Almirola Looking to Defend Team Win at Chicagoland

Likes Chances to Tighten Points Battle over Four Race Stretch

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 23, 2010) – The No. 51 Zyclara by Graceway team are defending champions of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event at Chicagoland Speedway. Kyle Busch, along with crew chief Richie Wauters, reached victory lane in the inaugural NCWTS race at the track last season. Aric Almirola will be driving the same Billy Ballew Motorsports-fielded chassis that Busch used in his winning effort and hopes to pilot it to a repeat performance.  This is also the same truck that Almirola raced to his second win of the 2010 season earlier this year at the Michigan International Speedway. 

Almirola has averaged a seventh-place finish at the four mile-and-a-half venues that the NCWTS has visited this season.  His best finish at a 1.5-mile track came at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he took the checkers in third-place. Almirola finished in eighth-place at Chicagoland last season.

BBM has been more successful at mile-and-a-half tracks than any other venue. The organization has racked up nine wins at speedways 1.5 miles in length, six of those wins were from the 51 team. The 51 team also has scored three poles at mile-and-a-half tracks.

Almirola brings to Chicagoland Speedway a current streak of four top-10 finishes including three top-five finishes.

Almirola Comments on Chicagoland Speedway:

“Our mile-and-a-half program and two-mile program has been outstanding this year. We’ve run really well. I think we’ve been in the top-10 at just about all of the tracks. We’ve had really fast trucks and we’re feeling good going into Chicagoland.

“I’m looking forward to Chicago. We’re taking the same truck that Richie (Wauters) and Kyle (Busch) won with there last year. I feel like we’ll have a really good showing for Graceway Pharmaceuticals there and hopefully have our Toyota Tundra up front. Hopefully our team will duplicate the results that they had last season. 

“Chicago’s a really cool city.  It has a lot of character and charm. It’s one of the places that I love going to. It kept Ferris Bueller busy all day long. We’ve got a busy schedule at the track, but hopefully I’ll have some time to go and enjoy the city.”

“We’ve got a stretch of tracks coming up that our team has done really, really well at. Chicago, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Las Vegas are all strong tracks for Billy Ballew Motorsports.  We’ve won at three of those, so I’ve got a lot of confidence that we can tighten the points chase in the next few weeks. 

“Our strategy hasn’t changed since the beginning of the season.  The best thing we can do to close the gap with Todd (Bodine) is win races, and hopefully we’ll be in position to do that over the next few weeks.”

Bristol, Tenn. (August 18, 2010) – Aric Almirola and the No. 51 Zyclara by Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota team came within one lap of winning Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.  Only a caution coming off Turn Four during a green-white-checkered finish stopped Almirola and the Billy Ballew Motorsports team from collecting their third win this season.  But, the team did climb 17 positions to finish runner-up and collect their fourth consecutive top-10 result in the backyard of their sponsor, Graceway Pharmaceuticals.

It was a long road for Almirola and the No. 51 team to accomplish their sixth top-five finish of the season.  A one-day race program, the team practiced and qualified earlier in the day before running over 200 laps at night. During practice, the team was not happy with the performance of the truck and settled for a 19^th-place starting spot after qualifying was finished.  A long debrief was held, but the team is led by one of the best mechanical minds in the Camping World Truck Series garage, Richie Wauters. It was decided to focus on the race and the best 200 laps possible, knowing they had an experienced driver behind the wheel and strong crew.

Once the team took the green, Almirola moved up to the 16^th-spot by Lap 10.  It was one lap later that the first of 13 caution periods came out.  Almirola mentioned that he was “tight in traffic”, but the team needed to stay on the track to retain track position.  The third caution came out on Lap 28 after Almirola had moved up to 11^th.  The team then decided to come down for their first of two pit stops of the night. An air pressure adjustment was made, as well as taking four fresh tires and fuel.  The Lap 33 restart saw the team in the 23^rd position, but with fresher tires than most, and the chance to quickly move up the leader board.

The race, however, was slowed numerous times for cautions.  The saying, “cautions breed cautions,” was holding true at Bristol.  By Lap 50 the team had advanced to 16^th and were back to 11^th on a Lap 56 restart after the sixth caution of the night.  Almirola broke into the top-10 on Lap 58 and that’s where he raced through the halfway mark.  He had climbed as high as fifth at the 100-lap mark and started to report that the truck had lost power steering. A caution flew on Lap 129 allowing Almirola and the team to strategize their next adjustment. Fighting the power steering, Almirola reported that his truck was still tight.

Crew Chief Richie Wauters studied his options, and a caution on Lap 163 allowed them to make their final pit stop of the night. Another air pressure adjustment and four tires were put on the No. 51 truck.  Restarting 16^th on Lap 169, Almirola made his charge back through the field.  Putting on a tremendous driving display, Almirola moved back into the top-10 and had moved into the top-five after an accident collected both Tim Peters and Elliott Sadler.  The team was now lining up third on a Lap 194 restart.  One lap later (Lap 195) Almirola was in second when a caution flag flew for a multi-car wreck on Lap 198.  NASCAR was forced to put out the Red Flag for track clean up.

Race leader Kyle Busch had elected to make his final pit stop earlier than the No. 51 team, and now with the race heading for “overtime”, fuel consumption was becoming an issue for the No 18 truck.  Almirola had said that his truck struggled on the bottom lane on restarts as Busch elected to restart on the high line. The race returned to green on Lap 204 with Almirola down low and Busch up high.  Busch took the lead into Turn One, carried it into Turn Three, but began to sputter with a drying gas tank.  Almirola was setting him up for the winning pass on the last lap when three cars collected into the Turn Four wall. NASCAR threw the caution flag as both teams prepared for the second attempt at the green-white-checkered. Instead, the race was officially called declaring Busch the winner. Almirola finished second for his hometown sponsor.

 “We had a really good Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra tonight,” Almirola said.  “Really, it just came down to what lane you were in on restarts.  We really struggled restarting on the bottom.  We had to fight hard in race traffic too.  But, I have to say that Richie made a great call on that final pit stop.

“The truck really took off after that. We were still fighting some issues, but we really moved back through the field. On the last restart, I had a good run on Kyle going into Turn Three. I was going to make my move because I knew he was running out of gas.  I saw the yellow lights come on and I thought I was going to have it on another restart.  I guess they called the race and we ended up second.

“It’s still a good night to finish this well for our hometown sponsor.  Graceway Pharmaceuticals is right here in Bristol.  I wanted nothing more to put them in victory lane, but we came up one lap short.  It’s still another good run for this team and I’m proud of everyone for working so hard today”

Almirola and the No. 51 team did gain on point’s leader Todd Bodine. They now trail by 211 marks and have strong races ahead of them.  The next race is the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at the Chicagoland Speeedway next Friday night at the Chicagoland Speedway.  It is scheduled to be televised live on SPEED Channel beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Almirola Looks to Keep BBM Bristol Streak Alive

Team has Two Victories in Three Tries at Demanding Half-Mile Oval

 MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 16, 2010) – The No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports team’s confidence is riding high into this week’s O’Reilly 200 at the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. In three previous starts at the high-banked, half-mile concrete oval, the 51 team has visited victory lane twice (Kyle Busch, 2008 and 2009). Aric Almirola, driver of the Zyclara by Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra, is aiming to continue that streak in this Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event.

Almirola has proven he can get the job done at “Thunder Valley.” The Tampa, Fla., native has finished inside the top-10 at Bristol in all three of NASCAR’s top series. Almirola finished 10^th in 2007 Nationwide Series competition. He took the checkers in eighth-place in the 2008 Sprint Cup race, and earned a sixth-place finish at Bristol in the 2009 NCWTS race. Almirola hopes his experience will yield a performance that tightens the point’s race with series leader Todd Bodine.

 Almiorla Comments on O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway:

“Bristol is a tough racetrack.  It’s one of the most physically demanding tracks we go to. It will wear you down. It gets really hot down in that bowl.  It’s August, it’s burning up. The steep banks create some serious g-force. Your body gets pulled in all kinds of different directions.

“Because it’s such a short track, you’re always moving your arms and legs. Until there’s a caution, you never get to rest or relax for even a second.  It’s important to be in good shape. I’ve been running and taking care of my body, so I think I’ll be in good condition for the race.

“Mentally it’s a tough track, too.  You’re always on edge. There’s just not much room to race there, so you’ve got to stay focused on hitting your marks and running your line. It’s easy to lose your temper or become frustrated.  You’ve got to remind yourself to keep a cool head and not get caught up in an accident.  

“We always have good trucks there. Billy Ballew Motorsports has run very well there in the past. I’m really looking forward to racing there.  I feel like we can go there and get on track and have the kind of performance that we need to tighten up the championship chase.”

Spotter for Aric Almirola Shows He has What it Takes Behind the Wheel, Too

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 14, 2010) – The title chase in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage may be in full swing, but one driver on the No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports team has already won a championship. Tyler Green, spotter for Aric Almirola’s Zyclara by Graceway Tundra, claimed the 2010 Legend Car Pro division championship after a thrilling battle at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (CMS) last Tuesday.

Green carried a 17 point lead in the championship standings over Travis Braden and Daniel Hemrick, who were tied for second-place, going into the series finale at CMS.  Green’s chances of being crowned champ appeared bleak when he qualified in 19^th-place for the feature, while Hemrick and Braden both lined up inside the top-five. Green made a dramatic dash through the field, though, finishing in fourth-place, only one spot behind Braden.  His effort earned him his first Legend Car Pro division championship.

“I’ve been racing Legend cars at Charlotte for four years and experienced nearly every kind of misfortune that you can imagine, as far as winning a title,” Green said. “To finally have everything go our way and win the championship feels awesome. 

“We had a really bad heat race. We started 19^th and the guys we needed to beat were starting in the top-five. I didn’t feel like there was much hope at that point. I figured whatever happens, happens.  It was only a 20 lap race. I’d just run as hard as I possibly could. Everything worked out, though.  I ended up getting by a lot of guys and finished fourth.  It was just what we needed.”

Tyler is part of the infamous Green family, which has become synonymous with NASCAR racing.  Tyler’s father, Mark, is a veteran of the Nationwide Series and currently drives for Jay Robinson Racing.  His uncles, David and Jeff, are former Nationwide Series champions. Mark is doing everything he can to help bring Tyler up through the ranks.

“It was awesome to be at Charlotte Motor Speedway with my dad. I drive a family-built racecar. To be able to run up front and contend for wins and win a championship is pretty special. Not only is it a bonding time for me and my family, but it helps my driving skills for the future.

“I’d love to take the next step.  Of course I’d love to race in NASCAR one day.  It’s expensive, though. There’s a big jump in cost after Legends and Late Models. Hopefully funding will come through one day and let me keep going.”