Aric Almirola piloting the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals AKAwareness.com Toyota Tundra finished in the 12^th-place position in the running of the Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, September 24, 2009 at Martinsville Speedway.

Almirola suffered from tight conditions in practice and placed the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry in the 15^th-place position on the starting grid for the 200-lap race.  Despite the efforts of the Graceway team, the tight condition continued though out the entire race on the .526-mile Martinsville, Virginia short track. 

Track position is vital on the short tracks but with the handling issues Almirola in the No. 15 AKAwarness.com truck had to make several stops on pit road.  The pit crew was quick on pit lane under cautions, with Almirola using patience to advance through the pack after the restarts.  Almirola maintained an average 13^th-place position during the entire 200-lap race, finishing in the 12^th-place position.

“I just hate we couldn’t have given Graceway a good showing in Martinsville today,” Aric Almirola said. “We had some of the Graceway reps in the pit today and I wanted to take them to victory lane.  (We) Just struggled with a tight truck all day, no matter what adjustments we made helped loosen the truck up”. 

Despite a 12^th-place finish Almirola scored high in the NASCAR Loop Statistics.  According to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Martinsville Speedway Loop Statistics, Almirola was the top rated driver in Quality Passes, making 24 passes while running in the top-15 (while under a green flag).  He was also fourth in Green Flag Passes (27 passes), which rates the driver with the most passes during green flag conditions in the race.

Almirola and the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals AKAwareness.com team head to Talladega Superspeedway where the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take on the 2.66-mile Superspeedway Saturday, October 31, 2009.

“I’m really looking forward to Talladega next weekend. We need to get our momentum back that we had earlier this season.” 

For more information on Billy Ballew Motorsports, Aric Almirola and the Is it AK or OK campaign please visit www.BillyBallewMotorsports.com, www.AricAlmirola.com  and www.AKAwareness.com.