Aric Almirola falls short of making Chase for the Sprint Cup

With a playoff bid on the line, Aric Almirola knew what he needed to do Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. Lined up behind leader Matt Kenseth on a restart with 18 laps remaining, Almirola planned to dive-bomb Kenseth into Turn 1 and muscle around.

That strategy was thwarted when Kenseth took off on the restarted and quickly built up an insurmountable advantage. Almirola would finish fourth and missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Had he won, Almirola would’ve automatically qualified.

“We just came up short,” Almirola said. “I am really proud of all my guys. We worked our guts out all year long and tonight was no different. I feel we have overachieved this year and really maximized our results week in and week out.

“I am disappointed to come up a few spots short, but we gave it all we had and that is all we can do.”

Nonetheless, on a fairly anticlimactic night -- Kenseth led 352 of 400 laps -- Almirola provided some rare moments of excitement. He fell a lap down within the first 100 circuits, only to get back on the lead lap via the “luck dog” when a Lap 113 multi-car accident occurred on the backstretch.

From there, Almirola begin a steady charge towards the front. But because Paul Menard finished 26th, Almirola’s push for a second consecutive Chase berth fell 17 points shy of the final position. Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer also clinched Chase spots.

“It is tough,” Almirola said. “This is what we race for -- we race to win races. We race to run for a championship. This race team, we got to do it last year and we had an engine failure at Chicago (the playoff opener) and feel like we had a lot more to show in the Chase last year. We wanted another shot at it really bad.”

Almirola’s fourth-place was his best result of the season, topping a fifth in May at Dover International Raceway Speedway. Now out of the Chase, the Richard Petty Motorsports driver is turning his focus to ending the season on a high note.

“We will go race these last 10 races and try to get a victory,” Almirola said. “Winning is good no matter when it is, regardless of the Chase or not, we will try to go stink up the show and get some wins in the last 10 races.”