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Aric Almirola gets second top five of year, fails laser inspection

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Aric Almirola discusses why he feels he needed more time and more yards to finish ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the Geico 500 at Talladega.

Aric Almirola arguably had the best race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at the 2.66-mile track and followed it up with a fourth-place finish Sunday in the Geico 500.

It’s his second top-five of the year after also finishing fourth in the Daytona 500.

What did Almirola need to get his second Cup win?

“I don’t know, maybe a better push or 100, 200 more yards,” Almirola told Fox. “All the Fords were fast, Doug Yates obviously builds great horsepower. ... I felt really confident going into those last few restarts. I thought we were going to get our Ford Fusion into Victory Lane.”

But Almirola’s great weekend took a bad turn during post-race inspection. His No. 43 Ford failed the laser inspection.

Almirola, who is 17th in the standings and one point out of 16th (the final playoff spot), could be facing a 35-point penalty.