NASCAR Cup Series: 5 playoff drivers who are in jeopardy
By Asher Fair
NASCAR playoff drivers in jeopardy: No. 3 – Aric Almirola
Now we get into must-win territory, and we start with Aric Almirola. In each of his first four seasons behind the wheel of Stewart-Haas Racing’s #10 Ford, Almirola qualified for the playoffs.
He made it in on points in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and he managed to turn a disastrous 2021 season into somewhat of a success with an upset victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway late in the regular season to lock himself in.
Despite having had a much stronger start to the 2022 season, he finds himself in a must-win situation again, not just because of how many winners there have been but because of an overall drop in performance in recent months.
But while he hasn’t won a race in over a year, don’t rule out the 38-year-old Fort Walton Beach, Florida native from getting the job done on Saturday night. Two of his three career wins are superspeedway wins, and one came at Daytona International Speedway.
And even if he doesn’t find victory lane and finds himself outside of the playoffs for the first time since he was still at Richard Petty Motorsports in 2017, he should still have more opportunities to get back to the postseason.
Despite the fact that he announced that the 2022 season would be his last back in January, he has decided to hold off on retirement and sign a multi-year extension with Stewart-Haas Racing.