Aric Almirola met with the media at Martinsville Speedway Saturday, shortly after he released a statement on social media that the end of this season will mark the end of his fulltime NASCAR Cup career, the last six of those seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing.
The timing of the announcement seemed somewhat odd as there is only one race left in the season.
“It was not just about my timing,” Almirola said. “There were a lot of factors and a lot of key players, so it’s not just about me. It’s about making sure that we did it the right way and tried to do the best thing for all of our partners, make sure we do the best thing for the organization. So it wasn’t just about me.
“If it was just about me I think I would have made the announcement a lot earlier just to make it to where you guys didn’t have to ask me every week, so there’s a lot of factors and there are a lot of things that happened behind closed doors that you just have to work through.”
Almirola might be stepping away from fulltime racing in the NASCAR Cup series, but that doesn’t mean he’s done racing. He hopes to put a few races on his calendar next year.
“I hope so,” he said. “I’d like to not quit cold turkey. I think there are some opportunities, but it’s hard. It’s challenging to figure out things that make sense for race teams to do it part time. Most race teams want somebody to run full-time and race for a championship, so we’ll see if we can get it worked out.
“I’d love to still scratch the itch, but just don’t want to do it like I have been doing it for the last 12 years, where it’s 38 weeks and it’s a grind. I’m not complaining that it’s a grind because I’ve loved it and I signed up for it, but I think, for me, as I look toward the future and what my life looks like, I would like to find a better work-life balance than what I have currently.”
As if those races will be in the Xfinity or Truck series, or even the Cup series, Almirola isn’t ready to say.
“Potentially,” he said. “I’m excited just about having some weekends off, so go back to doing some late model racing like I used to do when I was a kid. If there’s an opportunity to run a handful of truck races here and there or something like that, or run some Xfinity races, I think the door is open.
He isn’t ready to commit to one single thing, just yet.
“I’ve had a lot of just amazing conversations over the last four to six months about different opportunities, so I want to stay involved in the industry,” he said. “I love this industry. I love the people in the industry. This industry has afforded me and my family a wonderful life and I don’t want to just walk away from it.
“When I originally announced that I was going to retire over a year ago, that was the vision that I had. I had a vision of just walking away from the sport and starting a new chapter of my life and really going to explore something completely different, and I just feel like God has me here for a reason. I really do. I feel like the people and the relationships and everything, and, honestly, the opportunities to stay involved in the sport and continue to work with TV partners or different race teams. Even with drivers there are opportunities to help some young drivers speed up their learning curve and coach them along, so there are several different opportunities out there that I’m excited about and we’ll see how it all works out.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.