Almirola drives Mustang to Atlanta pole
HAMPTON, Ga. — Aric Almirola gave the new Mustang its first pole of the season in a Ford sweep of NASCAR Cup qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Almirola turned a lap at 181.472 mph Friday to take the top qualifying spot and deny Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer a slot on the front row. Bowyer was fastest in the lone practice session of the day but slipped to third, behind Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“It’s cool to be the first guy to put the Ford Mustang on the pole,” Almirola said. “It’s like my first one in seven years, too.”
The pole is the second of Almirola’s career, but first since 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600.
Ford was the heavy favorite to win last week’s Daytona 500 but was locked out of even a podium finish as Toyotas took all three of the spots. Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 and led two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates across the finish line for the sweep. Hamlin was the highest-qualifying Toyota driver at Atlanta in fourth.
Daniel Suarez, another SHR driver, qualified fifth in a strong day for that camp. Only Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, struggled, but his issue was a steering problem that hampered his team all afternoon. He qualified 18th.
“Everybody at SHR is building incredible race cars, it doesn’t matter what rules they throw at us,” Almirola said. “You give 400 really talented employees a challenge with a new race car, with a Ford Mustang, and a new rules package from NASCAR and they just go to work. They put their head down and go to work and figure out how to make everything work to make the cars go fast.”
Dale Jr. will race at NASCAR’s track dubbed “Too Tough To Tame.” Earnhardt Jr. announced Friday he’ll compete at Darlington Raceway’s Xfinity Series race on Aug. 31 during the track’s Southern 500 weekend.
Earnhardt Jr. retired from fulltime racing in 2017. He ran the Xfinity race at Richmond last September and finished fourth.
He said the main reason he picked Darlington was the track surface that puts a premium on being smart and managing tires. He said the 1.366-mile track is “one of the few stops on the circuit that provides that challenge.”
Earnhardt’s late father, Dale Sr., won nine times at Darlington, second to David Pearson’s 10. Two years ago, Darlington renamed one of its turn three suite towers “Earnhardt Towers.”