Richard Petty Motorsports driver aims to build on season of firsts in 2015
Team: Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford
Rank in final 2014 standings: 16th
Wins: 1 (Daytona International Speedway in July)
Year in photos: Aric Almirola 2014 highlights
Strides: Perhaps bolstered by the three-year contract extension he signed last January, Almirola broke new ground in his 2014 campaign. After notching his first Sprint Cup victory in the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Almirola not only ended a 543-race dry spell for his team owner, King Richard Petty, but he also turned the midsummer windfall into the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason berth in his career.
Almirola put the famed No. 43 into Daytona's Victory Lane on the 30th anniversary weekend of Petty's landmark 200th win at the 2.5-mile track, but also brightened the outlook for 2015.
"It was a great day and a lot of great memories stem from that," Almirola said. "… It's given our race team a lot of confidence going into next year, and it's made us hungry. That's the beauty of what we accomplished this year is that we've tasted what we're capable of, and we don't feel we've even reached our maximum potential. I think everybody on our race team's really hungry to get going again next year and to be able to make sure we make the Chase again."
Setbacks: In his three years with RPM, Almirola has exited early because of an engine failure only once. That DNF couldn't have been more poorly timed. A broken exhaust valve in the 2014 Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway saddled Almirola with a 41st-place finish and an insurmountable deficit for the first three-race phase of eliminations.
While the team took a step forward by scratching the win column, the No. 43 bunch had just one other top-five finish (third place at Bristol in the spring) and led multiple laps in just two other races.
Quoteworthy: "We've got to get more consistency in the build of our cars. We've got to really hone in on a package that we're happy with. We've had success at different race tracks with different setups and packages and aero balances, and when we try to take them to other race tracks, they don't work. That kind of leads to our inconsistency. We've got to get a better understanding of what it takes for our race cars to be fast week in and week out."
What's next: Changes are forthcoming to the RPM operations dynamic, the biggest of which is a new teammate for Almirola in the form of Sam Hornish Jr., who replaces the outgoing Marcos Ambrose in his return to full-time competition in NASCAR's top series. The team will also call a familiar shop its new home, moving its North Carolina base in the offseason from Concord to the Mooresville space that housed Petty's cars from 2007-08.
While some things will shift before the green flag drops on 2015, many key components remain the same. Both Almirola and primary sponsor Smithfield are locked into concurrent contracts through 2016. Barring an unexpected late change with Trent Owens at crew chief, the No. 43 team's core will return intact for the coming Sprint Cup season.
"It gives me a ton of confidence to know that we can only continue to get better and better, and I think we've shown that over the last three years," Almirola said. "As things have gotten better and Smithfield has stepped up their commitment, not only long-term but financially, our performance has coincided with that."