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Almirola, who determined he’ll retire from fulltime NASCAR competitors on the conclusion of the 2022 season, is the one sequence driver to have completed within the top-10 in every of the season’s first three races.
He opened the yr with a fifth within the Daytona 500, was sixth at Fontana, Calif., and fought again from quite a few points Sunday for an additional sixth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Together with his sixth-place end final weekend at Fontana, Almirola had already continued a unusual 49-year NASCAR streak of a minimum of one driver ending within the top-10 within the season’s first two races.
Consistency over all
His three consecutive top-10s has Almirola sitting, sixth within the sequence standings heading into this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway. He was the best ending Stewart-Haas Racing driver in Sunday’s race and stays the SHR driver highest in factors.
Requested the important thing to his profitable begin up to now, Almirola, 37, stated: “We battle. That’s the fantastic thing about this race group. We’re nonetheless studying this automobile. There’s so much to find out about it and we’re nonetheless attempting to determine plenty of issues out.
“Apply is nice, however we’ve obtained to make changes all through the race and I really feel like each race we’re studying increasingly and extra and we’re constructing a pocket book. We’re making changes all through the race and attempting to determine it out.
“This group has a lot battle in it and a lot grit that it’s plenty of enjoyable to race with these guys. We’ll maintain digging and try to maintain this streak alive of all these prime 10 finishes. It’s plenty of enjoyable once you run up entrance.”
Sunday’s race at Las Vegas was a primary instance of among the obstacles Almirola’s No. 10 Ford group has needed to overcome in races this season.
Throughout Stage 2, Almirola reported he was feeling numbness in each of his legs – an issue driver Tyler Reddick skilled the week earlier than at Fontana.
By late within the race, Almirola had labored himself as much as the High-10 when a warning with two-laps within the race despatched it right into a two-lap time beyond regulation. Almirola lined up eighth on the restart and earned two extra positions earlier than the checkered flag.
“We take the primary half of the race and it’s actually about studying. We make changes. In the event that they’re no good, we return on them and simply maintain fine-tuning on the automobile to get it to the place we have to get it,” he stated. “Normally, the previous couple of weeks we’ve gotten the automobile the place we wanted to have it on the finish of the race.
“It’s been good. It’s a lot enjoyable to race with this group of men and everyone that helps us. Our Ford Mustang was quick. We’ve obtained some work to do to maintain up with among the different producers. We’ve obtained to proceed to do our homework, however, nonetheless, this can be a nice begin to our season and plenty of enjoyable.”
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