Almirola pressure-free, excited to be in Cup race

LAS VEGAS -- Aric Almirola professed confidence that he would make his first Nextel Cup race in his first attempt at qualifying to do so.

But underneath his calm exterior, he obviously wasn't that confident after all. Despite the 22-year-old's ultimately successful run that placed him in Sunday's field for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Almirola admitted that he doesn't expect any family members to be among the sell-out crowd of 140,000.

"The last thing I told everybody in my family was please don't buy a ticket to go out there," Almirola said. "The last thing I wanted to do was have them jinx me or put that much more pressure on me -- to where if I didn't make the race, they would end up with plane tickets to Vegas to come out here and watch a race that didn't have me in it. So I begged everyone not to buy tickets, and nobody did to my knowledge."

Yet Almirola is indeed in the race after turning a lap of 173.505 mph in Friday qualifying. That was good enough to place him in the field on speed, on the inside of Row 16 in the 31st starting position.

"I'm just really excited to be in the race," Almirola said. "My first attempt and to actually make it in a situation like this is truly a dream come true. It's one thing to come here and if there were only 43 cars here to make my Cup debut. But to beat out 11 or 12 other cars to get my chance to race my first Cup race is really awesome."

Almirola, a resident of Tampa, Fla., who is of Cuban descent, was one of the first Drive for Diversity participants at Joe Gibbs Racing. He began racing Late Models for JGR in 2004, and this year will run in 18 Busch Series events and at least four Cup events -- as long as he qualifies.

He admitted that the butterflies were bouncing around in his stomach prior to Friday's qualifying attempt. So much so that he said he doesn't expect to be as nervous for the actual race on Sunday.

"I think the butterflies are going to be limited -- because I had so many of them on Friday that I don't think I can ever have that many again. I don't think I want to experience that again, it was no nerve-wracking. I think Sunday is going to be better," Almirola said.

"It's going to be exciting because it's my first Cup race. But I'm in the race. That was our main goal, coming out here -- just to make the race. Everything from here on out is just extra, a bonus. I'm getting extra seat time and a chance to learn, rather than be loaded up and on my way back to North Carolina."

Almirola said that he doesn't think much about driver Juan Montoya of Colombia, who is entering his first full season of NASCAR driving, taking pressure off him by carrying the Hispanic flag for the sport.

"I think he does a really good job promoting and also carrying the Hispanic bandwagon, so to speak. I think it's great for our sport. I'm just glad to be a part of it," Almirola said. "Anything I can add to that or bring to the table is going to be great. ... I'm just glad to be part of this sport, you know? It's something I've waited my whole life for. The last thing you want to do is let everybody else and yourself down. That's why I'm so glad to be racing [Sunday].

"Everybody knows my ethnic background. It's kind of old news by now. ... I don't think it's that big of a deal."