packed for sure.”

You can keep up with all of the latest news from Darlington Raceway at DarlingtonRaceway.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DarlingtonRaceway and on Twitter at Twitter.com/TooToughToTame.

By Bob PockrassSaturday, March 06, 2010
HAMPTON, Ga. – Aric Almirola and Steve Wallace, two drivers still looking to make names for themselves in NASCAR, did their best Saturday to ensure that Billy Ballew Motorsports continues to be a top team in the Truck Series.

Almirola finished third and Wallace finished fourth in the E-Z-Go 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for team owner Billy Ballew, whose organization won seven races last year with Kyle Busch. They followed two Sprint Cup drivers who double as truck owners – Kevin Harvick and Busch – across the finish line.

“Kyle’s just one guy,” Almirola said. “Our truck program is very strong. [Crew chief] Richie Wauters, all the guys back at the shop work their guts out and it shows. We had an awesome truck. We missed it just a little bit, and that little bit was the difference between third and winning.”

For Almirola, his third-place finish on Saturday helped ease the pain of failing to qualify Friday for the Sprint Cup race at AMS. Almirola is driving full time for Ballew in the Truck Series, while his Cup program faces an uncertain future after Miccosukee dropped its sponsorship of Phoenix Racing.

“That’s really frustrating [in Cup],” Almirola said. “It is what it is. At the end of the day, I get to be in a race car and that’s what I want to do. It’s more than a job for me. It’s something I’m very passionate about.”

Almirola technically has one victory in 110 starts in NASCAR’s three national touring series, but that was a Nationwide Series race where a late-arriving Denny Hamlin replaced Almirola at the Milwaukee in 2007 and went on to win.

He didn’t get that first real win Saturday, but he was still happy. He has eight top-five finishes in 19 career starts for Ballew.

“We didn’t have what it took to roll around the bottom as long as we needed to; our truck got real tight the longer we ran and got tight in traffic,” Almirola said. “We still have our homework to do to catch up to Harvick. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

Another driver looking for his first NASCAR national touring series victory is Wallace, who was making his Truck Series debut Saturday. Wallace, the son of former Cup champion Rusty Wallace, is sixth in the Nationwide Series standings.

“These things draft really, really hard,” Wallace said. “When you get a car [and not a truck] in your right rear corner, you tend to get really, really loose there. Some of those things I learned today. The things are definitely a blast to drive.”

Wallace said he would like to compete in upcoming truck races at Martinsville and Nashville.

“I’ve got no money to bring so hopefully Billy will find some,” Wallace said. “It was a lot different, that’s for sure. … All in all, it was a good day.”

Hampton, GA (March 6, 2010) – Steve Wallace landed a top-five finish in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series outing. After qualifying in the sixth-position for the E-Z-GO 200, Wallace showed an affinity for muscling his Red Top Auctions Toyota around the high banks of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Wallace’s knack for truck racing became apparent quickly, as the North Carolina native led a portion of the 130 lap event and finished in a respectable fourth-place.

Wallace’s No. 15 Tundra was lacking side bite in the initial stages of the race. His “Cowboy” Starland-led crew improved the handling of Wallace’s machine one pit stop at a time, making air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments over the course of the event to improve Wallace’s grip. Despite being his first Truck Series event, Wallace remained in the top-10 for the entirety of the E-Z-GO 200 and led for three laps. As Wallace showed the way, his Red Top Auctions Toyota led Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch and several other seasoned veterans of the sport. Wallace finished his inaugural NCWTS event in fourth-place.

“These trucks are fun to race,” exclaimed Wallace after the event. “These guys race really, really hard. It was a lot of fun to mix it up out there. My Red Top Auctions Toyota was strong all day. We needed a little more side bite at the start. My crew kept zeroing in it and made my truck better and better. We were awesome at the end. The guys at Billy Ballew Motorsports all did an awesome job today.

“I’m hoping for an opportunity to get behind the wheel of the 15 truck again. Right now we need some sponsorship help to make it happen. Hopefully we can get some additional funding to do some more races. It was an awesome day and I know we have what it takes to win races. Today was a blast and I’d love to do it again.”

HAMPTON, GA. (March 6, 2010) – Aric Almirola capped off a solid week at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a top-three finish in the E-Z-GO 200.  Almirola’s No. 51 AKawareness.com Toyota started the event from seventh-place and steadily moved through the field before taking the checkers in third-place. The finish marked Almirola’s eighth top-five in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.

When the race got underway, Almirola’s Tundra was too tight. The splitter was bottoming out through the high-banked turns of Atlanta Motor Speedway and causing his truck to slide up the track.  Crew chief Richie Wauters directed the crew to fix the problem with an air pressure adjustment on the team’s first pit stop, lap 23. 

Almirola settled into fourth-place when green flag action returned.  His Toyota was still bottoming out and disrupting the handling, so the crew took more drastic measures to correct the problem on the ensuing pit stop, lap 51. When Almirola reached his pit stall, the crew lifted the hood and adjusted the suspension to raise the front-end off the ground. The lengthy work dropped Almirola back to 17^th-place for the restart. 

“There were only 17 cars on the lead lap and we needed to make a big change,” said Wauters.  “I knew that we weren’t going to win, or even finish in the top-five, unless we took a swing at it. I knew we’d be good enough to get back up front once we made the adjustments.”

Wauters’ words were spot on. After taking the green on lap 57, Almirola marched into third-place before the final caution of the day, lap 111.  The crew called Almirola down pit road for one last round of routine service to his AKawareness.com machine.  Once they changed his tires and topped off the fuel cell, Almirola rejoined the field in fifth-place for the final 13 laps of the 130 lap event.

Almirola raced past two trucks on the final green flag run, often running lap times equivalent to the leaders, before finishing the day in third-place.

“We had a solid day,” said Almirola.  “All of my guys’ hard work over the winter paid off.  They build great trucks at Billy Ballew Motorsports and it showed this afternoon.  We were too tight at the start, but it got a lot better after our first two pit stops.  All in all, it was a great day and a good momentum builder for the next race.

“I know we’ll only get better and better as the year goes on.  I know we have what it takes to be in victory lane before too long.”

Almirola will be behind the wheel of AKawreness.com Toyota next at Martinsville Speedway on March 27 for the Kroger 250.  SPEED TV and MRN will broadcast the event beginning at 2:00. Last season Aric started 15^th and finished 12^th driving a Billy Ballew Motorsports-prepared truck in the October event at Martinsville.