How many races can Aric Almirola win this year?
In his 16-year NASCAR Cup Series career, Almirola was a respected driver, but he only managed to win three of 460 points-paying races he started.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he’s now won two of his last five races going back to his surprise win last season at Sonoma Raceway. His schedule will include starts in the Joe Gibbs Racing Nos. 19 and 20. The No. 20 car was driven by John Hunter Nemechek last season, and it went to victory lane seven times.
Almirola isn’t running the full Xfinity schedule, and we haven’t covered him much in this column. We’ve focused more on the drivers who will compete for the championship. But questions are emerging. What is Almirola’s ceiling this year? What might he do next year? Looking beyond the 40-year-old Florida native, what current Cup Series drivers could benefit from a step down to Xfinity competition?
Back in February, it was reported that Almirola would run 15 to 16 races for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s been very competitive in his starts so far, with the win at Martinsville Speedway coming right after a runner-up finish at Richmond Raceway. Between those two races, Almirola led a total of 243 laps. Could he win five races this season? It seems possible. If so, he will be in the running to be the winningest driver in the series despite running only about half of the races. That would also be more wins than he had in his entire Cup career.
What would that mean for Almirola moving forward? After the Martinsville victory, the Tampa, Florida native reflected on his situation.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you Coach for calling me and giving me this opportunity to come and have some fun and still scratch the itch of racing but still get to spend a lot of time with my family.”
It would seem at his age, he is not overly interested in returning to a full schedule. Those weekends at home with his family seem really important to him. But he looks like a great cultural fit at JGR, and it would not be surprising to see him run several years in this capacity, keeping some weekends at home with family while being able to run competitively at some of his favorite tracks. But I can’t completely rule out a full-time Xfinity effort next season or beyond.
As great as those weekends home must be, Almirola is a…
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