Almirola
So Aric Almirola is finally going to be a big star. Word out this week is that Almirola is going to be Mark Martin's co-driver for the rest of this year and next. (Here's the Ginn Racing release.)
Almirola's claim to fame, other than being the second driver of Latino ancestry to drive in the Cup Series this year, is getting a Busch Series win at Milwaukee last month when he wasn't even behind the wheel. It's a weird rule, but, hey, it's NASCAR. Even weirder is that he's going to leave Joe Gibbs Racing to get his Cup ride.
The Gibbs camp says it encouraged Almirola to leave when the word started going around about a shakeup at Ginn. Might as well let the kid have a chance at a Cup ride, something that he wouldn't be getting at Gibbs in the near term.
But something about that doesn't sound quite right. Obviously Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin aren't going anywhere, and Gibbs isn't adding a fourth car. But J.J. Yeley (remember him?) was terrible last year and only average (on a good day) this year. There's no reason to think he's in the No. 18 for life, and Almirola is the logical guy to replace him after this season or next.
Then there's the fact that Gibbs has been grooming Almirola for three years. You don't throw that kind of money at someone if you're not expecting a return. Why should Ginn reap the benefit of Gibbs' coaching?
There's also this: Almirola isn't going to get much more seat time at Ginn than he'd get if he stayed at Gibbs. Ginn's in such financial straits right now that it shuttered its Busch program (which means no Busch seat time), and Almirola's only to be Martin's co-pilot (which means he gets to drive in only a handful of Cup races). Either way, he's be atop someone's RV on race days.
So if you want to believe in sinister intentions on Gibbs' part, you've got two options:
(1) Almirola ain't that good after all (and I haven't seen enough of him to know if that's true), or
(2) Almirola's blow-up after being relieved at Milwaukee rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way at JGR, and he had to get gone.
My gut tells me it's No. 2. What's your read?
Comments (3)
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Did something change because I thought I read where Almirola was going to run 5 more Busch races for Gibbs to fulfill his contract? Not that it matters because his 40 or 50 laps of fame at Milwaukee this year is his high water mark.
I still think Gibbs Racing handled that situation poorly by taking him out of the car during the race. It appears that it was never explained to him that he was in the car until Hamlin's plane/helicopter landed.
Posted on July 20, 2007 10:23 AM
You're right, Mark, Almirola still has five more Busch races this season with Gibbs. No matter - his chance of getting any Cup time with Gibbs is zero.
I can't wait to hear Almirola's take on the whole deal. He's been lying low. Then again, it's an off week, and the whole series has gone underground.
Posted on July 20, 2007 12:45 PM
I say number 2, both in Johns context and in a scatological sense.
Posted on July 21, 2007 9:43 PM