Aric Almirola

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NASCAR America: How Aric Almirola is helping Stewart-Haas Racing

… What I heard out of Kevin Harvick was the enthusiasm of, ‘I can now look at Aric Almirola’s comments and look at their changes. I feel like I’m reading a book that may help me.’ It sounds like he wasn’t getting that from the 10 car. Now he feels like he is.”
“If one team is carrying the entire company, that one team isn’t as strong as it can be,” Burton said. “They need help from everybody. If these three other teams can run well, it makes Kevin Harvick’s team better.
http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2018/02...aric-almirola-is-helping-stewart-haas-racing/
 
Hoping Aric can have some strong top 5 runs eventually but I honestly do not expect any wins this season. Ive been wrong before.
 
I have said it before and I still believe that the main reason for the lack of performance for the 10 car in the past was mainly due to the cars handling problems. I think Danica was a better driver then she appeared due to the lack of the cars performance. I just don't think she knew enough about the car to be able to help the crew chief set it up. When the car was right she could run with the boys until the cars performance went away. How many times have we seen some of the best drivers run crappy at the start of the race and then as they start working with the car on pit stops it starts getting better and better...or vice versa. I think Almirola is much better at understanding the car and knows what to tell the crew chief to help them fine tune the setup.
 
I was surprised when SHR hired almirola. Lets not forget he did spend some time in a gibbs nationwide equipment. I also felt bubba did a better job in the 43 car than he did as well. I would be very surprised if he does very much at SHR. I also think he was hired because of sponsorship with smithfield that moved over with him. Without that no way SHR chooses him. Lets remember kenseth was available at the time. I do think harvick brings more to the table that just being a good driver. last year junior said harvick really helped his JRM program, everything from getting the cars sorted out to being better business owners. Harvick has done a lot in all aspects of the business.

this info sharing among teams also makes me wonder about HMS they really only have jimmy that is a veteren. I didn't see the race but the hendrick cars looked slow, from practice, qualifying, to race finish. In the past atlanta as been a track where adjustments during the race really effects the outcome, the track also changes, a guy that is fast in practice by be totally out of it on a rubbered up hot track at the end of the race.
 
The entire SHR team was damn good at Atlanta.

Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer also seemed to perform better than they did last year as well, and Almirola was the lowest performing of the four SHR drivers, just like Danica was last year.
 
I think Almirola might notch a win for SHR this year. His one Cup win came at Daytona, he was mighty close to making it two wins at Daytona. He looked fairly decent at Atlanta. So, I guess time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he won at least one, based on the performance of SHR so far this season. Hard to glean a lot from two races, but that camp looks racy.
 
Sometimes a change for a driver produces good results. Sometimes it isn't just the equipment (but a good ride helps). Mark Martian was a good example of a driver who lost his ride at Roush and did alright with some smaller teams. Kurt Busch helped Furniture Row get some success.
 
Zerkfitting said:
Sometimes a change for a driver produces good results. Sometimes it isn't just the equipment (but a good ride helps). Mark Martian was a good example of a driver who lost his ride at Roush and did alright with some smaller teams. Kurt Busch helped Furniture Row get some success.
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Mark Martian was out of this world.
 
Mark Martian

marsattackslist_44.jpg


Sorry, Zerk .. had to.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Let's remember Almirola's pay check is probably substantially less than whatever Matt was asking.
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BINGO!
mack said:
I think Almirola might notch a win for SHR this year. His one Cup win came at Daytona, he was mighty close to making it two wins at Daytona. He looked fairly decent at Atlanta. So, I guess time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he won at least one, based on the performance of SHR so far this season. Hard to glean a lot from two races, but that camp looks racy.
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I think each SHR car will win a race if they continue performing like they have over the last 2 races. I'd love to see Almirola win. It would be good for him, his sponsor, and the team. The guy is a class act.
 
Nitro Dude said:
I have said it before and I still believe that the main reason for the lack of performance for the 10 car in the past was mainly due to the cars handling problems. I think Danica was a better driver then she appeared due to the lack of the cars performance. I just don't think she knew enough about the car to be able to help the crew chief set it up. When the car was right she could run with the boys until the cars performance went away. How many times have we seen some of the best drivers run crappy at the start of the race and then as they start working with the car on pit stops it starts getting better and better...or vice versa. I think Almirola is much better at understanding the car and knows what to tell the crew chief to help them fine tune the setup.
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The handling of the car directly relates to the drivers feel for and understanding of the car and the way they can communicate that to their team. So while we can attribute it to poor handling they're only so long you can get away with that one. It comes down to the fact that there's a lot more to it than just driving the car and Danica, for whatever reason, just couldn't stack up.

Not just her either, Kurt and Bowyer haven't done that well too.. but SHR has a championship winning and capable program so when these guys don't perform there's more to it than simply the handling.
 
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SlicedBread22 said:
The handling of the car directly relates to the drivers feel for and understanding of the car and the way they can communicate that to their team. So while we can attribute it to poor handling they're only so long you can get away with that one. It comes down to the fact that there's a lot more to it than just driving the car and Danica, for whatever reason, just couldn't stack up.

Not just her either, Kurt and Bowyer haven't done that well too.. but SHR has a championship winning and capable program so when these guys don't perform there's more to it than simply the handling.
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You might want to add Tony into that mix. He wasn't setting the world on fire the last several years he raced.
 
Almirola was running top 15 a lap down and took a wave around with 30 laps to go.DP finished 17P on the lead lap last year.
 
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Happy to see Aric doing well so far. To be fair, it is my understanding that they had some major changes off-season relative to the chassis and the people heading that up. I’m sure that has helped the overall competitiveness of the 10. Still you gotta think the driver is also a big plus as well.
 
Towmater said:
He did not perform regardless of the excuse.
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That's my point.. it's not the equipment.

We could have been made to believe that but Harvick has proved otherwise. I get that a driver can elevate the equipment much more than the equipment can elevate the driver but he been consistently running to front and contending for championships since he stepped foot in that car.

And yeah Tony is on that list too but even he went out and won a cup in that equipment.

I'd like to see someone start their career there, one of these young guys and see how it goes for them.
 
Mr Excitement said:
Almirola was running top 15 a lap down and took a wave around with 30 laps to go.DP finished 17P on the lead lap last year.
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He also ran inside the top 10 for a good amount of the race.. something Danica never did.. well except that one time.. at Daytona

Plus all her lead lap finish likely means is that there were more cautions in that race than this one.

Nonetheless were jumping the gun.. I do think he'll do better than her but let's wait and see.. we have time lol
 
I will be glad when a driver is compared to what he is doing in today's races in relation to the present field. Screw what anyone did in the past.
 
Team Penske said:
I will be glad when a driver is compared to what he is doing in today's races in relation to the present field. Screw what anyone did in the past.
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Drivers will always be compared to whoever was in a car before. We compared Bowyer's performance for his first year in the #14 with Stewart's, and Chase Elliott with Jeff Gordon. Sometimes people go even further back than the most recent driver. Assuming there haven't been too many changes to a car in a single off season, it's a solid base for comparing performance.

Geez, it isn't even unique to auto racing. Any person moving into a new position is compared to his or her predecessor. Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, etc.
 
That's what I mean. Useless comparisons that are based on assumptions.
 
I think Eric will be fine, he is a good man and driver plus he is with a team for a short time and I feel will improve over the next few races.
Don't forget, he was leading the 500 and was turned into the wall in front of the whole field at 200 MPH by Master AD.
 
Aric Almirola ran well with the top teams in both of the lower-tier series.
While his lone Cup win may come across a little fluky, I fully expect the man to remove the "asterisk" from his winning column and contend for several this year. I like what I have seen so far. He is proving that his past results with his past teams do not reflect his abilities very well.
 
Bowyer is there to fill out the "good ol' boy" stats.
SHR will have to either buy drivers or start training their own.
Do they have anyone other than Custer in the works??
 
Team Penske said:
Bowyer is there to fill out the "good ol' boy" stats.
SHR will have to either buy drivers or start training their own.
Do they have anyone other than Custer in the works??
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Although is not technically a Stewart-Haas driver Chase Briscoe is a Ford performance development driver and his most likely home would be Stewart-Haas he also is going to start for them later this year in their Xfinity 98 car.
 
Team Penske said:
Bowyer is there to fill out the "good ol' boy" stats.
SHR will have to either buy drivers or start training their own.
Do they have anyone other than Custer in the works??
Click to expand...

Although is not technically a Stewart-Haas driver Chase Briscoe is a Ford performance development driver and his most likely home would be Stewart-Haas he also is going to start for them later this year in their Xfinity 98 car.
AuzGrams said:
I think he's more talented than Bowyer.
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I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about bowyer and want to throw him to the wolves I think last week is a good indication of what he's capable of still last year he ran in the top 10 in points all year long. Beat out by some guys who won circumstantial races I think this year if that team improves which they look like they could he's going to contend for some wins
 
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