Almirola wins stunner; F1 rivalry gets even hotter
LOUDON, N.H. — With darkness closing in, Aric Almirola sprung to life late Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and pulled off the surprise victory, the first one of the year for Stewart-Haas Racing.
“There is no doubt we have struggled,” Almirola said. “But guess what? We’re going playoff racing.”
The victory was a needed boost for Ford and played havoc with the playoff field with only four races left before the 16-driver field is set. The race was delayed nearly two hours by rain and NASCAR called it early due to darkness, leaving it eight laps shy of its scheduled conclusion.
New Hampshire was scheduled for 301 laps and 318.46 miles.
Almirola, who entered 27th in the points standings, raced to his third career Cup victory and first since 2018 and was the first driver out of the SHR pack that includes Kevin Harvick, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe to take the checkered flag. Almirola had only two top 10s this season.
“There have been so many people that have supported us through the crappiest year ever,” Almirola said. “Man, this feels so good for them.”
He broke up the Team Penske party — Brad Keselowksi and Ryan Blaney had a fun back-and-forth for the lead at one point — and Christopher Bell could not catch him.
Bell won the Xfinty Series race Saturday and was second. Keselowski, Joey Logano and Blaney made it a 3-4-5 finish for Team Penske.
Almirola rested his head on the car in almost stunned disbelief that he clinched his playoff spot. Ford drivers took five of the top six spots.
F1: In Silverstone, England, Lewis Hamilton roared back from a firstlap incident that sent championship leader Max Verstappen to the hospital and overcame a 10-second penalty to win the British Grand Prix and reignite his title defense on Sunday.
The seven-time champion won at his home track to snap a run of five races without a victory and slash the gap to Verstappen at the top of the drivers’ championship from 33 points to eight.
This season’s title battle boiled over on one of the hottest days of the year, in front of 140,000 fans at a packed Silverstone, with the terrifying incident that saw the race red-flagged and Hamilton given a penalty.
And the 23-year-old Verstappen fuming in hospital in Coventry.
“Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this,” Verstappen posted on Twitter. “The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track.
“Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on.”