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Former Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola seems set to return to his former Joe Gibbs Racing team as a part-time driver in the upcoming 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
Joe Gibbs, the owner for Joe Gibbs Racing team, attended the NFL game between Washington Commanders and Miami Dolphins on Sunday, (December 3) with his Cup Series driver Christopher Bell and the recently retired Aric Almirola.
During a talk with Washington Commanders’ co-owner Josh Harris, who also has a minority ownership stake in JGR, Gibbs made a surprising revelation when he introduced Almirola.
In a video from JP Finlay of NBC, the NFL and NASCAR Hall of Famer introduces Harris to Almirola saying:
“Aric’s driving for us now.”
JGR is expected to announce their full Xfinity Series lineup soon. That would make it clear exactly what Aric Almirola will do for the team and in how many races he will compete next year.
Following the video of Gibbs and the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass wrote on X:
“JGR hopes to announce its full Xfinity lineup/plans in a week or so but expect Aric Almirola to be part of those plans as he shows up with Joe Gibbs at the Commanders game today and Gibbs tells Josh Harris (Commanders owner & investor in JGR) that Almirola is driving for JGR now”.
Aric Almirola has retired from full-time racing but is open to race part-time in Xfinity Series
After months of speculation in 2023, the 39-year-old veteran driver ended his full-time Cup Series racing career at the season finale race at Phoenix Raceway. He competed in 12 Cup seasons and the last six of them came at SHR. In his decade-long career, Almirola scored three wins, 96 top-10 finishes, and six poles.
The Fort Walton Beach, Florida-native has previously expressed his interest to race in Xfinity Series again. Based on what the JGR owner had to say at the NFL game, it seems that Almirola is likely to drive #19 All-Star car with Ryan Truex and other drivers.
Aric Almirola made two starts in Xfinity in 2023 and both came at road course races of Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway. He was able to win at Sonoma with RSS Racing, impressively holding off other Cup drivers such as Kyle Larson.
