MADISON, Ill. (July 18, 2010) – The No. 51 team earned a hard-fought top-10 finish in Saturday’s Camping World 200 at Gateway International Raceway.  Aric Almirola battled a tight-handling Graceway Zyclara Tundra throughout the 160 lap event, but thanks to a solid pit strategy from crew chief Richie Wauters, Almirola led 16 laps and took the checkers in eighth-place. The team’s persistent effort kept Almirola second in the NASCAR Camping World 200 championship standings, 101 points behind leader Todd Bodine.

The event was originally planned to run underneath the lights on Friday night, however, a power outage at the track forced NASCAR to postpone the event until Saturday afternoon. The track conditions were significantly different than what the 51 team was prepared for.

Almirola started from the 16^th position. When the race got underway, Almirola radioed that his Tundra was “way too tight on exit.” He picked up three spots before the caution flag slowed the pace on Lap 12 and gave him an opportunity to bring his truck to the attention of his crew. Crew chief Richie Wauters took a big swing at changing the handling characteristics. The team changed all four tires, removed a rubber from the left-rear spring and made a track bar adjustment to loosen up Almirola’s truck. He returned to the field in 26^th-place.

Green flag action returned on Lap 17. Almirola’s truck was still too tight through the corners and was preventing him from returning to the gas as he exited the turns. Still, he moved up to 16^th-place before Lap 49, when the caution flag halted the field. Under the yellow, the team changed Almirola’s tires, topped off the fuel cell and made a track bar adjustment. He returned to the track in 12^th-place.

The race went back to green on Lap 57. Despite the adjustments, the Graceway Zyclara Tundra was still tight on exit, but that didn’t stop Almirola from pressing forward. Almirola broke into the top-10 on Lap 58 and held the position until the next caution flag, Lap 72. Wauters and Almirola decided that it was time to gamble.  Realizing that track position was at a premium, they elected for fuel and a track bar adjustment, without taking fresh tires, on the ensuing pit stop. The decision moved Almirola up to P-1 for the restart.

On Lap 78, the race returned to green. Almirola led the parade, picking up valuable bonus points for the championship chase.  Even though the 51 Tundra had old tires, Almirola showed the way until Lap 90, when the trucks with fresh rubber managed to get by. Almirola fell to seventh-place before a caution on Lap 123 gave him the chance to make a final pit stop.  Almirola’s truck had become too loose on the previous run. Wauters ascertained that fresh tires would tighten up the truck, so he decided not to make any chassis adjustments when the team serviced the 51 truck. Almirola rejoined the field in seventh-place for the final restart, Lap 130.

When the race went back to green, Almirola’s truck was “really tight again.” He made the most of the ill-handling machine, only losing one spot before taking the checkered flag.

“Our setup was a little off today,” said Almirola.  “We made some adjustments there after practice that we felt like were going to make us better for the race.  Maybe if the race was last night, maybe it would have been a different ball game. The Graceway Zyclara Tundra was too tight throughout the day. Richie Wauters did a great job making calls that helped us keep our track position, though.  When your truck isn’t running well, and you finish as well as we did, that says a lot about our team.

“We’re going to ORP next weekend.  That’s a track that I really enjoy racing at.  Our team has done really well there in the past and I’m looking forward to

Almirola will return to action next Friday when the NASCAR Camping world Truck Series travels to O’Reilly Raceway Park for the AAA Insurance 200. Race coverage will be on SPEED and MRN.