After six full seasons with the team, Aric Almirola is leaving Richard Petty Motorsports following the conclusion of the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Following the announcement that Smithfield would move to Stewart-Haas Racing next season as opposed to sticking with Richard Petty Motorsports, the latter team confirmed that Aric Almirola will not return as the team’s full-time driver like he has been for the past six NASCAR Cup Series seasons.
Almirola, 33, is a free agent who will now definitely need to find another team to drive for. Stewart-Haas Racing certainly comes to mind seeing as how that’s where his current sponsor is going, and Danica Patrick is stepping away from her duties as the driver of the team’s #10 Ford.
Almirola has driven in 234 career Cup Series races and has one victory to his name. That lone win came back at Daytona in the 2014 season. He has 10 total top 5 finishes and 29 total top 10 finishes throughout his Cup Series career, which started back in 2007 but did not become full-time occupation until he got his ride with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2012, the ride he still has right now.
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He certainly doesn’t have great career numbers by any means, but keep in mind the fact that he has never had the opportunity to drive for a great team.
When teams look at potentially signing Almirola this offseason, they will have to weigh the fact that his career results are not super great with the fact that those results may not be that great because he has never driven for a top-tier team.
Because of this, it will definitely be interesting to see which team does end up signing him before next season begins if a team does, indeed, end up doing so in order for him to continue his Cup Series career in 2018.
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