Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-55):
● Aric Almirola started 16th and finished sixth.
● Almirola raced his Smithfield Ford to sixth by lap 40.
● He pitted at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel and adjustments to correct loose-handling conditions.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 56-90):
● Almirola started ninth and finished ninth.
● Almirola said the adjustments made his Smithfield Ford difficult to turn.
● He pitted at the end of the stage to take four tires and reverse the previous adjustments made.
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 91-125:
● Almirola started 12th and finished 11th .
● The No. 10 Ford driver raced just outside the top-10 in Stage 3 and said the previous adjustments helped.
● He pitted at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel an adjustments.
Stage 4 Recap (Laps 126-140:
● Almirola started 11th and finished ninth.
● The No. 10 Ford driver gained two more positions before the checkered flag waved.
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Great job to all of our guys. We definitely deserved to be in this race today. We learned some things today. Can’t wait to get to Texas this weekend and continue the momentum to get us a win.”
Notes:
● Almirola’s ninth-place result marked his second straight top-10 in the All-Star Race. He finished sixth last year.
● This was Almirola’s third appearance in the All-Star Race.
● Chase Elliott won the All-Star Race with a .418 of a second margin of victory over runner-up Kyle Busch.
● The All-Star Race featured six lead changes among four different drivers. Twenty drivers comprised the field.
Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to points-paying racing on Sunday, July 19 with the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race gets underway at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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