Aric Almirola overcame a one-lap deficit and then had enough fuel to get him through a green-white-checkered finish to pull off a stunning victory in Friday’s Dover 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway. MiamiHerald.com
Kyle Busch led more than 170 of the 200 laps, but fuel-pickup problems at the end of the race cost him what looked like a sure race victory. And it allowed Almirola to come back from a 2-lap deficit to put Billy Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra in victory lane. FOXNews
“Put it this way, that trophy’s not at my house on a mantle,” Almirola said of the Milwaukee race. “This one will be tonight. ... It’s a dream come true. Track position is so tough here, you have to have a phenomenal truck to do what we did [Friday]. I’m not going to take any credit for that. It’s a lot of fun when you have a really good truck here. ... We fought hard [Friday], and it was a good day.”
Almirola had fallen two laps down because of a flat tire but rallied to get back in contention. He was one of several drivers to pit for fuel and tires under caution with 54 laps to go. NASCAR.com
“To come back from two laps down, fighting hard and getting one lap back, then getting on the lead lap and coming back again, you have to have a phenomenal truck to do what we did today, and I’m not going to take any credit for that,” Almirola said.
James Buescher finished second after starting the race in 10th. He too recovered from an early mishap, a spin-out that drew the day’s first caution.
“We kind of missed it in qualifying a little bit,” Buescher said. “When the race started, our truck wasn’t like it was in practice yesterday. To come back and finish second, it was pretty tough.”
Lofton finished third in his Dover debut despite his empty tank. He did so with a truck that his team changed up a bit, only to change everything back before the race.
“We unloaded off the truck pretty good,” Lofton said. “In the second practice, we thought we’d make some positive changes and they were really bad. We went back and put the setup we had back in the truck, and did very minimal adjustments throughout the race. It was probably one of the best trucks I’ve driven so far this year.”
Buescher’s teammate Ricky Carmichael finished fourth, his best career finish in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. It too came with some adversity. Carmichael wrecked in both practice and qualifying and had to start from the back of the field.
“The end result was good,” he said. “Just can’t believe it. The weekend started out horrible. But we got a little bit of luck, and that’s why we call it racing and that’s why we race every lap. You’ve got to get lucky every now and then.”
Click Here to Read More:
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Dover 200 At Dover - Race Results
| 
|