INDIANAPOLIS, (July 24, 2010) – It was short-track racing at its finest for the JR Motorsports teams of Aric Almirola and Josh Wise in the Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday night.  No stranger to the .686-mile track, Almirola made his JRM debut in the No. 88 GT Vodka Chevrolet and ran inside the top five for most of the race’s entirety. The No. 88 was positioned in third for the race’s final restart, but Almirola lacked the necessary laps to challenge for the lead and finished third.  Josh Wise made his second consecutive start in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com Chevrolet and progressed through the field, running as high as 11th.  The No. 7 team struggled to gain the track position needed to secure a solid finish and took the checkered flag in 16th.  Kyle Busch survived a last-lap challenge by runner up Carl Edwards to earn his eighth win of 2010.  Following Almirola to the checkered was Trevor Bayne and Reed Sorenson to round out the top-five finishers.

No. 88  Grand Touring Vodka Chevrolet Key Moments
Start – 6th / Finish – 3rd / Laps Led – 1 / Points – 170 / Owner Point Standings – 8th   

Almirola’s first start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series since 2009 was not without its challenges.  After a sixth-place qualifying effort, the No. 88 lined up on the outside of the third row for the start.  Pole sitter Trevor Bayne spun his tires on the initial start, resulting in a ripple effect that sandwiched the GT Vodka Chevrolet between the No. 98 of Paul Menard and the No. 22 of Brad Keselowski.   The No. 88 suffered minor damage to the grill, right-front fender, and right-rear quarter panel. 

Even with minor damage, Almirola picked up three spots and had worked up to third when the first caution flag flew on lap 77.  Tony Eury Sr. called Almirola to pit road, and the GT Vodka team led a lap coming to its pit stall.  The crew made cosmetic repairs to the front grill of the No. 88, and Almirola lined up seventh for the restart.

Almirola raced his way back inside the top-five by lap 100.  The make-or-break point in the race came with a caution on lap 162.  The GT Vodka team was in third and left with the decision to pit for fresh rubber and give up track position with less than 40 to go.  Eury elected to stay out, and the team remained in third after the restart and endured the final caution on lap 196 that would lead to a green-white-checkered finish.  Almirola was nose to tail with the first- and second-place cars of Busch and Edwards for the final two laps but did not have the laps to mount a charge.

“Anytime you can come out in a Nationwide race and race the way we did with this GT Vodka Chevrolet, it feels good,” Almirola said after the race.  “I just want to thank Dale Jr., everybody at JR Motorsports and GT Vodka for this opportunity.  All these guys on this GT Vodka Chevrolet worked their guts out in practice today and it paid off.  It was a new team for me to work with, and I had a blast.  It was a fun night, and I can’t wait to do it again.
“Pops [Eury Sr.] made the right call by not pitting under caution with 40 to go there. We weren’t racing for points.  We were racing for the win and a trophy, so we went for the track position.  It gave us the best chance to put the pressure on the leaders.”

With his third-place effort, Almirola brought the No. 88 team’s season totals five top-fives and eight top-10s.  It also marked Almirola’s best finish at ORP and highest finish in the NNS since 2007.

No. 7 GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com Chevrolet Key Moments
Start – 28th / Finish – 16th / Laps Led – 0 / Points – 115 / Owner Point Standings – 21st   

Wise started the race with the No. 7 GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com Chevrolet in 28th and immediately began a march toward the front. It took Wise only 25 laps to race his way inside the top 20.  Wise continued to gain spots, rarely giving up positions to competitors.  By lap 145, the team ran in 15th. 
 
A caution flag on lap 162 brought the No. 7 Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and fuel.  Wise lined up 14th for the ensuing restart.  Leveraging the fresh rubber, Wise reached his highest position of the night when he took over the 11th spot during the event’s 181st circuit. 
 
When the No. 87 car spun on lap 195, the field lined up for the season’s eighth green-white-checkered finish.  Wise took the green flag in 11th and held his own until the white-flag lap when the No. 66 of Steven Wallace drove into the rear bumper of the No. 7 Chevrolet.  Wise held on, but gave up five positions as result of the contact.  The GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com team finished 16th.   
 
“Short track racing is all about track position, and we struggled getting toward the front,” Wise said.   “We were hit by the 66 car toward the end and lost some spots as a result, so that was unfortunate.  The good thing about tonight was that we seemed to improve all night. The GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com team put a lot of work into car, we just didn’t have the finish we expected.  Next week is a clean slate, and I’m really excited to get to Iowa.”
 
Next Up for JR Motorsports
Event: U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway
Date: Saturday, July 31 / 7:30 p.m. EST
TV/Radio:  ESPN2 (coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. EST) / MRN (broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m.)
JRM Entries: No.  88 Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet (Steve Arpin), No. 7 GoDaddy.com/HowDoYou.com Chevrolet (Josh Wise) 

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