Catchfence

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 29, 2010) – The guitar awarded in Nashville Superspeedway’ s victory lane is one of NASCAR’s most coveted awards. Aric Almirola has been eyeing the custom Les Paul Gibson since making his first start at the 1.33-mile speedway in 2006. The Tampa, Fla., native is confident that his No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports team has what it takes to bring home the beloved trophy this weekend.

Almirola has two Nationwide Series starts and two Camping World Truck Series starts at Nashville Superspeedway. His best finish came in 2007, when he drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car to a 10th-place finish.

Almirola finished in the top-10 for the second consecutive time last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. His performance moved him into second-place of the NCWTS championship point standings.

Almirola Comments on the Nashville 200:

“Getting a guitar in victory lane at Nashville (Superspeedway) is something very special. It’s the only race track that does that. The race track itself is unique, but winning the race and having a chance to get a Sam Bass guitar is really cool. No other tracks give away trophies like that. It gives drivers a lot of incentive to win; I know it does me.

“This will be our first race of the season that we don’t have a companion event with the Sprint Cup Series, but I don’t think it will change too much. Harvick and Kyle Busch are entered in the race, so we’ll still have a few couple of the Cup guys to race with. The same guys in the Truck Series that are good every week will continue to be the ones to beat. The race will still have all the excitement that the fans have come to love. It’s going to be tough to win and very competitive. I think the biggest difference is that it will be a little more laid back.

“It will also be our first race as a one-day show. We’ll practice in the morning, have qualifying that afternoon and racing at night. You really have to have your stuff together from the time you unload to be good because you don’t have that much time to work on it. That’s what gets me excited about being at Billy Ballew Motorsports. All their preparation and hard work really pays off and it shows when we show up at the race track.”

About Billy Ballew Motorsports:

BBM started competing full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2002 and has had a variety of well known NASCAR drivers over the years. The list includes Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Brian Ickler, John Andretti, Kenny Wallace, Paul Menard, Bill Lester, Geoffrey Bodine, Joe Ruttman and a host of others. It was Shane Hmiel who piloted the No. 15 for the 2004 season that brought Billy Ballew his first win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the team’s 100th start in the NCWTS. Since then Billy Ballew Motorsports has taken 16 more trips to victory lane.

- Breaking Limits Marketing for Billy Ballew Motorsports, Press Release