Former Cup Series driver Aric Almirola, who now competes in the Xfinity Series, was turned hard after he made contact with Sammy Smith's No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevy in Stage 3 of Saturday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway. The caution was out, and Almirola was taken to the infield medical center.Richard Childress Racing driver and playoff contender Austin Hill was leading at the time. With two laps to go, Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports was chasing him down. Right about then, the crash took place, and Almirola’s Toyota was sent into the outside wall, nearly rolling over.Almirola escaped the incident without any major injuries. But he did sprain his foot. Speaking with Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports about the aftermath of his injury, Aric Almirola said,“Yeah, I'm okay, thankfully. I got a big bruise on my foot and think I sprained (the) top of my foot, so, walking a little ginger, hurts a little bit, but yeah, you'll have that. I thought we were in good position, felt like I was going to have a fighting chance there to go and be in the right position, try to win the race, but unfortunately didn't work out.”Hill won the race, followed by Carson Kvapil, Allgaier, Christian Eckes, and Caesar Bacarella. Aric Almirola, who finished 24th, was actually the highest-finishing driver from the Toyota camp.“Wish we could have finished that one off and see what happened, but glad that I'm okay enough to walk out of here,” Almirola continued. “They said I'll be fine. They just said it will be sore, they said to ice it...take some Tylenol or ibuprofen as needed.”Almirola is not in the playoffs anymore, but he can still go for more wins. He has won three races so far this season and amassed six top fives and nine top-10s, besides leading 281 laps in 15 starts. Next up for the Tampa, Florida, native is the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 at Martinsville.Aric Almirola is still in the championship picture despite dropping from the 2025 playoffsAric Almirola didn’t enter Talladega as a playoff contender, but winning the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week locked him into the owners' championship. It’s interesting to see Almirola in contention for the owners' championship after what happened last year. He ran the entire playoff segment before getting ousted right after the season finale. Almirola decided that he wouldn’t pursue the owners' championship next year, but it seems like he is convinced to go after the 2025 championship yet again. Speaking of his stint so far at Joe Gibbs Racing, Aric Almirola said,“There is no explanation for why it’s happening other than God has His hands in it. This shouldn’t happen, right? When I announced I was going to retire, nobody had to give me this opportunity. Then Coach (Joe Gibbs) comes out of blue and said ‘I want you to come run some races with us and I think you will have some fun doing it.’”Almirola continued.“It would be the highlight of my career. Honestly, it would be. I left Phoenix last year pretty said and disappointed that I didn’t get it done for coach.”All eyes are now on Martinsville Speedway, which will host next Saturday’s playoff race. Only one race remains before the 2025 championship race kicks off at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 1. Fans can watch the race on CW (7:30 pm ET onwards) or listen to live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.