Weekend Statistics and Notes

Dakoda Armstrong and the No. 43 WinField team will race at the "World's Fastest Half Mile" this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). Armstrong is fresh off a solid finish in Texas and looks to continue to build momentum. The No. 43 Ford team had a strong showing at BMS last summer before a late race wreck ended their chance at a good finish. He has four prior starts at BMS, two in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Currently, Armstrong sits 15th in the XFINITY Series Championship Point Standings.

Armstrong Weekend Chatter

"Bristol is such a small track, the shortest we get to run in the XFINITY series. We struggled in my first start there. Then when we went back there, I thought we had a really good car and would finish in the Top-10. We had a few problems, get into the wall and had a few wrecks that set us back. That kind of stuff happens there. It's rough racing. The fast line there has moved up. It reminds me a lot of growing up racing at Salem and Winchester, tracks with a lot of speed up against the wall. It's getting hard to pass since it's such a fast track. It's not like the old school Bristol where you run the bottom and bump the guy in front you to get ahead. Now, you have to run against the wall, make sure your car is turning well and has great drive off so you can get the hammer back down. The track can be really frustrating. In the same sense, where you are always looking in the mirror at a plate track to protect your position, at Bristol you're always looking for a way to move forward or dodge a wreck in front of you. There's just not a lot of track, and a lot can go wrong so you have to be able to react. It's easy to get stuck behind someone and waste a couple seconds to the leaders, and it's really hard to make that back up. You really have to go, but at the same time, you have to save your car as best as you can too. It's tough, but everybody really likes going there. It's a fun track for sure."

About Richard Petty Motorsports

A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneur Andrew Murstein, is one of the most recognized brands in all of motorsports. With a history of over 200 wins and business partnerships with national and global leaders, today the race operation fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force, STP and Fresh From Florida, and Sam Hornish Jr. drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners Medallion Bank and Twisted Tea. In addition, Dakoda Armstrong wheels the No. 43 WinField Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The team is headquartered in Mooresville, N.C.