Aric Almirola clinging to hope of getting into the Chase

Aric Almirola still thinks he has a shot to make it into the Chase on points.

The driver of the No. 43 made it to the Chase last year after he won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July. He's winless in 2015 and is 16th in the points standings, 35 points behind Clint Bowyer for the final spot in the Chase.

That final spot may not even be the final spot. With two races to go before the Chase, if a new winner wins a race, it leaves one less spot for a driver to sneak into the Chase on points. So not only does Almirola need to make up what's essentially a 35-spot gap on Bowyer in two races, he needs to hope no one new wins a race. Unless that new person is himself.

“I think when you are mathematically still in – until somebody tells us we are not I feel like we have a shot," Almirola said. "I have been really proud of what we have accomplished this year. Last year we were 25^th or 26^th in points but we made the Chase because we won at Daytona. This year, I feel like if we made the Chase we certainly earned it. We have been consistent this year. We haven’t had the speed we want. That is just being real"

"Our cars haven’t been as fast as we have hoped. But we have executed and gotten the finishes when we have had bad days and turned them into okay days and turned okay days into good days. ... If we come here and run good, run top-15 or top-10 and the 15 hits the fence or something happens or an engine failure or anything like that, then we are right back in it and we go to Richmond 10, 12, 15 points out, then that puts us within a real shot. We run good at Richmond from time to time. I am excited about our chances. We have as good a shot as some of the other guys around us.”

We'll be real for a moment. The chances of Almirola making the Chase are slim. Though they certainly do exist. The scenario that he mentions could certainly happen. Though we wouldn't bank on it.

One thing we can guarantee though? That Almirola has some awesome facial hair this weekend to go along with his fantastic retro-themed STP car.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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