Aric Almirola hasn’t won since Talladega in 2018. His team knew that they’ve been strong, but not quite there yet in terms of guaranteeing a win. So, their plan heading into this weekend at the Pocono Raceway was to score as many points as they could.

See, Almirola is coming off of back-to-back top five finishes in the season and had three top 12 finishes in his last four Pocono starts. His previous best before that was 18th.

So, with five of the last six Cup race winners at Pocono coming from a top 10 starting spot, four of which from the top four, why not take the risk of most points?

It’s paid off.

Almirola, led the most laps (61) and scored the most points (53) out of anyone on Saturday but just didn’t win. He’d bring his No. 10 Ford home third.

On Sunday, he used strategy in the first stage since he started in 18th due to the invert, to finish second in Stage 2. His four stages run this weekend saw him finish first or second in three of them. That’s 28 additional points. In the end, he’d finish fifth for his fourth straight top five finish on the year. He scored 41 more points on Sunday, second most out of anyone.

“Yeah, before we came to Pocono, if you told me I was going to finish third, finish second in a stage, win a stage, I would have said, I’ll take it, let’s not even go,” Almirola said.

“We opted to go and score as many stage points as we could and try to out-point them today.  It got us a couple spots short of a victory.  Still had a really fast car, the Smithfield Ford Mustang.  We’re keeping momentum going, three (4 now) top fives in a row.  Really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

On Saturday, Almirola started from the pole and led the first 19 laps around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway. He even won a Stage and was second in the other. So, while the Florida native was happy to finish so well, he was also bummed to come up just short too.

“After the car we had, leading all the laps that we led today, man, it was a hard one to lose,” Almirola continued. “Just really proud of all of our race team, Buga and all the guys brought me a really fast car.”

In fact, if not for being on the wrong end of strategy at the ends, Almirola likely would have been the one pulling into victory lane instead of his teammate Kevin Harvick.

Almirola, had his best shot of a victory for the first time in 55 starts. Instead, a final pit call kept him away.

On the final round of pit stops, his crew chief called him to take four fresh Goodyear tires. The problem was, everyone else was taking two tires, even none for some too. With him being one of the final drivers among the leaders to have not pit yet, he should have known better to just take two like the rest.

But, Almirola had his crew chiefs back in saying it was the only decision they could make at that point.

“We might as well have taken four tires,” Almirola said of the pit call. “We couldn’t have taken two tires and got enough fuel in it.  That was the right call.”

Harvick, Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, pit on the same lap as him and took just two tires. At that point, Almirola still thought he was in good shape.

“No, actually I thought we were in a really good spot, to be honest,” Almirola continued. “I knew we needed more fuel than everybody else because we stayed out to score stage points and ran long on our tank of fuel.

“To be honest, if a caution comes out with 10 laps to go or at any point once it all cycles out, we’re running third, I feel like we’re in the best position to win that race.  We have four fresh tires and arguably the best car.

“I felt like that was a great call by Buga.  It certainly gave us an opportunity to win.”

Instead, it worked against them. Harvick, had clean air and the position to lose. He’d quickly pull out to a six second lead and would cross the finish line 13 second ahead of Almirola in the end.

“It’s meaningful to run good any weekend,” Almirola said when asked about the pit call. “It’s hard to run top five.  It’s hard to run top 10.  It’s hard to win these races.

“Yeah, I’m certainly proud of Buga.  I know this is a special place for him, being so close to home.  Yeah, I’m happy that we ran as well as we did, especially when you have a car that good…

“The one thing that’s unique about this weekend is that we get another shot tomorrow.”

It wasn’t like Harvick had that much of a better car than Almirola. It’s just that Harvick had clean air and only a few laps to go. Harvick, didn’t even lead all day until he took over the top spot on Lap 114. Almirola, led 61 of the first 93 laps.

Almirola, if taken two tires, likely had this thing in the bag still. The Toyota’s behind all had vibrations and he would have exited pit lane ahead of Harvick.

Almirola, said that the relationship between himself and his new crew chief is great and is working just fine. The change of scenery for both to get paired to together seems to be working.

“Yeah, it’s a great relationship. We’ve worked really hard to build that relationship, all the way to back December when we found out we were going to be paired together.  It started right then.  We’ve talked almost every single day.  We text back and forth, we communicate a lot.  I think that helps.

“I am just so far different than Clint.  Sometimes that’s all you need to kind of spark something, is a little bit change of chemistry.  Buga is very passionate, very fired up, and cares deeply.  I’m more even-keeled.  I’m more laid back and easygoing.  I feel like we certainly offset each other and bring a great balance to our relationship.”

He says it is tough though to lose with a car as good as he had, but he’s at peace with how well they’re running right now too.

“Yeah, it is tough.  The wins will come.  I’ve been around this sport long enough and watched.  It’s hard to win these races.  It’s hard to run in the top five consistently.  We’ve done it three weeks in a row.  It’s hard to run in the top 10 consistently.

“But you see those guys like the guys that you typically see that run in the top five a lot, they consistently put themselves in the top five, then they find themselves with chances to win.  That’s our first goal.  Our first goal is to consistently run in the top 10 or the top five, then that will put us in position to win races.

“I’m proud of the cars we’ve been bringing to the racetrack.  I’m proud of my team.  I’m just happy.  When we get on these rolls like this where you consistently run in the top five, it just builds so much confidence in myself, in my crew chief, in my team guys.  Everybody walks around with a little more pep in their step.  That just continues to build.

“I think we’re on a good run right now.”