Following two impressive performances on the short tracks at Bristol and Martinsville Sprint Cup rookie Aric Almirola hopes to continue his momentum on the biggest track of them all this weekend at Talladega in the Aaron's 499.
Almirola, who comes in to replace Mark Martin will be trying to build on an eighth place finish at Bristol and a third place qualifying performance at Martinsville as he tries to earn the respect of the series veterans in the #8 DEI U.S. Army backed Chevrolet.
In the last four Cup races Martin and Almirola have combined to score three top-eight finishes for the #8 team. The streak started with Almirola's eighth-place result in Bristol followed by finishes of eighth in Texas and fifth in Phoenix with Martin at the wheel.
The recent surge lifted the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team to 14th in the owner standings, only 13 points shy of 12th place, the final position for making the Chase.
“It's been an all around team effort and I feel it's only going to get better,” said Almirola. “Along with having some really strong race cars, we also have great driver/crew chemistry.”
Though he's only competed in eight career Cup races, Almirola knows full well about the challenge that awaits him in his second start at Talladega.
“It's a mind game at Talladega,” noted Almirola. “You're constantly thinking about strategy and how you can be among the leaders in the closing laps.”
In his first Cup start at Talladega in October, Almirola was in good position as the race was winding down. He was in the lead draft, but with 24 laps remaining a mechanical problem prematurely ended his day.
“So many things can happen on that track,” said Almirola about the ultra fast 2.66-mile oval. “But the good news for us is that the #8 Chevy Impala SS had good power in
Daytona. If we can stay away from trouble, we'll have a good chance of securing another strong finish in the soldiers' car.”
Sunday's Cup race will be Almirola's third of the season. After Talladega, his next scheduled race will be in late June at the Infineon Raceway road course in Sonoma.
![Mark Martin - US Army Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/297706.jpg)
