Aric Almirola, the driver of the #10 Smithfield Prime Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 11, 2018, in Kansas City, Kansas. Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

You couldn’t blame Aric Almirola if he had mixed feelings about returning to the spring race at Kansas Speedway, but in a new ride, with improving results, the driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford isn’t looking back.

Last May at the 1.5-mile speedway, Almirola got by far the worst of a brutal crash that also involved Joey Logano and Danica Patrick. Almirola missed seven races because of a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra.

Nevertheless, he doesn’t find it hard to put the wreck out of his mind.

“I don’t think it’s difficult at all,” Almirola said. “I show up to the race track every weekend and just go and focus on trying to get my car handling the way I want it to and fast and ready to go race for that weekend. Every weekend is a different challenge because it’s a different track, but I never really let my mind drift back to that place if you will.

“When I came back here in the fall (last year), it was probably a little bit more top of mind coming back here just a few months after breaking my back here in May. But then to go through that weekend, and we ran really well and I think we finished ninth, so to come back here and kind of get somewhat of redemption on the race track and sort of put that to bed and come here and run as well as we did and run top 10, I think it’s a non-issue.”