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Aric Almirola will be back behind the wheel of the No.43 car for RPM in 2017 as the only driver for the organization being field in Nascar's top series. A lot of people says that means RPM is headed towards the crapper, but that may not be true. It could be an indication but I disagree though. I think this is simple business decision. They cannot find a driver with the proper funding, so they are simply focusing on one car. It's like having an struggling dealership and then deciding to open up another at a different location. If you cannot afford to keep up with the competition with one dealership, it is pointless to have another one, too. That's basically what is happening here. RPM realizes, they need to focus their attention on the 43 team so that what they will do.
I think another reason for Aric Almirola seeing his worst year ever (literally) with RPM was because they started to build their own chassis in 2016.I am not sure if that was a really smart thing to do honestly, as it takes a lot to start building your own chassis for your cars. With that said, I think we will see improvements with it, since they have a year under their belts with building them. Hopefully in 2017, their chassis in the cars will be improved and should lead to better performance overall.
Aric Almirola big strength in 2017 will be at specific tracks and I think it is obvious at the tracks he can perform his best at. Almirola runs very well at smaller tracks in length. So the shorter flats and short tracks in general fits his style the best overall. Both short tracks in Bristol and Martinsville are probably his best tracks overall. If you have closely followed him the past couple years, then you realize he has ran well at both venues. Martinsville is probably his better track though. Since joining the #43 team in 2012 (10 races in total), he has finished 9 times in 21st or better. Which means, his only bad finish was back in last spring (40th). More impressive? Over his past 6 races at Martinsville, he has compiled 4 finishes of 16th or better overall. Over the past 10 races, he has finished 16th or better in 6 of 10 races. He has been just as good at Bristol as well. Over his past 7 races at Bristol, he has posted 5 top 17 finishes. With only two bad races with finishes of 34th and 41st. Over the past 6 races, he has posted 4 Top 17 finishes. With solid finishes of 14th, 17th, 13th and 3rd. Of course, he also had two poor finishes in that span. But when Aric finishes out races at Bristol, it usually leads to good things. Like finishing 14th in last summer race, during a down year.
The shorter flats will be the another primary strength for Aric Almirola in 2017! These venues I refer to as ''shorter flats'' are Richmond, Phoenix and New Hampshire. Aric has a history of running well at all three really, but statically speaking Richmond is his best shorter flat though. He been great since joining RPM and been recently and career point of view both a great track for him. Over the past 8 races, he has finished 21st or better in every race. More recently, he has finished 4 of 6 races in 17th place or better. Including finished 17th in last fall's race at Richmond. Statically speaking, he performed better in the spring race at Richmond last year but finished better in the fall race. He was awful in the fall race with only 63.6 driver rating. That's just garbage anyway you put, especially since he wasn't involved in any wrecks. Doesn't matter though, because he got the finished he needed.
Phoenix is probably his next-best track after Richmond. I would put it in his top 5 of tracks overall. I say it after Martinsville, Atlanta, Bristol and Richmond. Statically speaking, I would consider Phoenix as one of his best tracks since joining RPM. In 12 career starts, he has never finished worse than 27th. In fact, he has never had a DNF at Richmond or Phoenix. With career-worst finishes of 26th and 27th. Since joining the #43 team back in 2012 (10 races ago), he has finished 9 of those 10 races in 19th or better. In fact, his lone non-top 19 finish is 22nd place from this past Phoenix race in 2016. Pretty good, right? You bet! He is very consistent overall! Over the past 4 races, his finishes look a lot like this: 22nd, 13th, 10th and 19th place finishes. Those are very good for a driver like Aric! Then of course there is New Hampshire, another very good shorter flat for him. Of course, this is the only flat track that he has posted and DNF at too. That was during the year he made the chase and he pancaked the wall very hard. He was running just outside of the top 15 in that race. When looking rest of his numbers, they are impressive! Over the past 4 races (minus his wreck), he has posted finishes of 17th, 19th, 15th and 6th. If we take out that wreck, his worst finish ever with the #43 team is 28th place. New Hampshire might be his best shorter flat over the past couple seasons (minus the wreck), with that said they are all pretty close when comparing the numbers. I don't know if there is one is in front of the other, he will be a strong performer at all three shorter flats, folks!
Aric is a hidden gem on the plate tracks, okay laugh and go ahead but it is the truth. No, he really is! Don't believe? Okay fine! Let's dig into some stats at Daytona and Talladega! First off from a career point of view, most drivers' worst average finishes are at the plate tracks. Aric? For him, Talladeaga is ranked as his 6th-best track and Daytona as his 14th-best track (of 23) in terms of average finish. Usually those are pretty indication for a driver, if he is a good plate racer or not. Talladega is his better track and has the numbers to prove it as well.
If there is a track (not on the short tracks or shorter flats) you want to unload Aric at, it is most likely at Talladega. As he has posted an career-average finish of 19.8 with 9 Top 20 finishes in 14 starts. He isn't one of those drivers that will dominate up at the front, but he has the abilities to finish out races for some reason. In 10 career races with No.43 team (since 2012), he has finished 16th or better in 6 of 10 races. More recently, he has finished 3 of the past 4 inside the top 16 as well. Over the past 6 races, he has finished 16th or better in 4 races. Last spring, he finished in 27th place. But that because someone spun in front of him on a restart and he got damaged. His day was just downhill from there. He is not quite as good at Daytona, but his numbers are still damn good with RPM overall. He had two DNF in his first 4 starts with the No.43 team but since has been rock solid. Over the past 5 races at Daytona, he has actually been a bit better than he been at Talladega. Over the past 5 races at Daytona, he has compiled 4 finishes of 15th or better. Including an win! His past 5 races at Daytona looks like this: 15th, 12th, 34th, 15th and 1st. Pretty good, right? Overall yeah , Aric is very consistent on the plate track. Rarely will he be up front, but he is almost a lock for a quality top 16 finish. I will take that type of security all day long in Fantasy Nascar!
Intermediate tracks and Larger flats will be a big weakness for him in 2017, I think. No disrespect to Petty or Aric, but they just don't have enough of speed to be legit contender at either type of track. The intermediate tracks were a real troublesome spot for them. There were times, where they couldn't even qualify inside the top 30. That's bad! Of course, most times they moved up through the filed but that's not the point. They were a quality team in 2015 at this type of track. Never anything special, but you could bank on that top 18 to top 22 potential on a weekly basis. There were a couple good races by Aric at places like Atlanta and Kansas, but outside of that you were like blah that's just garbage. And it really was, the speed in the No.43 was really down and it really shown in practice and in the races.
There is only one real track I would consider him at on the intermediate tracks and that is Atlanta. It is arguably one of his best track in the series. When looking his career numbers, of course we only visit there once per year too though. Still, he has posted some awesome numbers overall. Over the past 3 races at Atlanta, he has compiled an average finish of 11.3 with 3 Top 15 finishes. In 6 career races, he has compiled 4 Top 20 finishes and career-worst 32nd place. He performed very well at Atlanta in 2014 and 2015. Performance-wise, he had his best races of his career there. Last season? Blah really. He didn't really run well, but lucked into a quality finish somehow. I didn't even think Aric could explain to Aric how they pulled that off. Dover would be another track, I would consider him at though. It is not your type intermediate track, but it is still considered as an intermediate track though. Only 1-mile long in length and Aric probably runs better there than any other track on schedule. Statically speaking, Dover is his best track and he loves the place. In 16 career races, he has compiled 16.2 average finish. In those 10 races, half of those races has ended in 16th place or better. Right around his average finish, too. He has been really recently with 3 Top 16 finishes over his past 4 races. Including finishes of 16th, 31st, 5th and 5th. In fact, during that 10-race span, he has posted 3 Top 6 finishes. He has more top 6 finishes there than at any other track. The other 22 tracks, he has an combined 7 Top 6 finishes.
At the larger flats, he will struggle at and big reason is the horsepower disadvantage he has. Aric will not be nothing more than an low-20 driver with little upside to be a top 20 contender. I think he will be a little better at Indy though. With that said, he has been straight trash at both tracks. In 15 career starts, he has posted just 4 Top 20. That's less than 30% cracking inside the top 20. For crying out loud, that's a whole new level of bad. I mean, he isn't in good equipment but still you are doing something serious wrong if you are posting those kind of numbers. At Indy, he started off his career with 2 Top 20 finishes of 17th and 19th. Since? Finishes of 21st, 38th and 27th. At Pocono, he has 2 Top 20 finishes over the past three races. So he is trending the right direction, correct? Well sort of, he also has 3 DNFs in that span as well. He was better off earlier in his career at Pocono. With 4 Top 22 finishes in his first 5 starts at Pocono. His highest-driver rating in a race is 68.0 over the past 5 races at Pocono. Followed by an 61.3 driver rating. Driver rating shows an strength of an driver's performance. Aric has been straight bad overall. Anything below 70 is unacceptable to me for him.
Road courses will be another weak spot for Aric Almirola, he has never been any good at them and I really don't expect anything to be different in 2017, either. With his equipment level, it is hard to see him being anything beyond a top 25 driver. In 12 career starts on the road courses (Sonoma and WGI), he has only posted 5 Top 20 finishes. His best race at Sonoma was back in 2015, when he finished 14th place. Which is by far an career-best. He also posted and 73.0 driver rating for that event, also an career-best as well. Otherwise, he has only one other top 20 finish and that was 20th place, back in 2013. He has finishes of 27th and 23rd in the other two races at Sonoma in 2014 and 2016. He has been a little better at Watkins Glenn, but that's not shocking though. As Watkins Glenn (WGI) is the easier track to run on. Sonoma takes more skill to master and be successful. Over the past three races (3 seasons), he has compiled 2 Top 20 finishes. With high finish of 16th place, back in 2015. He actually been pretty good when looking at WGI. Over the past 5 races at WGI, he has compiled 3 finishes of 18th or better. Not great, but not terrible either for him. He was terrible last year at both track. With finishing 27th at both Sonoma and Watkins Glenn.
Overall, I don't expect a lot from Aric Almirola. He will have his good days and bad days, all of that could depend on how much the No.43 team improves. I think we will see some noticeable improvement but not enough to make a major difference though. His best days will come on the shorter flats, short tracks and plate tracks. They are all places where he will have top 20 potential and enough of upside to score top 15 finishes. More often than not, history in last couple seasons says if he stays out of trouble on those track, then he will have a good chance at the top 16. Aric worst days will be on the larger flats and intermediate tracks. I think the intermediate tracks will be tough early on, but hopefully they find speed as the season goes on. If they do, he becomes a good sleeper for fantasy players. If not, he is just fool gold in most fantasy formats. Not much else to say, I guess other than it will be interesting to see how the season shakes out for Aric!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
Aric Almirola will be back behind the wheel of the No.43 car for RPM in 2017 as the only driver for the organization being field in Nascar's top series. A lot of people says that means RPM is headed towards the crapper, but that may not be true. It could be an indication but I disagree though. I think this is simple business decision. They cannot find a driver with the proper funding, so they are simply focusing on one car. It's like having an struggling dealership and then deciding to open up another at a different location. If you cannot afford to keep up with the competition with one dealership, it is pointless to have another one, too. That's basically what is happening here. RPM realizes, they need to focus their attention on the 43 team so that what they will do.
I think another reason for Aric Almirola seeing his worst year ever (literally) with RPM was because they started to build their own chassis in 2016.I am not sure if that was a really smart thing to do honestly, as it takes a lot to start building your own chassis for your cars. With that said, I think we will see improvements with it, since they have a year under their belts with building them. Hopefully in 2017, their chassis in the cars will be improved and should lead to better performance overall.
Aric Almirola big strength in 2017 will be at specific tracks and I think it is obvious at the tracks he can perform his best at. Almirola runs very well at smaller tracks in length. So the shorter flats and short tracks in general fits his style the best overall. Both short tracks in Bristol and Martinsville are probably his best tracks overall. If you have closely followed him the past couple years, then you realize he has ran well at both venues. Martinsville is probably his better track though. Since joining the #43 team in 2012 (10 races in total), he has finished 9 times in 21st or better. Which means, his only bad finish was back in last spring (40th). More impressive? Over his past 6 races at Martinsville, he has compiled 4 finishes of 16th or better overall. Over the past 10 races, he has finished 16th or better in 6 of 10 races. He has been just as good at Bristol as well. Over his past 7 races at Bristol, he has posted 5 top 17 finishes. With only two bad races with finishes of 34th and 41st. Over the past 6 races, he has posted 4 Top 17 finishes. With solid finishes of 14th, 17th, 13th and 3rd. Of course, he also had two poor finishes in that span. But when Aric finishes out races at Bristol, it usually leads to good things. Like finishing 14th in last summer race, during a down year.
The shorter flats will be the another primary strength for Aric Almirola in 2017! These venues I refer to as ''shorter flats'' are Richmond, Phoenix and New Hampshire. Aric has a history of running well at all three really, but statically speaking Richmond is his best shorter flat though. He been great since joining RPM and been recently and career point of view both a great track for him. Over the past 8 races, he has finished 21st or better in every race. More recently, he has finished 4 of 6 races in 17th place or better. Including finished 17th in last fall's race at Richmond. Statically speaking, he performed better in the spring race at Richmond last year but finished better in the fall race. He was awful in the fall race with only 63.6 driver rating. That's just garbage anyway you put, especially since he wasn't involved in any wrecks. Doesn't matter though, because he got the finished he needed.
Phoenix is probably his next-best track after Richmond. I would put it in his top 5 of tracks overall. I say it after Martinsville, Atlanta, Bristol and Richmond. Statically speaking, I would consider Phoenix as one of his best tracks since joining RPM. In 12 career starts, he has never finished worse than 27th. In fact, he has never had a DNF at Richmond or Phoenix. With career-worst finishes of 26th and 27th. Since joining the #43 team back in 2012 (10 races ago), he has finished 9 of those 10 races in 19th or better. In fact, his lone non-top 19 finish is 22nd place from this past Phoenix race in 2016. Pretty good, right? You bet! He is very consistent overall! Over the past 4 races, his finishes look a lot like this: 22nd, 13th, 10th and 19th place finishes. Those are very good for a driver like Aric! Then of course there is New Hampshire, another very good shorter flat for him. Of course, this is the only flat track that he has posted and DNF at too. That was during the year he made the chase and he pancaked the wall very hard. He was running just outside of the top 15 in that race. When looking rest of his numbers, they are impressive! Over the past 4 races (minus his wreck), he has posted finishes of 17th, 19th, 15th and 6th. If we take out that wreck, his worst finish ever with the #43 team is 28th place. New Hampshire might be his best shorter flat over the past couple seasons (minus the wreck), with that said they are all pretty close when comparing the numbers. I don't know if there is one is in front of the other, he will be a strong performer at all three shorter flats, folks!
Aric is a hidden gem on the plate tracks, okay laugh and go ahead but it is the truth. No, he really is! Don't believe? Okay fine! Let's dig into some stats at Daytona and Talladega! First off from a career point of view, most drivers' worst average finishes are at the plate tracks. Aric? For him, Talladeaga is ranked as his 6th-best track and Daytona as his 14th-best track (of 23) in terms of average finish. Usually those are pretty indication for a driver, if he is a good plate racer or not. Talladega is his better track and has the numbers to prove it as well.
If there is a track (not on the short tracks or shorter flats) you want to unload Aric at, it is most likely at Talladega. As he has posted an career-average finish of 19.8 with 9 Top 20 finishes in 14 starts. He isn't one of those drivers that will dominate up at the front, but he has the abilities to finish out races for some reason. In 10 career races with No.43 team (since 2012), he has finished 16th or better in 6 of 10 races. More recently, he has finished 3 of the past 4 inside the top 16 as well. Over the past 6 races, he has finished 16th or better in 4 races. Last spring, he finished in 27th place. But that because someone spun in front of him on a restart and he got damaged. His day was just downhill from there. He is not quite as good at Daytona, but his numbers are still damn good with RPM overall. He had two DNF in his first 4 starts with the No.43 team but since has been rock solid. Over the past 5 races at Daytona, he has actually been a bit better than he been at Talladega. Over the past 5 races at Daytona, he has compiled 4 finishes of 15th or better. Including an win! His past 5 races at Daytona looks like this: 15th, 12th, 34th, 15th and 1st. Pretty good, right? Overall yeah , Aric is very consistent on the plate track. Rarely will he be up front, but he is almost a lock for a quality top 16 finish. I will take that type of security all day long in Fantasy Nascar!
Intermediate tracks and Larger flats will be a big weakness for him in 2017, I think. No disrespect to Petty or Aric, but they just don't have enough of speed to be legit contender at either type of track. The intermediate tracks were a real troublesome spot for them. There were times, where they couldn't even qualify inside the top 30. That's bad! Of course, most times they moved up through the filed but that's not the point. They were a quality team in 2015 at this type of track. Never anything special, but you could bank on that top 18 to top 22 potential on a weekly basis. There were a couple good races by Aric at places like Atlanta and Kansas, but outside of that you were like blah that's just garbage. And it really was, the speed in the No.43 was really down and it really shown in practice and in the races.
There is only one real track I would consider him at on the intermediate tracks and that is Atlanta. It is arguably one of his best track in the series. When looking his career numbers, of course we only visit there once per year too though. Still, he has posted some awesome numbers overall. Over the past 3 races at Atlanta, he has compiled an average finish of 11.3 with 3 Top 15 finishes. In 6 career races, he has compiled 4 Top 20 finishes and career-worst 32nd place. He performed very well at Atlanta in 2014 and 2015. Performance-wise, he had his best races of his career there. Last season? Blah really. He didn't really run well, but lucked into a quality finish somehow. I didn't even think Aric could explain to Aric how they pulled that off. Dover would be another track, I would consider him at though. It is not your type intermediate track, but it is still considered as an intermediate track though. Only 1-mile long in length and Aric probably runs better there than any other track on schedule. Statically speaking, Dover is his best track and he loves the place. In 16 career races, he has compiled 16.2 average finish. In those 10 races, half of those races has ended in 16th place or better. Right around his average finish, too. He has been really recently with 3 Top 16 finishes over his past 4 races. Including finishes of 16th, 31st, 5th and 5th. In fact, during that 10-race span, he has posted 3 Top 6 finishes. He has more top 6 finishes there than at any other track. The other 22 tracks, he has an combined 7 Top 6 finishes.
At the larger flats, he will struggle at and big reason is the horsepower disadvantage he has. Aric will not be nothing more than an low-20 driver with little upside to be a top 20 contender. I think he will be a little better at Indy though. With that said, he has been straight trash at both tracks. In 15 career starts, he has posted just 4 Top 20. That's less than 30% cracking inside the top 20. For crying out loud, that's a whole new level of bad. I mean, he isn't in good equipment but still you are doing something serious wrong if you are posting those kind of numbers. At Indy, he started off his career with 2 Top 20 finishes of 17th and 19th. Since? Finishes of 21st, 38th and 27th. At Pocono, he has 2 Top 20 finishes over the past three races. So he is trending the right direction, correct? Well sort of, he also has 3 DNFs in that span as well. He was better off earlier in his career at Pocono. With 4 Top 22 finishes in his first 5 starts at Pocono. His highest-driver rating in a race is 68.0 over the past 5 races at Pocono. Followed by an 61.3 driver rating. Driver rating shows an strength of an driver's performance. Aric has been straight bad overall. Anything below 70 is unacceptable to me for him.
Road courses will be another weak spot for Aric Almirola, he has never been any good at them and I really don't expect anything to be different in 2017, either. With his equipment level, it is hard to see him being anything beyond a top 25 driver. In 12 career starts on the road courses (Sonoma and WGI), he has only posted 5 Top 20 finishes. His best race at Sonoma was back in 2015, when he finished 14th place. Which is by far an career-best. He also posted and 73.0 driver rating for that event, also an career-best as well. Otherwise, he has only one other top 20 finish and that was 20th place, back in 2013. He has finishes of 27th and 23rd in the other two races at Sonoma in 2014 and 2016. He has been a little better at Watkins Glenn, but that's not shocking though. As Watkins Glenn (WGI) is the easier track to run on. Sonoma takes more skill to master and be successful. Over the past three races (3 seasons), he has compiled 2 Top 20 finishes. With high finish of 16th place, back in 2015. He actually been pretty good when looking at WGI. Over the past 5 races at WGI, he has compiled 3 finishes of 18th or better. Not great, but not terrible either for him. He was terrible last year at both track. With finishing 27th at both Sonoma and Watkins Glenn.
Overall, I don't expect a lot from Aric Almirola. He will have his good days and bad days, all of that could depend on how much the No.43 team improves. I think we will see some noticeable improvement but not enough to make a major difference though. His best days will come on the shorter flats, short tracks and plate tracks. They are all places where he will have top 20 potential and enough of upside to score top 15 finishes. More often than not, history in last couple seasons says if he stays out of trouble on those track, then he will have a good chance at the top 16. Aric worst days will be on the larger flats and intermediate tracks. I think the intermediate tracks will be tough early on, but hopefully they find speed as the season goes on. If they do, he becomes a good sleeper for fantasy players. If not, he is just fool gold in most fantasy formats. Not much else to say, I guess other than it will be interesting to see how the season shakes out for Aric!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
