FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Almirola was born on Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, of Cuban descent. He began racing when he was eight years old, racing go-karts. 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 11th in the points standings. He won five more races at the track in 2005, and made his Truck Series debut with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and had two top-tens in four races. For 2006, Almirola drove the #75 Spears Manufacturing Chevy for Spears Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series, as part of the JGR development program. He started every race and had three Top 10 finishes, including a best finish of ninth, ending the season 18th. That season, he

also drove nine races in the Xfinity Series for Gibbs in the #18 Husqvarna/Banquet Foods Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His best finish was an eleventh at Dover International Speedway. Almirola moved up to the Xfinity series on a regular basis in 2007, driving the #18 and #20 Chevy's 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 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 Xfinity 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 asked for, and was granted, his release from Joe Gibbs Racing a month later. He soon joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc. following the sale of Ginn Racing. He drove the #80 Chevrolet in his first Cup start in 2007, and finished 41st.

Almirola was named co-driver of the #8 United States Army Chevrolet for the 2008 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 Cup was a 3rd place start at the 2008 Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville. Almirola was named the full-time driver of the #8 for the 2009 season. Seven races into the 2009 season, Almirola lost his ride to a lack of sponsorship and horrendous performance. He later signed a five-race deal with Key Motorsports to drive

their #40 Chevrolet Impala SS in the Xfinity Series. In October 2009, he filed paperwork in 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 Cup races in 2009 for the team before his #8 Chevy car was parked because of a lack of sponsorship. The lawsuit was dropped a month later after being settled out of court. For 2010, he was to drive full-time for Phoenix Racing's #09 Cup series Chevrolet Impala. However, he was not eligible to drive the NASCAR All-Star Race, even in the car Brad Keselowski

won at Talladega with in 2009. Almirola drove the #51 Graceway Pharmecuticals/ AK Awareness Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew in the Truck Series. In April, Almirola parted ways with Phoenix Racing to focus on his Truck Series ride. Almirola won his first race in the 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. In October at the truck race the Mountain Dew 250 he ended up in the closest finish in truck series history by finishing 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). But officials determined that Busch had the lead before going below the yellow line thus making Busch's winning move legal. In 2011, Almirola drove the #88 Xfinity Series car for JR Motorsports. He won two poles and had 18 Top 10 finishes to finish fourth in points. He was released from his contract after the season when he accepted a full-time Cup ride, driving for Richard Petty Motorsports in the No. 43 Ford Sponsored by the Air Force. After only running one year's worth of 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 a Pole start at Charlotte in May, and collected one Top 5 and four Top 10's 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 lead 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 13th, Almirola hit the wall once again, setting the front of the car ablaze and ending the promising run. 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 Martinsville to Darlington, he had the most consecutive Top 10s in the 43 car since Bobby Hamilton in 1996. 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 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 career finish to date of third, only behind winner Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. At the 2014 Coke Zero 400, Almirola would earn his first career win in the 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 #43 since 1999, and 30 years to the day Richard Petty won his 200th race. Despite only scoring better than 20th only four times in the next few races, Almirola's win clinched a berth in the 2014 Chase for the Cup, his first Chase appearance and

the first for a Cuban driver. Almirola drove Richard Petty's old Dodge paint scheme (show here above) at Darlington when they did the series of "throwback" paint schemes in 2015. Almirola was eliminated from the championship chase after round one of the Chase. Almirola had a more successful year in 2015 despite barely missing the Chase. He had only six Top 10's, but he was mainly in the Top 15 and was consistent all year long. He barely missed the Chase by almost winning the Fall Richmond race with a strategy call and finished 4th. He finished 17th in the standings, the highest for a non-chaser. He returned to the #43 in 2016 with ironically Brian Scott as his new teammate. It turned out to be an off season as Almirola posted a season best finish of eighth at Talladega; his only top ten of the year. Once again, most finishes were within the top 20 as he finished 20th or better 15 times. His team mate almost pulled an upset at Talladega finishing a career best second behind Joey Logano. His next best finish

was the season ending race at Homestead. This would also be Scott's final race as late in the season he announced he was retiring at the end of the season to concentrate more on his family. For 2017, Almirola returned to Richard Petty Motorsports, but it was contracted back to a single car operation. Mid-way through the 2017 season, Almirola got caught up in a bad accident at Kansas and injured his back. Joey Logano blew a brake rotor causing his race to make an immediate right turn as the entered turn one. He caught Danica Patrick in the left rear as they both piled into the outside wall. Almirola came along and got into the brake fluid preventing him from being able to steer or slow down his car and crashed heavily into the other two cars. Almirola had to be cut out of his car and missed seven races healing. He was able to

post three top 5 finishes in 2017; all on restrictor plate tracks. Near the end of 2017 it was announced that Patrick was retiring from full time racing and Almirola would move to Stewart-Haas Racing and drive the #10 Ford in 2018. After his swap from Richard Petty Motorsports to Stewart-Haas Racing; Almirola had several races where a win just slipped from his grasp before finally grabbing a win at Talladega. He also posted four Top 5 finishes and 17 Top 10's. He qualified for the Chase and was eliminated just before the final race at Homestead. He finished seventh in the points. He returned to SHR in 2019 with hopes of an even better season than in 2018. But he was only able to capture three Top 5 finishes; with a best of second at Texas. He did advance to the Chase, but failed to make it out of the first round. He returned to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020. Almirola started the year just so-so. He had a few

good runs; and some runs where the team neverfigured out what the car wanted to be fast. But starting with the 12 race of the season (Homestead); Almirola went on a tear. Nine races in a row he finished in the Top 10. Three races he finished third with a good shot at winning. After that the team just lost the handle on the car and only posted a few good runs the rest of the season. He only had one Top 5 and six Top 10's in the last 16 races. He was eliminated from the Chase in the second round and finished 15th in points. 2021 saw all of the Stewart-Haas cars struggle.

Almirola didn’t post a Top 10 finish until race nine at Richmond; and then not again until race 17 at Nashville. He broke through and got his first win in two years with a convincing run at New Hampshire; and qualified himself for the Chase. In fact; Almirola got the only win for Stewart-Hass all season. But poor runs continued for Almirola and he was eliminated after Round one. On January 10, 2022, Almirola announced his retirement from full-time racing after the 2022 season. He started the season with a fifth-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500; and followed that with sixth place finishes the next two races at Fontana and Las Vegas. Despite having no wins, Almirola's finishes were a huge improvement over the previous season, with two

top five, and seven top ten finishes. He had 16 finishes inside the Top 15; a big improvement over the previous season. On August 19, Almirola announced he would not retire at the end of the season and would continue to drive the #10 in 2023. He had a season much like 2022; performing well on select tracks. He started the season at Daytona as he got involved in a crash and was took out on the last lap. He finished 21st after leading 16 laps. His first top ten came at Martinsville when he finished sixth. He had his best finish of the season at Martinsville where he finished second in the Fall event. For the season he had two top five finishes and five top ten results. He

announced he would retire from full time racing in the Cup series because he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did say he would be open to running part time in NASCAR’s other major series. He made two Xfinity series starts in 2023. They came at COTA and Sonoma. He finished on the lead lap at COTA; but at Sonoma, he led 17 laps and pulled off the win; beating road course ace AJ Allmendinger. As of the end of 2023, he has made 460 starts in the Cup series career over 16 seasons. He had three wins and 30 top fives. In the Xfinity series; he has made 104 starts and won on four occasions. He has made 78 starts in the Truck series with two wins and 19 top fives. It remains to be seen if Aric will run any races in 2024, or for who. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

ARIC MICHAEL ALMIROLA - 3/14/1984