Aric Almirola 2014 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: B-
The famed #43 car was finally back in victory lane in 2014. It had been a long while since the #43 made famous by Richard Petty graced Victory Lane, but is finally happened again in 2014. Was it in an action packed last minute finish? No. Did the #43 beat and bang its way in? No. Well, did the #43 run away with the win leading the field by 8 seconds? Nope, not even that.
Instead, Aric Almirola and the #43 won a rain shortened race at Daytona. Now, that isn't taking a single thing away from the win. The team still had to put themselves in the position to take a gamble that the weather would play a factor. In fact, many other teams were going to try the same thing, but Aric just happened to be the one with the best.
Call it luck, or a shortened win. In NASCAR a win is a win and in 2014 that win got the #43 into the Chase for the first time. That Daytona win was also Aric Almirola's first Sprint Cup win in his career breaking a length streak of his own (not to mention the #43's win less streak).
It was a great feel good story that NASCAR should continue to see moving forward with this new Chase system. It gives some of the other guys something to shoot for and who knows, maybe once they know they can get to this level they will use it to shoot for bigger accomplishments. All in all Aric and the #43 team had a fine season with a win, two top 5's (most of career), and seven top 10's (most of career).
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