ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 28 Michael Roberts Construction Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “This is so special. It’s hard to explain. I know it’s an Xfinity win. It’s not a Cup win, but after COTA I told Davin and Drew, I was like, ‘Man, I really don’t think I should run anymore road course races in the Xfinity car. It makes me look like a wanker and I lose self-confidence going into Sunday.’ But I knew that this racetrack, this is one I can run good at. I’ve run good here my whole career. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love racing here. I’m just so thankful to everybody on this race team. Everybody at SHR in the Xfinity shop. They take on a lot to not only bring their two cars to the racetrack, but to prepare a third car. I’m so thankful to Mike with Michael Roberts Construction to come on. Without him and Largo Concrete, we don’t get to run this race. I’m thankful to Ford and everybody that makes this deal work. All of our partners, Shady Rays, Pit Boss Grills, Firstform. It’s been a really tough year on the Cup side and to come out here and get a win and get to celebrate. My kids came out. We’re gonna spend the week in California for our off week and they’re gonna get to go to Victory Lane. That is so special. The pictures we have at home with our family in Victory Lane mean the most to me, so I’m so excited to share this Victory Lane here. Also Caymus. We had a great dinner last night and drank a little bit of Caymus win with our team and this is their hometown, so, man, this is awesome. I can’t wait to get to Victory Lane.”
LARSON WAS ON YOUR TAIL. HOW MUCH WERE YOU LOOKING IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR? “I was looking in my rearview mirror a lot, just trying to make sure that I could maintain the gap. Larson was certainly the class of the field, so to have the lead and get some clean air, I knew that if I just put some clean laps together I was gonna make it tough for him to get by me. A great race car. We made a lot of adjustments throughout the race to make it better and better and finally there at the end it was at its best.”
HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THIS GIVE YOU FOR TOMORROW? “A lot. The cars are totally different from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series, but it’s still a win and it’s still a win at the NASCAR national level. These races are hard to win and you’re going against the best. You’re going against Kyle Larson and Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs. It was a stacked field today for the Xfinity race and I’m just so proud to go to Victory Lane here.”
THIS IS THE FIRST WIN FOR RSS RACING. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? “It’s awesome. I’m just really thankful that they allowed me to run this car and to come here and run with this team and these guys and I’m just so proud of everybody’s hard work. Everybody at Sieg Racing. Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for the collaboration and I’m just really thankful.”
Campbell Marketing & Communications for Ford Performance
