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.
