NASCAR Cup Series: 8 notable drivers who still haven’t won in 2018
By Asher Fair
Aric Almirola
Entering the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season with one career victory in six full-time seasons, Aric Almirola didn’t exactly fit the profile of a driver who should be “expected” to win races. However, right out of the gate in his first season as a Stewart-Haas Racing driver, he changed that narrative.
Almirola led the Daytona 500 in his #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford on the final lap with just two turns to go before Austin Dillon spun him out and went on to win. While many people believed that Almirola’s great run in the race was a fluke and only happened because the Daytona 500 is a restrictor plate race, his consistency since then has proved those naysayers wrong.
Through 19 races so far this season, Almirola has only finished outside of the top 15 on four occasions. However, while he has been one of the most consistent drivers in the field, he has still not been able to win a race.
In fact, despite the fact that Almirola has already set a new career-high in top 10 finishes with eight even though the season is barely halfway over, he has not yet won a race. Not only that, but he has not finished a single race in the top five, either.
Seeing as how Stewart-Haas Racing have earned a series-high seven victories so far this season, the fact that Almirola, who currently sits in 11th place in the championship standings, is still searching for his first victory and even his first top five finish of the season is rather surprising, especially after his season started off on such a strong note. When will he get to victory lane?