NNS: Scott, Almirola Have At It

Brian Scott was furious with Aric Almirola on Saturday...

Jim Rising | Posted October 09, 2011 Kansas City, KS

Brian Scott and Aric Almirola race side by side during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

As far as Brian Scott is concerned, bad blood building between him and Aric Almirola boiled over in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway.

The drivers exchanged words after the race, and Scott later threatened to wreck Almirola if what he considers discourteous racing doesn’t stop.

“It’s an issue that’s been building all year,” Scott said. “He’s run into the back of me on restarts, he wrecked me at Richmond, he walls me at Chicago. He races like it’s the last lap every time he’s around me, and I’ve had enough of it.

“He’s cost me a car, and he continues to race like that, so I went and told him, and I just told him how I felt. I told him that I owed him one, and I told him if he’s going to continue to race like that, I’m probably going to slip up and wreck him.”

The last straw, as far as the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was concerned, happened on pit road in Saturday’s race.

“He just races like—I don’t know any other better word for it than a jack-you-know-what,” Scott said. “He runs you tight—tighter than anybody. He tried to pass us on pit road and tried to block me from getting into my pits. It’s just an every-week thing, and I’m sick of it.”

Almirola, who drives the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, said the Richmond incident was an accident and that it’s time for Scott to move on.

“He’s thinks I wrecked him on purpose at Richmond, and he still hasn’t gotten over it,” Almirola said. “It’s racing. It’s short-track racing at Richmond, and he can’t move on from that. We fire off the race today, and I run him down, and I get to him, and he runs me on my door, trying to spin me out.

“So then, later on in the race, he tries to run me back down, and I run right on his door, and that’s what he’s mad about. He’s mad that I don’t I give him any room on the racetrack. He races way over his head, and he’s very fortunate that his dad has a lot of money and spends a lot of money on his racing. That’s a big factor in what he’s got going on.”

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Jim Rising

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