Aric Almirola bore the burden of a winless season while seeking a playoff position that appeared improbable for a driver buried deep in the standings on a Stewart-Haas Racing team that had yet to win a race.
His confidence sagged. The strain was increasing on the No. 10 team.
With darkness falling at New Hampshire, Almirola’s season came into sharp perspective. Late Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Almirola exploded to victory, providing a critical lift for SHR, Ford, and another jolt to the NASCAR playoff picture.
“Coming into this race, we never gave anybody a reason to pick us,” Almirola said. “It feels good to be the underdog and come out of nowhere and have the race car we did.”
Almirola was the most recent surprise winner, played havoc in the playoff picture with only four races remaining before the 16-driver field is set. Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick are two drivers that could benefit from a win to secure a spot in the race.
The race was delayed over two hours by rain, and NASCAR called it early due to darkness, leaving it eight laps short of its scheduled conclusion.
New Hampshire has 301 laps and 318.46 miles planned. In 293 laps, Almirola grabbed the checkered flag. He broke up Team Penske’s party — Brad Keselowksi and Ryan Blaney had a nice back-and-forth for the lead at one point — and Christopher Bell was unable to catch him.
On Saturday, Bell won the Xfinty Series race and finished second. Team Penske finished with a 3-4-5 finish thanks to Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Blaney.
“I felt like I probably had a little bit better pace than him, able to get to him,” Bell said. “Lapped cars were giving him a bad time. If I was able to get to him, it was going to be a heck of a race.
Almirola rested his head on the car in almost stunned disbelief that he clinched his playoff spot.
“There is no doubt we have struggled,” Almirola said. “But guess what? We’re going playoff racing.”
Almirola, who entered 27th in the points standings, 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. Harvick was sixth and led a race-high 66 laps.
Ford drivers took five of the top six spots.
Almirola said there was “enough light” to keep racing to the scheduled finish.
NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller defended the decision to shorten the race.
“We just felt like it was getting too dark and needed to call it. It’s just as simple as that,” he said. “Completely based on raceability.”
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