What’s Happening?

Aric Almirola’s 2024 plans may have been revealed in a rather unorthodox place. Joe Gibbs attended the Washington Commanders football game on Sunday, and he introduced Aric Almirola to Commanders owner and JGR investor, Josh Harris, saying, “Aric’s driving for us now”.

You Need to Know:

• Aric Almirola previously drove for Joe Gibbs Racing when he came into the Xfinity Series in 2007. He was credited with his first career win at Milwaukee in 2007 despite not driving the car at the finish. Denny Hamlin, who was late, finished that race after Almirola qualified the car and ran the first part of the race.
• Almirola most recently ran for Stewart-Haas Racing in the 10-car. He announced in October that he would be stepping away from full-time competition, but he did not close the door to part-time competition. If he joins Joe Gibbs Racing, it would likely be in the 19 car, which was an “All-Star Car” in 2024.
• Fans on social media immediately made the Milwaukee connection when they saw this on social media. Aside from that, Almirola is generally well-liked, so there was not much controversy surrounding this.

What Races can Almirola Do in 2024?

With Almirola likely driving a part-time schedule for JGR in 2024, the question becomes which races he and JGR choose to run. Here are five races that Aric Almirola could do in 2024.

1. Spring Martinsville

Almirola’s great run at Martinsville last fall showed everyone that he’s still got it. Almirola also seems to have a knack for short, flat race tracks given his final career Cup Series win at New Hampshire. If he ran at Martinsville, it would likely be the spring race for JGR to keep their focus on the Playoff cars. However, Martinsville can be very chaotic in the Xfinity Series, so that may keep Almirola away.

2. Talladega

Aric Almirola’s best tracks are superspeedways. Of his 9 career NASCAR wins, 4 of them are on superspeedways. This makes Talladega an obvious candidate for Almirola to run. However, superspeedways are dangerous. Even with how much success he has on those types of tracks, does Almirola want to continue racing on these dangerous tracks?

3. Sonoma

Sonoma is the site of Almirola’s most recent NASCAR win. Despite not being renowned as a great road course racer, the fact that he won at Sonoma last year makes this an interesting race for him in 2024. However, he has historically not been good at road courses with only 2 Cup Series top-10s. Since he is not running full-time, the incentive is not there to be great on every type of race track.

4. New Hampshire

New Hampshire is where Almirola got his last career Cup Series win. It is also in an ideal place on the Xfinity Series schedule in the middle of the summer. Far removed from the Playoffs, Almirola and JGR do not have to focus on Playoff cars as heavily. However, if Ryan Truex stays with JGR, this may be a race that Truex wants. The Truex family is from the northeast, so Almirola may not be able to do this race.

5. Daytona

Just like Talladega, Daytona is a superspeedway. It’s a race track that Almirola has won at before in both Xfinity and Cup, and it is the closest track to his hometown of Tampa. However, it’s also a dangerous race like Talladega is. This raises the same question, does he want to race at a track with a dangerous reputation?

Where would you like to see Almirola race in 2024? It will be interesting to see how he fills his JGR schedule.