Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola excited about driving for JR Motorsports at Richmond
Elliott Sadler will drive for JR Motorsports at Richmond. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Illustrated
While JR Motorsports won’t have the driver who won last week at Atlanta behind the wheel this weekend, it has two drivers who could be driving full-time in the Nationwide Series next year competing at Richmond International Raceway.
Elliott Sadler, who has talked about driving in the Nationwide Series for Kevin Harvick next season, will drive the Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 = car while Aric Almirola, who has signed to drive the No. 88 next year, will drive the No. 7 for JR Motorsports. The JR Motorsports team won last week with Jamie McMurray in the No. 88 car.
“It’s always a thrill to race at Richmond because it’s so close to home for me,” said Sadler, who is from nearby Emporia. “I’ve been coming to this track for a long, long time, ever since I was a teenager.
“A lot of my kinfolk still have seats on the top row overlooking the start/finish line, so I really want to have a good run on Friday night.”
Richmond traditionally isn’t one of Sadler’s strongest tracks. He has only four top-10 finishes in 37 starts in Sprint Cup and Nationwide races at the track.
“I’m fully expecting to run well this weekend, especially with all the momentum that the No. 88 team is bringing into this race after their win from last week [with Jamie McMurray],” Sadler said.
Almirola is expecting to run well, too. Almirola drove the No. 88 car at O’Reilly Raceway Park in July and finished third.
“Although I’ll be with the 88 team next year, this is a great chance to get more familiar with the entire JRM team, and how the whole organization operates,” said Almirola, currently second in the Camping World Truck Series standings driving for Billy Ballew Motorsports.
“Richmond offers some great short-track racing. You can bet it’ll be an exciting race for both the drivers and the fans. We want to set realistic goals for this weekend, and knowing the type of preparation and where the 7 car is capable of running, I’m not going to be happy with anything short of a top-10 run.”
The drivers will get six hours of practice on Thursday because it is one of four races this year with the new Nationwide Series car.
