Indy ORP: Almirola post race interview

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 15 Red Top AA Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd

Can you talk about your race tonight?

"We had a great truck. We started the race 17th tonight and drove up to sixth and the first caution came out and we were, 'Pit? Don't Pit? Pit? Don't Pit?' So we stayed out and I thought we were fine. We rode around in sixth there for a while and I don't know if we had a right-front (tire) going down or what but all of a sudden we couldn't go. We went from being right with the leaders to not even being able to run in the same ballpark as them. Once we put new tires on it, it was right back to the same truck it was. I ran right there with the leaders and was fortunate enough to get a caution and get the 'lucky dog' and we come back in and got four more tires and man, it was just like night and day difference. You could tell everybody who didn't have tires. That was fun. It was a lot of fun to race on. It's a lot of fun when Goodyear brings a tire like that where the tire really falls off and tires mean a lot."

Are you happy with your finish after going a lap down early in the race?

"I think we had a right-front tire going down there at the beginning of the race. We got really, really tight and lost a lap and I was so disappointed but I knew we had a good enough truck to not give up. We came in and got tires and I could keep up with the leaders there when we were a lap down and we got the 'lucky dog' and we came in and got four tires and man, tires were huge tonight. I'm really proud of Richie Wauters (crew chief) and everybody on this Billy Ballew Motorsports truck tonight. They give me awesome trucks every week and it's a lot of fun to race."

Do you think your truck could've made it to the front if you had a few more laps?

"I think so. We were definitely fast enough to win. We just needed some more laps. That caution right there at the end really hurt us. I was a little bit better than (Dennis) Setzer and he was on the same tires that we were and I was on better tires than (Ron) Hornaday and (Mike) Skinner. Congrats to (Ron) Hornaday. Four in a row, that's incredible."

-credit: toyota motorsports