Aric Almirola Relishes His New NASCAR Role with Joe Gibbs Racing

• Aric Almirola decided to leave full-time NASCAR Cup racing in his rearview mirror at the end of 2023.

• He departed Stewart-Haas Racing, his home for six years, and moved to Joe Gibbs Racing, where he’ll compete in 15 to 16 Xfinity Series races this season.

• Almirola’s return to JGR is a bittersweet homecoming.

After a 16-year NASCAR Cup Series career, Aric Almirola has transitioned from “self-serving” to serving others, and it’s a role the part-time Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series driver relishes in his bittersweet homecoming.

“I (now) have the opportunity to invest in others and serve others and try and help them achieve their goals and dreams,” the 39-year-old Almirola says. “(It) has been very rewarding.”

That’s a huge change from the way Almirola approached his Cup career.

“It was very self-serving,” Almirola says. “Everything about what I did was about how do I make myself better, how do I advance my career, everything revolved around me.”

Almirola decided to leave full-time NASCAR Cup racing in his rearview mirror at the end of 2023. He departed Stewart-Haas Racing, his home for six years, and moved to JGR where he’ll compete in 15 to 16 Xfinity Series races this season. His first this year was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he qualified 10th and finished 12th in his Toyota.

For the Tampa, Fla., resident, Almirola’s return to JGR is a bittersweet homecoming. In 2007, he was competing in 20 Busch Series (now Xfinity) races for JGR, splitting the events equally between the team’s No. 18 and No. 20 Chevrolets. He had already competed in 10 races for the Huntersville, N.C.-based team that year when suddenly harsh professional reality sidelined him.

“It was in Milwaukee,” Almirola recalls. “The CEO of Rockwell Automation was there. He didn’t really understand racing, and all he knew was that Denny Hamlin was their driver, and he was sitting on the pit box and (he) wanted him in the car.”

Almirola had earned the pole for the race at the Milwaukee Mile, substituting for Hamlin who was racing his Cup car in Sonoma, Calif., that weekend. Almirola was scheduled to relinquish the ride to Hamlin upon his arrival at the track, but when Hamlin didn’t make it to the Milwaukee track in time for the green flag, Almirola started the race. He led the first 43 laps, but during a caution period, on lap 59, Hamlin replaced Almirola, who was in third. Hamlin drove to victory, but Almirola was credited with the win since he started the car. Almirola didn’t participate in the team’s victory celebrations at the track because he had left the facility.

“I was deeply hurt at Milwaukee when I had to get out of the race car,” Almirola says.

That incident left Almirola feeling as though he didn’t have a future at JGR. Afterall, the organization had just signed Kyle Busch to replace J.J. Yeley, so he didn’t see a path for him to go Cup racing. It was then that Mark Martin stepped in and asked him to share his ride with him at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

“(That) was very appealing to a 22, 23-year-old kid to go share a car with Mark Martin and learn from him,” Almirola says.

Almirola still had a contract with JGR, but after talking with then JGR head J.D. Gibbs, he obtained his release. Almirola said Joe Gibbs late son told him he “wanted what was best for him.” The younger Gibbs told Almirola he hoped he would return one day to JGR. Despite the devastating professional blow, Almirola and the Gibbs family remained friends.

“I have pictures of me and J.D. on pit road, laughing together and sharing a moment together, him coming to give me a hug,” Almirola says. “He (J.D.) came to my wedding (in 2010). I just always had a great relationship with the Gibbs family.

“On a professional side, Milwaukee hurt, but from a personal side, they have meant a lot to me. When Coach (Joe Gibbs) called me and asked me to come back home to Joe Gibbs Racing, and that is exactly how he phrased it, it was kind of a no-brainer for me that this felt right.”