(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
For the second time in three years, Aric Almirola found himself in position to salvage a challenging regular season with a victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
This time around, it wasn’t meant to be.
Almirola entered Monday’s rain-delayed Crayon 301 27th in the standings, realistically in need of a victory to secure a place in the playoffs. He qualified a strong third and showed early pace, staying in the top-10 as others faded back.
A consistent run kept Almirola in contention into the second half of the race. Things seemed to be turning the Floridian’s way when he emerged with the lead after a two-tire call under caution. Almirola lead the field to green on a Lap 169 restart, soaring into Turn 1 in the high lane.
But something was wrong. Almirola’s right-rear washed up and sent him into a tailspin. He tried to correct it, but ultimately slammed into the outside wall.
You can see the wheel nut come off of Aric Almirola's car before the crash. #NASCAR | @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/7ifgg9OjUU
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 17, 2023
Almirola assumed something broke.
The actual culprit? A loose wheel. His right-rear tire’s lug nut wasn’t properly tightened.
“I thought it felt a little bit awkward leaving pit road,” Almirola admitted. “But then after that, working my tires in and going through the gears before the restart – I spun the tires a few times – everything felt normal.
“I didn’t really have any concerns going into the restart, and then, obviously, the right-rear wheel came off. So, just really, really disappointed.”
It was a difficult end to a promising day. Almirola had his best run of the 2023 season prior to the accident. Two of his teammates also made something of the day. Kevin Harvick finished a strong fourth, with Chase Briscoe quietly notching a top-10 in 10th.
Almirola was classified 34th. But despite the poor end result, he credited his team with bringing a strong machine to the track.
The veteran just hopes the pace leads to actual results some day soon.
“This race team has been working so hard to bring fast race cars to the track,” Almirola said. “I’m so proud of everybody – Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and all the guys on our team.
“We’re not capitalizing when we have cars capable of running up-front. Just frustrating. Disappointing. All the words you can use to describe being upset is certainly where we are.”
