Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola, a Tampa, Florida native, began his racing career at the age of 8, in go-karts, collecting local and state championships. The 1998 season saw Almirola advance to national competition, sitting on the pole for the WKA Grand Nationals in Daytona and finishing fourth in the national standings.
He continued with stints in open-wheel modifieds. In 2000, he earned Rookie of the Year honors by the Florida Modified division and the Southern Automobile Racing Association modified division after grabbing his first win in the Joslin Memorial 100 feature at the Orlando Speedworld.
In 2002, Almirola took his act to the Florida Sunbelt Series, the most competitive super late model series in the state, where he finished runner-up in the Rookie of the Year standings. Almirola blossomed the following year, winning a total of six poles in the series.
The 2003 racing season also acted as a turning point for Almirola, who became one of the original members of the Joe Gibbs Racing/Reggie White Driver Diversity Program. Of Cuban descent, Almirola began his NASCAR career in 2004 piloting late models at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, collecting two wins, six top-five finishes, and 15 top-ten finishes. The schedule for 2005 was more of the same before Almirola got the call up for a four-race stint in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports before the end of the season. In those four races, he scored two top-ten finishes, including an eighth place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway.
The Truck Series was a full-time home for Almirola in 2006. In association with Joe Gibbs Racing, Almirola competed for Spears Motorsports, scoring three top-ten finishes, including a season-best ninth place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
2007 was Almirola’s most historical to date, competing in both the NASCAR Busch Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc. While he only ran six Cup events (with a best finish of 26th at Phoenix International Raceway), his Busch Series efforts were stellar—after 18 races, he accumulated one top-five finish, five top-ten finishes, and three poles. The season-long performance earned him a ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Moving into the 2008 season, Almirola shared the famed No. 8 Chevrolet with veteran Mark Martin. Almirola competed in 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events for Dale Earnhardt Inc., collecting one top-ten finish at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” Bristol Motor Speedway. Almirola also led his first laps in the Sprint Cup Series, collectively three laps at Talladega and fifty-three laps at Martinsville.
Almirola looks to continue driving for the newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team in 2009.
