Joe Gibbs Racing will “re-evaluate” its part-time Nextel Cup program for #80-Aric Almirola before allowing the 23-year-old to attempt to qualify for a second race, JGR vice president and development head Steve De Souza said. Almirola’s #80 Chevrolet was removed on Monday from the entry list for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, De Souza said, because the team was not able to adequately prepare a replacement for the car he wrecked attempting to qualify for the Nextel Open at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last weekend.

“We’re not sure what happened, ” De Souza said. “He’s had a loose car all day and they thought they’d made some adjustments, but it didn’t fix it. You could see from what happened it was nothing that would be a driver’s fault.” De Souza said the team will do “due diligence” on Almirola’s program, which currently includes part-time Busch and truck series racing, then huddle to reassess his schedule.

He had been tentatively set to qualify for up to five Cup events. De Souza said the specialized speedway and research and development outfit that had prepared Almirola’s Cup cars had not produced adequate race cars.

St Petersburg Times