Phoenix, Arizona (November 14, 2009)-Aric Almirola and the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals™ /AKAwareness.com NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team posted a third-place finish Friday, November 13, 2009 at Phoenix International Raceway in the running of the Lucas Oil 150.

Almirola placed the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry in the fifth-place position on the starting grid for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the 1-mile Phoenix, Arizona track.  Almirola advanced through the field picking up the lead on lap 44 retaining the spot until lap 95 for a total 52 laps led in the 150-lap race at Phoenix International Raceway.

The pit crew got the No. 15 AKAwareness.com Tundra on and off pit road flawlessly but Almirola was unable to hold off Kevin Harvick at the restart on lap 96, losing the lead.  He then battled with teammate Kyle Busch for the second-place position.  But Almirola’s Tundra was tight after the last set of tires so he was unable to gain the spot posting a third-place finish for the Graceway Pharmaceuticals™ / AKAwareness.com NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team.

 “Doug George (crew chief) and everybody on this AK Awareness.com Tundra did a really good job,” Aric Almirola said.  “I don’t know what it’s going to take to get one of these ones. It’s not for a lack of effort. I can promise you that everybody is racing their hearts out. Our truck just wasn’t very good on short runs and for whatever reason that last set of tires didn’t take off very good for us. We chattered the right front for quite a while and just couldn’t ever take off.

 “It was a fun race tonight. The race track widened out. You could run two-wide pretty good. The bottom lane was definitely preferred but you could move around. It was a good race. I’m just still disappointed, man, I want to get one of these wins some kind of bad. We tried, we raced our butts off and we came home third. That was what we had tonight.

 “We had a good truck but it wasn’t very good on short runs. It was really tight – that last set of tires. We struggled yesterday on short runs, too, in practice and for whatever reason it just wouldn’t take off. I’m really proud of everybody at Billy Ballew Motorsports. Doug George (crew chief) and all of the guys on this AKAwareness.com Tundra have been doing a great job. We just came up short. I’m going to win one of these races one of these days. We just keep coming up short but it’s not for lack of effort from anyone on this Billy Ballew Motorsports team.”

Almirola racked up the NASCAR Loop Statistics during the running of the Lucas Oil 150. He was listed at the top Driver Rating  at 134.5 (Formula combining the following categories: Win, Finish, Top-15 Finish, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap Average Speed Under Green, Fastest lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.) He was the Fastest Driver Early in the Run with an average speed of 127.287-miles per hour. Almirola’s Average Running Position was 2.411th -place position and he ran 27 of the Fastest Laps on the Track, just behind the event winner, Kevin Harvick. 

Almirola in 15 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports has posted seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.

The Graceway Pharmaceuticals™/ AKAwareness.com team heads next to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday, November 20, 2009.  The Ford 200 (134 lap, 201 mile) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is slated for Friday, November 20, 2009 at 8:00pm ET.

-15.51-

Sandra Vorse
Media Relations
Billy Ballew Motorsports
704.264.9548
SandraVorse@aol.com