How FRR’s Truex fared

daytona beach, fla. » It had been more than 15 years since the iconicNo. 43 drove to Victory Lane.

So waiting through two days of thunderstorms and three red flagswas relatively easy for Aric Almirola and his Richard PettyMotorsports team.

Almirola won the rain-delayed and rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, putting Petty’s famed blue car back on top for the first time since 1999.

Almirola’s first Cup win came on the same weekend Petty celebrated the 30th anniversary of his 200th career win. The 30-year-old Almirola was just a baby when Petty picked up that milestone win.

“The 43 car is without a doubt the most famous car in our sport’s history,” Almirola said. “And to have that opportunity • Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. finished 15th in Sunday’s weather-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. • “It was a roller-coaster day,” said Truex, who qualified 19th. “We never could get going. I didn’t like what I was seeing early in the race, and I hung back.” to drive that race car has been really special fromthe day that I stepped foot in it. All I wanted to do from the very first time I drove it was get it to Victory Lane. It took two and a half years I guess, but I finally did it.”

Petty wasn’t around for the festivities, having already left Daytona during one of the many delays. He didn’t miss much, considering steady rain put a slight damper on the postrace party.

NASCAR, though, patched through the seven-time