Aric Almirola in the No. 15 Phoenix Construction Billy Ballew Motorsports entry took to the track for the running of the MemphisTravel.com 200 presented by O'Reilly NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race posting a fourth place finish in the 200 lap event.
From the beginning of the event Almirola looked to be the class of the field moving into the third place position reporting in that the truck was tight in the middle of the corners.
He continued to hold the spot driving defensively to maintain the position coming down pit road on lap 53 for four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel. Almirola restarted in the fourth place position advancing to the second place position by lap 63 holding the spot as the laps clicked off in the 200-lap race.
Almirola came to pit road on lap 112 for tires, quick stop for the No. 15 team moved Almirola to the point position to return to pit road for fuel the following lap. After the round of pit stops, Almirola restarted sixth on lap 117 and quickly advancing to the fourth place position running the fastest laps on the race track.
The field was shuffling around with the end of the race approaching with Almirola in the sixth place position for the green/white/checkered flag restart on lap 199. Almirola using his instinct watched the two trucks in front of him battle for position and when they looked to get together Almirola drove around them picking up a fourth place finish for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team.
"The first time I ever came here to Memphis, it was just as hot," Almirola said. "At least it was under the lights, but it was just as hot. It makes a lot better when you have a really good truck to drive. I thank Billy Ballew (team owner) for the opportunity. It has been a lot of fun to race this truck here with these truck guys. They race hard every lap. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to do some more. This last set of tires was really up on top of the racetrack and I had no grip at all. We missed our final adjustment there a little bit, but all in all, it was a great run. I'm really proud of the guys. We got snookered a little bit on strategy. I didn't realize we didn't have to come back for gas. To come home fourth, though, was pretty good."
The NASCAR Camping World takes two weeks off but will return to action at the Kentucky Speedway Saturday, July 18, 2009.
