(Aric Almirola relaxes prior to the start of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Milwaukee Mile. He currently leads the series' points standings after his win last week in Dover. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)
Aric Almirola has had a lot of ups and downs in his NASCAR career. Mostly downs.
In 2007, he was driving for Joe Gibbs Racing's NASCAR Nationwide Series program. One of his jobs was to practice and qualify the NNS car for Denny Hamlin on weekends where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series were not at the same venue. Hamlin was obligated to drive the No. 20 car at Milwaukee for their Nationwide Series, but the Cup Series was in Sonoma that weekend, so Almirola practice the car and qualified it on the pole.
Business picked up when Hamlin got to the track late. The situation became very interesting when the helicopter carrying Hamlin got to the track to find cars parked on the helipad. He wasn't able to get to the track in time, so Almirola started the race.
Hamlin stuck around and there was word he may replace Steve Wallace, who was feeling under the weather. Almirola was leading laps and racing strong and looked like he had a great opportunity to win the race for the sponsor, who was based in the area.
The sponsor, however, wasn't happy with possibly winning the race with Almirola; they wanted their Cup star in the car. So the call was made and Almirola, who had been in the top five all evening, was taken out of the car and a confused Hamlin was put in the driver seat. Hamlin would go on to take the checkered flag in first that night, but since Almirola started the race, he was credited with the win. But it was Hamlin in Victory Lane, Hamlin hoisting the trophy, and Hamlin sitting through an awkward post-race press conference.
The sponsor, who won't be named here, celebrated in Victory Lane and the PR staff who should have been working damage control were too busy on stage, beers in hand, enjoying the festivities. Almirola, the driver good enough to win the pole, the driver good enough to keep the car up front, had quietly left the track early with only his girlfriend, Janice Goss, at his side.
He said in a phone conversation earlier this week he still has some resentment when he thinks about that night, describing feeling bitter and discontent about how everything went down. All that is in the past now as he has found a home at Billy Ballew Motorsports in the Truck Series where he leads the points after winning at the Monster Mile a week ago.
"It was truly a dream come true," he said. "To finally get to Victory Lane in NASCAR to be able to do it with Billy Ballew Motorsports and Graceway Pharmaceuticals on the truck it really meant the world to me. To be able to get to that done, and especially like I said, for Graceway Pharmaceuticals for believing in me and supporting me, because last year in the summer time I didn’t have a job.
"Roughly a year later to have a sponsor and a race team like Billy Ballew Motorsports that believed in me and to give me an opportunity it really meant a lot to get them to Victory Lane."
Through everything he's been through in the last few years, Goss, now his fiance, has been one of the only constants. She was the only one there at his side during one of his lowest moments in Milwaukee and she was one of the first to greet him in Victory Lane during one of his highest.
"You want to have someone there with you that helps in which ever way needs to be helped," the Florida native said. "It means a lot to come home and have someone that understands the sport. It makes it fun, I was really happy that when I drove into victory lane that she was standing there. She was the first person I saw. We’ve been through a lot together. It was cool to be able to go into victory lane knowing she’s been through a lot of that with me."
He is racing for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, meaning he returns to Gateway International Raceway July 16 for the CampingWorld.com 200. He has two starts at the 1.25-mile track and brought home a fourth-place finish last year. With its characteristics to Milwaukee, a track he's obviously good at, and the information he gained from Kyle Busch, his BBM teammate last year and the winner of the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at GIR in 2009, Almirola has to be one of the favorites coming to St. Louis this summer.
"Gateway is just a really fun race track," he said. "(Turns) 1 and 2 is just so much different than 3 and 4. You really have to find a compromise between your truck because its not going to handle perfect in both corners, it just doesn’t happen. To be able to work on your truck and to get it driving good in one corner and compromise do it’s just okay in the other is really tough.
"Because, as a race car driver, you’re some what of a perfectionist and you’re trying to make it perfect, and at Gateway, it just never is perfect. You really have to be on your game and you have to know what you want out of your truck or car there to be able to go fast for 200 laps."
"Roughly a year later to have a sponsor and a race team like Billy Ballew Motorsports that believed in me and to give me an opportunity it really meant a lot to get them to Victory Lane."
Through everything he's been through in the last few years, Goss, now his fiance, has been one of the only constants. She was the only one there at his side during one of his lowest moments in Milwaukee and she was one of the first to greet him in Victory Lane during one of his highest.
"You want to have someone there with you that helps in which ever way needs to be helped," the Florida native said. "It means a lot to come home and have someone that understands the sport. It makes it fun, I was really happy that when I drove into victory lane that she was standing there. She was the first person I saw. We’ve been through a lot together. It was cool to be able to go into victory lane knowing she’s been through a lot of that with me."
He is racing for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, meaning he returns to Gateway International Raceway July 16 for the CampingWorld.com 200. He has two starts at the 1.25-mile track and brought home a fourth-place finish last year. With its characteristics to Milwaukee, a track he's obviously good at, and the information he gained from Kyle Busch, his BBM teammate last year and the winner of the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at GIR in 2009, Almirola has to be one of the favorites coming to St. Louis this summer.
"Gateway is just a really fun race track," he said. "(Turns) 1 and 2 is just so much different than 3 and 4. You really have to find a compromise between your truck because its not going to handle perfect in both corners, it just doesn’t happen. To be able to work on your truck and to get it driving good in one corner and compromise do it’s just okay in the other is really tough.
"Because, as a race car driver, you’re some what of a perfectionist and you’re trying to make it perfect, and at Gateway, it just never is perfect. You really have to be on your game and you have to know what you want out of your truck or car there to be able to go fast for 200 laps."
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