MOORESVILLE, N.C. (February 22, 2015) - Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) had a successful start to the their 2015 XFINITY Series season Saturday afternoon at the Daytona International Speedway. Dakoda Armstrong and the No. 43 WinField Ford team captured the best finish ever for RPM in the Daytona 300, the XFINITY Series most prestigious event. He finished 11th.
Aric Almirola, driving in partnership with Biagi-DenBenste Racing, raced the No. 98 Fresh From Florida No. 98 to a seventh-place finish. Almirola made a potential winning move on the last lap before being blocked and sent into the wall by another car. The contact left Almirola with a damaged car that he brought back to the finish.
Ford Performance driver Ryan Reed won the Alert Today Florida 300.
Aric Almirola, No. 98 Fresh from Florida Ford
Almirola qualified the No. 98 Fresh From Florida Ford in the fifth spot and on Lap 18 he radioed that the car may have issues with fuel pressure. But the car was still capable of running in the lead draft before making a green-flag pit stop on Lap 39. The Fresh From Florida team changed four tires and made a wedge adjustment. Almirola returned to the track in the Top-20. By Lap 50, he raced up to the 16th position. He told the crew the car just wouldn't go when it was getting pushed to catch the first pack.
Debris on the frontstretch brought out the first caution on Lap 80 with Almirola in the 17th spot. The Biagi DenBeste team changed four tires and the No. 98 restarted 14th. Thirteen laps later, a multi-car wreck brought out the red flag. Not involved, Almirola restarted eighth with 21 laps remaining.
Racing to the front, Almirola escaped another red flag for a multi-car incident on Lap 113. The field then took the green flag for the final five laps of the race. Driving up the middle line, Almirola looked to have a shot at Victory Lane on the white flag lap. But, trying to avoid contact with Kyle Larson, he got in to the wall and caused damage to the right side of the car. Sparks flew as the right-side tires went flat, but Almirola nursed the car back to the finish for seventh.
"We had a really big head of steam coming to the white and the 42 moved up to block my run, which was fine, I was good with that, because I thought I could push him and we could go race the 22," said Almirola. "He got loose when he pulled up to block me, and he started having a tank-slapper and I hit the wall. When he came back across my nose, I hit the wall, and we ended up with a tire rub on the right-rear and it blew out. I couldn't race anymore, and I was just trying to get it back to the finish line. All in all, it was a great day for our Fresh From Florida Ford Mustang, and I'm glad a Ford Mustang went to Victory Lane."
Dakoda Armstrong, No. 43 WinField Ford
Armstrong and the No. 43 WinField team just missed a Top-10 finish Saturday. Armstrong finished 11th after also surviving the two multi-car wrecks during the 120-lap race and coming back from one lap down.
Armstrong started the 300-mile event from the seventh position. He raced smart early and used the bottom lane to get around the 2.5-mile track. Logging laps and trying to stay out of trouble, Armstrong remained in the Top-20 until he came to pit road for a green-flag pit stop on Lap 40. Crew Chief Frankie Kerr worked with the No. 60 and No. 6 Ford teams on strategy coming to pit road. He called for four tires and fuel, but the No. 43 WinField team ran into problems on the stop and missed their window to stay with the other Ford cars.
Once Armstrong returned to the track, he was too far from the pack to catch up. As the race continued to go green, Armstrong went a lap down on Lap 60. Just before Armstrong was about to make a second green-flag pit stop, the caution flag flew on Lap 81 for debris. The No. 43 WinField Ford came to pit road for two right-side tires and fuel. Armstrong restarted in the 22nd position.
The No. 43 WinField Ford fought hard to get into the Lucky Dog position but was unable to do so before a multi-car wreck on Lap 94 brought out the red flag. With a lot of debris on the track from the wreck, Kerr called the No. 43 Ford to pit road for four tires and fuel. Armstrong restarted in the 17th position.
Just six laps later, the second red flag came out for a wreck. This time, however, Armstrong stayed on the track and restarted in the 12th position with five laps to go. He was back on the lead lap. In the final laps, the WinField Ford team gained one position to finish 11th.
"This certainly was a crazy race," said Armstrong. "We didn't have a good pit stop the first time we came to pit road, and we lost the draft as a result. The second half of the race saw some pretty big wrecks. We were able to avoid them and that put us back on the lead lap. I was then aggressive and I tried to get into the best line to get a Top-10 or better. We came really close. All-in-all, we had a pretty good start to our season without a wrecked car."