Aric Almirola Meets With NASCAR Officials After Bristol Race

After not following protocol, Almirola team meets with NASCAR officials.

This past week at Bristol was not without controversy! Aric Almirola and his crew chief Trent Owens met with NASCAR officials at the end of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway to discuss Almirola’s actions following his wreck in lap 437.

Here’s what happened.  Almirola spun out after being hit by Truez Jr.  His car hit the wall, spun down the track hitting another wall where the car came to rest.  The reverse in his car did not work, so he could not get the car back on the track.  Normally when a driver can’t drive the car after a wreck, the driver lowers the window net, indicating he is ok and will exit the car.  Well, Almirola wanted to keep racing, so he asked NASCAR emergency crews to push him back out onto the track so he could continue to race.  Therefore, he did not lower his window net right away – not following protocol.  NASCAR officials did not grant his request for a push and he was forced to leave his car.

Now, I saw this happen.  To be honest, I was a little nervous when the window net did not go down.  Thankfully, we were able to see his hands moving, but that just led to more confusion for me.  Why was he not getting out of the car?

Then, as I listened to Jeff Gordon talking, I thought his point was interesting.   Gordon was commenting on the number of laps Almirola was going down, he was just sitting on the track because the car did not have reverse.  Gordon said, why should he be punished for not having reverse in the car?

In the end, Almirola finished 34^th down tons of laps!  What do you think?  Should a driver be penalized if the car can’t go in reverse or is it just part of racing?