Aric Almirola

Nationwide & Sprint Cup

Aric Almirola has tons of talent as well.  Adding to the great line up at Gibbs, Double A has become the mature leader of the brat pack. Almirola has enough talent to step into a possible Cup ride of something at Gibbs goes a miss or they want to expand to a four car team

The only thing that Almirola has to worry about is the studs below him but that doesnt appear to be a problem right now.  Very fast qualifier and good in traffic, Almirola just needs to gain more seat time.  When its all said and done Aric could be a contender in Cup races in the future.  PR savvy and solid communications skills will allow him to be marketable for many teams if he so wishes.

Led by 23-year-old Aric Almirola, Joe Gibbs Racing’s (JGR) driver development program is flourishing. The up-and-coming wheelman began the 2007 season by winning the pole for the season-opening NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Daytona marked Almirola’s second Busch Series pole in 10 Busch Series races. His first pole came on June 24, 2006 at The Milwaukee Mile when Almirola qualified the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet for regular driver Denny Hamlin, who was commuting from the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Almirola was one of JGR’s first prospects via the diversity program founded by Gibbs and the late Reggie White, an initiative that traces its roots back to May 2003.

In partnership with White, a Hall of Fame defensive end who played in the National Football League, JGR formed the diversity program to create a grassroots stock car team that would identify and assist minorities with the desire and talent to make a career in motorsports. And in January 2004, the diversity program became reality, thanks in large part to the support of JGR’s sponsors.

Almirola, a Tampa, Fla., native of Cuban descent, began his JGR career driving a late model in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series at the .4-mile Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C., in 2004. After scoring two wins, six top-fives and 15 top-10s, Almirola traversed the Southeast competing in regional late model races. By the end of 2005, Almirola was running a limited schedule in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, which led to a full-time Truck Series ride and a nine-race Busch Series schedule in 2006.

Three years after racing late model stock cars, Almirola has a slate of 18 Busch Series races and four Nextel Cup races (Las Vegas, spring Richmond, spring Charlotte and spring Dover) on tap for 2007.

Almirola began racing go-karts when he was eight. After winning many races and local titles in and around his home state of Florida, he took his talent to the national karting scene in 1998. He quickly made his presence known, qualifying on the pole for the World Karting Association Grand Nationals at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Municipal Stadium before finishing fourth in the season-ending point standings.

At 16, Almirola graduated to open-wheel modifieds – 2,750-pound race cars that put out over 700 horsepower. In 2000 he won the rookie of the year title in two separate modified divisions – Florida Modified and SARA (Southern Automobile Racing Association) Modified, while garnering his first career win in the Joslin Memorial 100 at Orlando (Fla.) Speedworld, beating the top drivers in Florida.

In March 2002, Almirola advanced from open-wheel modifieds to the Sunbelt Super Late Model Division, where he finished runner-up in the rookie of year standings. Almirola continued in that division in 2003, winning three poles at USA Speedway in Lakeland, Fla., two poles at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway and one pole at Bronson (Fla.) Speedway.

(Almirola was introduced to racing by his mother’s father – Sam Rodriguez, a Florida native. Almirola’s father, Ralph, came to the United States from Cuba at age four during the Freedom Flights of the mid-1960s. Almirola’s mother is Lynette.)