Fast Facts Redux: Aric Almirola

Almirola goes retro at Darlington in
Sept. 2015
credit: Skirts & Scuffs/Charlotte Bray

Aric Almirola is in his fourth full-time season driving the No. 43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series, and you’ll also find him moonlighting in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 98 Ford for Biagi-DenBaste Racing. Learn more about Almirola in this week’s Fast Facts, originally published in Feb. 2012.

• Aric Almirola was born March 15, 1984 on Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and is of Cuban descent. He began racing go-karts at age 8 and began racing nationally at age 14. He briefly attended the University of Central Florida (Mechanical Engineering), but left to pursue a career in auto racing.
• Almirola signed with Joe Gibbs Racing as a development driver in 2004. In 2005, he made his Truck Series debut with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, following that up in 2006 with a full season in Trucks with Spears Motorsports; he also drove in nine Busch (now Xfinity) Series races for JGR, and another 20 in 2007.
• Almirola drove in all three of NASCAR’s top series – Sprint Cup, Xfinity and Trucks – over the next few seasons, driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Key Motorsports, Phoenix Racing, Billy Ballew Motorsports and others. In 2011, he raced full-time in the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports in the No. 88 Chevrolet.
• In 2014, Almirola won his first Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway in July; to date, he also has one Xfinity Series win and two Camping World Truck Series victories.
• Almirola and wife Janice are parents of two children: son Alex (born (Sept. 2012) and daughter Abby (born Nov. 2013).
• Find out more about Almirola at aricalmirola.com.