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Aric Almirola has fond memories of racing a Late Model Stock at Martinsville

Jared C. Tilton | Stewart-Haas Racing via Getty Images

Aric Almirola has fond memories of racing a Late Model Stock at Martinsville Speedway.

On Saturday, when asked about his favorite childhood memories of the Virginia short track, the Stewart-Haas Racing veteran says nothing immediately came to mind.

“No, not really,” Almirola said. “Growing up I certainly watched NASCAR every weekend. We would be at whatever local track we were racing on Saturday night and then Sunday morning get up, go to church, come home from church and turn on the TV and watch the NASCAR race. That was a very atypical weekend for us, but there’s not a Martinsville-specific race that stands out for me when I was a kid growing up.”

However, his first in-person visit to the ‘paperclip-shaped’ venue stands out as the first real moment that he understood the appeal.

It was 2005 and Almirola entered what is now called the Valley Star Credit Union 300.

“My first real memory of Martinsville was when I came here to race a Late Model,” he said. “I thought it was so cool. This was the first time I had ever raced at a NASCAR track where the Cup cars raced, and I just remember driving in with the truck and trailer and crossing the track and thinking, ‘Oh man, this is awesome.  We’re here.  We’re where the big boys race.’

“And just feeling so amped up and excited when we came for the Late Model race that they run here.  It’s an amazing event.  At the time they were getting (100) Late Models to make a 40-car field, so it was really, really cool and really exciting to come for those events.”

That was his only appearance in the event, and he finished sixth after starting third, in a No. 92 Home Depot sponsored entry with support from Joe Gibbs Racing and NFL player Reggie White. At the time, he was a regular at Ace Speedway, where he won two races and finished 11th in the championship standings.

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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