NASCAR: Aric Almirola acquisition already looking good for Stewart-Haas Racing

By Asher Fair | Feb 23, 2018

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 10: Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Stewart-Haas Racing’s acquisition of NASCAR Cup Series driver Aric Almirola is already looking good, and he has driven in just one race for the team.

Last September, I wrote a short article about the case for Aric Almirola to land a ride with a top-tier NASCAR Cup Series team as a full-time driver. A few days later, Danica Patrick announced that she would not return to Stewart-Haas Racing in the 2018 season.

Several weeks later, Almirola was confirmed as Patrick’s replacement in the #10 Ford for the 2018 season, thus giving him a full-time ride with a top-tier team for the first time in his Cup Series career.

Almirola had several part-time rides in the Cup Series from the 2007 season to the 2010 season before going to the Xfinity Series full-time in the 2011 season for the first time as a driver for JR Motorsports. The following season, he landed a full-time Cup Series ride with Richard Petty Motorsports.

Almirola stayed at Richard Petty Motorsport until the end of last season before he made the transition to Stewart-Haas Racing to replace Patrick as the driver of the #10 Ford. He won one race in six seasons driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, with that lone win coming at Daytona in 2014, and he finished as high as 16th place in the championship standings, which he also pulled off in 2014.

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One race into his tenure as the driver of the #10 Ford, Almirola looks like a much better option for Stewart-Haas Racing than Patrick was. The move to acquire Almirola is already paying off, and it looks like that will continue as the 2018 season progresses.

In 190 races as the driver of the #10 car, with 180 of those races coming as a full-time driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, Danica Patrick finished in the top 10 just seven times and never finished higher than 6th place. She finished in 6th at Atlanta in 2014.

Then Almirola takes over the driving duties of the #10 Ford and leads the Daytona 500 with less than half a lap to go after starting back in 37th place. Had Austin Dillon not made a bold move that resulted in Almirola spinning out and Dillon going onto win the race, Almirola likely would have won, giving him one win in one race as the driver of the #10 car.

Here is a video of the 2018 Daytona 500 finish.

Meanwhile, Patrick had zero career top 5 finishes in 190 races driving the #10 car.

Regardless, Almirola still did a great job in his first race as a full-time driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, and the decision to add him looks like it will pay off in the long run for the team, especially given the fact that he is Patrick’s replacement.

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Will Aric Almirola capture his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory this season and his first since the 2014 season this year as a full-time driver for Stewart-Haas Racing? Given how close he was to doing so on Sunday in the Daytona 500, it would be unwise to write him off.