NEWTON, IA (July 11, 2010) – Aric Almirola and Billy Ballew Motorsports came to Iowa Speedway this weekend with the hope of one-upping their second-place finish at the track last year.  After practice and qualifying on Saturday, a win certainly looked like attainable.  Almirola qualified the No. 51 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Zyclara Toyota second for Sunday’s Lucas Oil 200 after holding the provisional pole for much of the session until he was knocked off by Austin Dillon.
 
Starting from the outside of the front row Sunday afternoon, Almirola was confident in his No. 51 Tundra and was ready to race toward Victory Lane.  In the opening laps, he reported his truck was loose heading into the corners and tight coming off.  Crew chief Richie Wauters and the team made some track-bar and air-pressure adjustments under the first yellow-flag pit stop, and Almirola reported the changed helped.
 
Just 11 laps after that comment, Almirola’s hopes for a victory were wiped out when his right front tire blew, sending him into the Turn 1 wall in a hard crash.  The damage to the Graceway Pharmaceuticals Tundra was too much to repair, and the No. 51 was retired from the race.  Almirola finished 28th.
 
“I blew a right front,” Almirola said.  “It shows you how easy in this sport it is to go from the top to the bottom.  We were really hoping to have a good day today.  We felt like we had a really good truck in practice and it was pretty good today.  We were a little bit tight, but not that tight. 
 
“We missed something there on our cambers or something.  I don’t know.  Man, the truck wasn’t that bad to blow a right front like that.  That was a hard hit.  I’m glad all of the guys build safe trucks at Billy Ballew Motorsports.  Hopefully we’ll take our Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra to Gateway and go get them there.”
 
Almirola and the No. 51 team will return to their chase for a championship when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series goes to Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Saturday night.  The CampingWorld.com 200 will air live on July 16 at 8:30 p.m. on SPEED and MRN. 

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