Last Sunday, Aric Almirola scored his first career top five finish at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. This week, he scored a second straight top five finish in his No. 10 Ford as he came home third in Monday’s rain delayed GEICO 500.

Almirola, did so while spinning backwards across the start/finish line of the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway for his eighth straight top 10 on the Alabama race track — five of those eight being in the top five.

But, this race was a tad different than his past experiences there. Almirola and most of his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates rode around in the back for much of the day to ensure that they’d be there in the end.

Almirola, finished 25th in both stages. Then, he was there in striking distance in the end.

“Yeah, so close with our Smithfield Ford Mustang,” Almirola said. “We had the strategy of kind of riding around surviving most of the race.  We didn’t race very aggressively early on in the race.  As the laps wound down, I got to the front, then I got shuffled.  Right there on that restart we found ourselves back in position.  We had a really fast Ford Mustang.

“I thought when everybody started getting stacked up on the front straightaway, I was shooting for whatever hole was open, kind of ping-ponging, weaving my way through there.  I got all the way to the front row.  I saw the 12 and 20 side-by-side side drafting, had a big head of steam on them.  Honestly thought that I was going to get to the start/finish line before them.

“When I crossed through the tri-oval, I thought we were going to win the race, I was going so much faster than they were.  I just barely got clipped by I think the 47 and spun across the start/finish line, ended up third.”

Almirola, said it was an emotional day for him as he admitted that he didn’t even find out until he was hopping on the airplane to come back to the track this morning to what had happened in Bubba Wallace’s garage yesterday.

“I got to be honest, I’m not extremely active on social media or with the news in general,” Almirola said when asked what he reaction was to the news and when he found out. “I tend to live in my own little bubble with my wife and kids.  I hate to admit that to you journalists, but that’s just the truth.  I actually didn’t find out till I got on the plane to come here this morning about 10:00.

“My immediate reaction was just speechless.  I couldn’t believe that somebody would do that.  I didn’t know really what to think, other than there’s just a lot of sadness, a lot of hurt people, a lot of sadness.

“I know just from my 36 years of experience on this earth that hurt people hurt people.  Happy people don’t hurt people.  You see people lash out, show signs of evil and darkness.  It just comes from a bad place.

“I think the most important thing you can respond with that is light and love and showing how to stand up and how to show positivity and have a heart.

“I feel like as an industry, that’s what we did today.”

Almirola was part of the drivers text group that organized the pre race solidarity moment and said that it was emotional to be out there with him on pit road in such a tense moment in this sport and also on the flip side of the coin proud to be out there together too.

“I think as competitors we all want to beat each other, but as human beings we all want to show love and support for each other. I think that’s one thing about our NASCAR community that has always stood out, is that regardless of what happens on the racetrack, off the racetrack we’re a family.  We all support each other.  You see it when we put fundraisers on or foundation events.  We all show up.  We all support each other because we’re a family.

“We live next door to each other 38 weeks a year in the motorhome lot.  When you see a brother that’s being singled out, that’s being hurt, you want to show love and you want to show support.

“For me it was just a great reminder of why to have faith.  I’m a strong believer in Christ and God.  I think as brothers of the human race, we got to stand up for each other and love each other and show that we won’t stand for somebody being hurt in our community.”

For Almirola, he said that if not for an African American, he wouldn’t be in this sport right now.

“Yeah, so personally, and I’m going to do my best to not make this about me, because this is not about me, I’ll make that very clear,” Almirola continued. “I came through the diversity program.  I would not have the opportunity to be sitting here in front of you today if it wasn’t for Reggie White, a black NFL football player who decided to put together a diversity program with Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing.  That’s how I got my opportunity.

“I feel lucky and I feel fortunate that somebody would step up and step out like he did to start the program that he did.

“Reggie, the very first time I met him, he said, The reason I’m doing this is I love racecars, I love cars, I love watching racing.

“Coming with Coach to watch a few of these NASCAR races, I fell in love.  I want to start a team and give a driver, drivers, crew members an opportunity from the grassroots level to work their way into the system.

“That’s exactly how I got my opportunity.  I’m so proud of him and his wife Sarah and Matt Siegel was a part of that when it all started, all those people along with J.D. and Joe Gibbs put that program together and started the diversity program.  I got to be the lucky person that got to fulfill my dreams because of that.”

Almirola, is a Cuban American and said that he emphasizes with Wallace because he’s had things said to him growing up that were offensive and hurt. But, he also says that he’s never had to go through what Wallace is going through right now though and that he feels for him immensely.

“I think that the sport has worked so hard since I got my opportunity in 2004 to adapt.  I think forever NASCAR has been considered an All-American sport.  All of America has changed and evolved a lot over time.  I think that NASCAR has done an incredible job of being inclusive and making sure that the garage area, the spectators, the fan area, that they all resemble all of America.

“I have been so proud to be a part of that initiative and that drive.  I am making this very clear, this is not about me.  I’m just saying I have had a firsthand look at it from the very beginning when NASCAR started the whole diversity program and the Drive for Diversity.  I have gotten so much opportunity because of that.  I am so grateful and thankful.

“They continue to adapt and evolve and make our sport a more inclusive sport where people can feel welcome.  If you like racecars, fast racecars, the adrenaline rush of cars going 200 miles an hour side-by-side like you saw today, you should be able to come and be a part of it whether as a competitor or spectator and participate and enjoy it.”