"You can't run for a championship if you don't make the playoffs" - Aric Almirola aims for one last push in an 'un-typical' NASCAR Cup Series season

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola has had a topsy-turvy NASCAR season so far. With two top-five and six top-10 finishes, the 38-year-old stands in 12th place in the Cup Series standings but is yet to earn a victory to seal his spot in the playoffs.

As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he captured his third career win last year, Almirola will look to do the same on Sunday, July 17, to grab the playoffs ticket.

Speaking to Fox Sports, Aric Almirola said that securing a playoff spot is the ultimate aim as one can’t run for a championship if one doesn’t have the playoff spot. He went on to say that before the start of the season, drivers have a list of goals and priorities to do everything they can to put themselves in a position to make it into the playoffs by earning a race or points.

The #10 Ford Mustang driver said:

“Making the playoffs is the goal. You can’t run for a championship if you don’t make the playoffs. We start every year before we leave to go to Daytona with a list of goals, and priority No. 1 is to do everything you can in the regular season to put yourself in position to make the playoffs, whether that’s on points or by winning races.”

NASCAR has seen 13 different winners so far this season. With seven races left and three spots remaining in the regular season, Almirola will have to win the race to grab his spot on the 16-driver playoff field.

With 481 points, the Florida-born driver is currently 42 points behind the current playoff cut-off and 85 points short if the winless driver from outside the cut-off gets a victory.

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“This is a very un-typical year” - Aric Almirola on his 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season

Aric Almirola has had a consistent performance in a couple of consecutive races this season and has put his team in a position to score a respectable finish. He, however, admitted that the 2022 season was an 'un-typical' year for him, and with the Next-Gen car, NASCAR saw a lot of different winners in the first half of the season.

Almirola said:

“We’ve done a good job throughout the year of scoring points and putting ourselves in a position that typically would have had us racing our way in by points. But this is a very un-typical year, and with this new car, we’ve had a lot of different winners.”

The driver of the #10 Ford Mustang has always put in a good performance at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In 2021, he led 25 laps and reached Victory Lane. Earlier, in the 2020 season, starting from the pole finished P7 and in the 2018 season, led 42 laps and finished P3.

Catch Almirola at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17, 2022.