Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. He has previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, as well as what is now the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, and ARCA Menards Series West.
Racing career Early career Almirola was born on Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, of Cuban descent. He began racing go-karts when he was eight years old. At the age of fourteen, he began racing nationally. He won the pole position in his debut in the World Karting Association race and finished fourth in the standings that year. Two years later, he moved up into modifieds and won several Rookie of the Year awards.
NASCAR In 2002, Almirola moved to the NASCAR Sun Belt Weekly Racing Division and finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He followed that up with five pole positions in 2003. In 2004, he became one of the first drivers to participate in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. He also signed with Joe Gibbs Racing as a development driver under a partnership with former NFL player Reggie White. Almirola ran the season at Ace Speedway and won two races before finishing eleventh in the points standings. He won five more races at the track in 2005, made his Truck Series debut with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, and had two top-tens in four races.
2006–2007 For 2006, Almirola drove the No. 75 Spears Manufacturing-sponsored Chevy for Spears Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series, as part of the JGR development program. He started every race and had three top-ten finishes, including a best finish of ninth, ending the season eighteenth. That season, he also drove nine races in the Busch Series for Gibbs in the No. 19 Husqvarna/Banquet Foods-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His best finish was eleventh at Dover International Speedway. He also served as a test driver for Gibbs' teammates J. J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin when their Nextel Cup and Busch Series schedules conflicted. He also scored his first career pole at the Milwaukee Mile, qualifying the No. 20 car for Denny Hamlin, who competed in the race.
Almirola moved up to the Busch series regularly in 2007, driving the No. 18 and No. 20 Chevys for Joe Gibbs, driving each car in ten races apiece. He won his second career pole award for the Orbitz 300 at Daytona. He won the pole again, for the second straight year, at the AT&T 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, but thought he was going to give up driving duties to Hamlin again; Hamlin's helicopter was unable to land in time for Hamlin to make it to the track, so Almirola started the race, leading the first 43 laps of the race. On lap 59, during a caution period, because of sponsor commitments, Hamlin took over for Almirola while he was running in the third place. Hamlin went on to win the race, but Almirola was credited with his first NASCAR Busch Series win because he was the driver who started the race. Almirola did not participate in team victory celebrations after the race as he had already left the track. He soon asked for his release and later joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc. following the sale of Ginn Racing. He drove the No. 01 Chevrolet in five races in 2007 and had a best finish of 30th.
2008–2009
Almirola was named co-driver of the No. 8 United States Army-sponsored Chevrolet for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series, sharing the ride with Mark Martin. His best finish during the season was an eighth-place finish in the 2008 Food City 500 at Bristol, and his best start in Sprint Cup was a third-place start at the 2008 Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville. Almirola was named the full-time driver of the No. 8 for the 2009 season.Aric Almirola in No. 8 full-time in 2009 Seven races into the 2009 season, Almirola lost his ride due to lack of sponsorship. He later signed a five-race deal with Key Motorsports to drive their No. 40 Chevrolet Impala SS in the Nationwide Series. He returned to the Truck Series, driving part-time in the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals-sponsored Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew Motorsports, and had a seven-race streak of finishing eighth or better. He also made one attempt and one race in the No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series. In October 2009, he filed paperwork in the North Carolina Superior Court indicating that he had a breach-of-contract dispute with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Almirola competed in seven Sprint Cup races in 2009 for the team before his No. 8 Chevy car was parked because of a lack of sponsorship. The lawsuit was dropped a month later after being settled out of court.
2010–2012: Resurgence in Truck and Nationwide
For 2010, Almirola was to drive full-time for Phoenix Racing's No. 09 Cup series Chevrolet Impala.Almirola to attempt full season in No. 09 He also drove the No. 51 Graceway Pharmaceuticals/AK Awareness-sponsored Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew in the Camping World Truck Series. In April, Almirola parted ways with Phoenix Racing to focus on his Truck Series ride. Almirola attempted the Aarons 499 at Talladega in No. 35 Tommy Baldwin Racing/Mohawk-sponsored Chevrolet but failed to qualify after qualifying was rained out by NASCAR. Almirola won his first race in the Camping World Truck Series at Dover International Speedway and won again at Michigan International Speedway, holding off Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch. Almirola would finish second in points to Bodine.
Hendrick Motorsports named Almirola as a standby driver for the No. 48 team in case Jimmie Johnson needed to leave for the birth of his daughter.Defending champ has baby backup plan Almirola was not needed. In July 2010, Almirola was again a standby driver for Hendrick Motorsports at Pocono in case Jeff Gordon had to leave or miss the race due to the birth of Gordon's son. At Loudon, he was on standby for a sick Scott Speed. He drove the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford at Martinsville Speedway in Fall 2010 after Kasey Kahne was released from his contract. Almirola had his first Sprint Cup top-five finish at Homestead. At Talladega in the fall, he ended up in the closest finish in Truck Series history by ending up second to Kyle Busch in 0.002 of a second, who passed underneath Almirola below the yellow line. The 1-2 finish was the same as the previous race in 2009 but the finish was controversial because of the yellow line rules (as NASCAR rules state that a driver must not advance his position by going below the yellow line even if he is forced down there). However, officials determined that Busch had the lead before going below the yellow line, which made Busch's winning move legal. In 2011, Almirola drove the No. 88 Nationwide Series car for JR Motorsports. He won two poles and had eighteen top-tens to finish fourth in points. He was released from his contract after the season when he accepted a full-time Sprint Cup ride, driving for Richard Petty Motorsports in the No. 43 Ford.
2012–2017: Return to Cup in the No. 43 After only running one year's worth of Sprint Cup Series races in his career, Richard Petty Motorsports signed Almirola to a one-year contract, replacing the departing A. J. Allmendinger in the legendary 43 car. Almirola earned the pole at Charlotte in May, and collected one top-five and four top-tens en route to a 20th-place finish in points. Aric's best run of the year may have been at Kansas in October, where he qualified fifth and led 69 laps after taking the top spot on lap 6. But on lap 121, Almirola blew a tire, sending his Farmland Ford into the wall. He spun on lap 172, racing for the lead, and lost a lap on pit road. After getting his lap back and working his way up to thirteenth, Almirola hit the wall once again, setting the front of the car ablaze and ending the promising run. Almirola also returned to the Truck Series in 2012 on a part-time basis driving for his old crew chief Richie Wauters' No. 5 Ford.
In 2013, Almirola returned to Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 in the Sprint Cup Series; at Martinsville Speedway in October, the team ran the No. 41 to honor Maurice Petty's induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. During the 2013 season from Texas to Talladega, he had the most consecutive top-tens in the 43 car since Bobby Hamilton in 1996. After being fastest in practice in Talladega, his crew chief, Todd Parrott, was suspended for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy. Almirola finished a career high 18th in points. In 2014, he received crew chief Trent Owens, who is Richard Petty's nephew.
In January 2014, RPM announced a three-year contract extension with Almirola after working on one-year deals the previous two seasons. This coincided with sponsor Smithfield Foods stepping up to fund 29 races in each of the next three seasons with brands Smithfield, Farmland, Eckrich, and Gwaltney. Almirola had a rather slow start to 2014, being involved in a 12-car wreck in the 2014 Daytona 500. At Bristol, Almirola posted his best Cup finish to date, finishing third.
The next week at Auto Club Speedway during the 2014 Auto Club 400, Almirola got involved in an accident with Brian Scott. Almirola made a pass on Scott for fourth place. Scott controversially moved into the back of Almirola to wreck himself and Almirola. In a post-race interview, an angry Almirola retorted, "The 33 was obviously a dart without feathers and coming across the race track. He ran right into me. Man, he came from all the way at the bottom of the race track and ran into me. He's not even racing this series for points. He's out there having fun because his daddy gets to pay for it, and he wrecked us. That's frustrating."
At the 2014 Coke Zero 400, Almirola would earn his first career win in the Sprint Cup Series after avoiding two major wrecks, and leading the field when the race was called off after 112 laps due to rain. His win also marked the first victory by the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 since 1999, and 30 years to the day Richard Petty won his 200th race. On his big victory Almirola said "The good Lord was watching out for us today and we were meant to win. It's really special for me to win here. This is not only the 30th anniversary of this team's last win at Daytona, but it is my hometown, and I remember growing up watching Daytona 500s and Firecracker 400s here. To win is really special."
Despite scoring better than twentieth only four times in the next few races, Almirola's win clinched a berth in the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup, his first Chase appearance and the first for a Cuban driver. Almirola was eliminated from the championship chase after round 1 of the Chase.
Almirola had a more successful year in 2015 despite barely missing the Chase. He had only six top-tens, but he was mainly in the top-fifteen and was consistent all year long. He barely missed the chase by almost winning the Fall Richmond race with a strategy call and finished fourth. He finished seventeenth in the standings, the highest for a non-chaser.
Almirola returned to No. 43 in 2016 with Brian Scott as his new teammate.
In July 2016, Almirola, in the No. 98 car, won the Xfinity Series race at Daytona, his first Xfinity Series win since 2007. He barely beat Justin Allgaier by 0.003 seconds to win the race. A final lap caution came out, with Almirola being declared the winner on review. In victory lane, an ecstatic Almirola said that he considered the race to be his first Xfinity Series win, as he had won the 2007 Milwaukee race while Denny Hamlin drove 75% of the race. Almirola had a dismal 2016 season with just one top-ten finish.