Almirola Survives Busch Mishap, Wins Dover 200

This time, Aric Almirola was able to celebrate.

Almirola took advantage of Kyle Busch’s empty fuel tank to win the Dover 200 Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway and get his second official victory in one of NASCAR’s national series.

The other victory was in name only, as Almirola started Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide Series car at Milwaukee in 2007 but was pulled for Cup driver Denny Hamlin during the race. Though Almirola was credited with the victory, he had left the track long before Hamlin took the checkered flag.

At Dover on Friday, though, Almirola had some fun with a smoky burnout, a reverse victory lap and a wild Victory Lane celebration.

“Put it this way, that trophy’s not at my house on a mantle,” Almirola said of the Milwaukee race. “This one will be tonight. … It’s a dream come true. Track position is so tough here, you have to have a phenomenal truck to do what we did [Friday]. I’m not going to take any credit for that. It’s a lot of fun when you have a really good truck here. … We fought hard [Friday], and it was a good day.”

Almirola had fallen two laps down because of a flat tire but rallied to get back in contention. He was one of several drivers to pit for fuel and tires under caution with 54 laps to go.

Busch wasn’t one of them, though, as his Kyle Busch Motorsports truck had stopped 30 laps earlier. On the penultimate restart, Busch didn’t come up to speed with apparent vapor-lock trouble and slipped back to third. The yellow waved for Austin Dillon’s blown engine, giving Busch a chance to reclaim the lead he had held for 172 laps.

But as the field was getting the green, Busch’s Toyota headed to pit road.

“Ran out of gas,” a frustrated Busch said as he sped off the track. He finished 16th, with fuel pump issues listed as his reason for the DNF.

James Buescher came back from a spin to finish second, passing Justin Lofton on the last lap. Both posted their best career finishes in the Truck Series. Ricky Carmichael also had his best career finish in fourth, giving Turner Motorsports second and fourth. Todd Bodine sputtered on the final restart but finished fifth.

Below are the unofficial race results for the 2010 Dover 200:

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 7 51 Aric Almirola Toyota AKawareness.com / Graceway Pharmaceuticals 190/5 204 Running
2 10 31 James Buescher Chevrolet Wolfpack Rentals 170/0 204 Running
3 19 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota VisitPIT.com 165/0 204 Running
4 35 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet Monster Energy 160/0 204 Running
5 11 30 Todd Bodine Toyota Germain.com 155/0 204 Running
6 15 81 David Starr Toyota PC*Miler Navigator 150/0 204 Running
7 9 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet Zecol / Menards 146/0 204 Running
8 5 5 Mike Skinner Toyota International Trucks / Monaco RV 142/0 204 Running
9 21 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet S&W Services 138/0 204 Running
10 4 15 Johnny Benson Toyota Red Top Collector Car Auction 139/5 204 Running
11 25 01 Carl Long Chevrolet Koma Unwind Chillaxation Drink 130/0 204 Running
12 6 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet Longhorn Smokeless Tobacco 132/5 204 Running
13 20 60 Stacy Compton Chevrolet SafeAuto Insurance Company 124/0 204 Running
14 13 23 Jason White Dodge GunBroker.com 126/5 204 Running
15 3 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet In Country Television / “What A Horse” / Curb Records 118/0 204 Running
16 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Toyota Tundra 125/10 202 Fuel Pump
17 28 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet Glenden Enterprises / FRAXA 112/0 201 Running
18 17 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet TireMonkey.com / James Carter Attorney 109/0 200 Ignition
19 16 07 Donny Lia Chevrolet AutismSpeaks.org 106/0 200 Running
20 18 56 Tayler Malsam Toyota Employees Community Fund 108/5 200 Running
21 12 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker / Dale Earnhardt NASCAR Hall of Fame 100/0 198 Oil Pump
22 32 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford drivenmale.com / DriverBoutique.com 97/0 196 Running
23 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet ProGold Engine Treatment 94/0 192 Running
24 2 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet Insignia / Best Buy 91/0 172 Accident
25 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota AutismSpeaks.
org / Strutmasters.com
88/0 145 Accident
26 24 187 Chris Jones Chevrolet D.W. Campbell Tire / Goodyear 85/0 90 Axle
27 29 46 Terry Jones Dodge Team Gill Racing 82/0 83 Accident
28 22 47 Brett Butler * Chevrolet FuelDoctorUSA
.com
79/0 57 Accident
29 14 9 Max Papis Toyota GEICO 76/0 52 Accident
30 31 21 Johnny Chapman Dodge ASI Limited 73/0 48 Overheating
31 26 85 Brent Raymer Ford Ford. Drive one. 70/0 43 Susp.
32 23 95 Tim Andrews Dodge Team Gill Racing 67/0 38 Transmission
33 27 93 Shane Sieg Chevrolet S&W Services 64/0 26 Overheating
34 36 124 Mike Harmon Ford Lafferty Performance 61/0 18 Susp.
35 30 6 Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet E-Z Slider Cylinder Liners 58/0 5 Accident
36 33 89 Chris Lafferty Chevrolet Lafferty Performance 55/0 1 Oil Leak
* Denotes Rookie

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