NASCAR: Aric Almirola retiring a season early?

Aric Almirola changed his initial plan and decided to return for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, but is there a chance it could be his last?

Before the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season began, Aric Almirola announced that it would be his last and that he planned to retire once it concluded. The season was his 15th in the series and fifth as the full-time driver of the #10 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.

But as the season progressed, there were rumblings that Almirola had changed his mind and decided to return for another season, with longtime primary sponsor Smithfield continuing to support him.

Eventually, the 38-year-old Fort Walton Beach, Florida native confirmed the rumors and announced that he would indeed be back for a sixth season behind the wheel of the #10 Ford, and it was reported that his new deal was a multi-year deal which tied him and Smithfield to the team for “2023 and beyond”.

However, later in the season, additional reports emerged that Almirola’s new deal contained an option which would allow him to retire after the 2023 season if he decided to do so.

Stewart-Haas Racing have made a driver change after six of the last seven seasons, with their change for next year being Ryan Preece replacing Cole Custer behind the wheel of the #41 Ford.

So they are no strangers to making driver changes, and Aric Almirola retiring after just one more season could continue that trend.

However, they did not make more than a single change in any of those eight seasons, and they might already have a vacant seat to fill with the uncertainty surrounding Kevin Harvick’s future.

Harvick himself is set to enter a contract year, and as the sport’s oldest full-time driver, he could very well decide that he has already signed his final contract.

In fact, he admitted last offseason that his initial plan was to retire after the 2021 season. Back before the 2020 season began, he ended up signing through 2023. The 2023 season is set to be his 23rd in the Cup Series and 10th with Stewart-Haas Racing.

If Stewart-Haas Racing lose two drivers, to whom will they turn?

They have already added Preece, whom many believed would replace Almirola after 2022 when Almirola initially planned to retire, as Custer’s replacement behind the wheel of the #41 Ford for 2023.

Custer is set to drop back down to the Xfinity Series alongside Riley Herbst after yet another disappointing season. Herbst himself is winless in three-plus seasons in top-tier Xfinity Series equipment, so he doesn’t appear to be the answer.

So what will Almirola decide? While he hasn’t exactly been a world-beater since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018, he has far outperformed the driver he replaced and qualified for the playoffs four times in five years, winning three races and advancing as far as the round of 8 along the way.

It would certainly be in Stewart-Haas Racing’s best interest for him to return, unless they can make some massive blockbuster signing that nobody expects. Even then, that big-name replacement could very well be Harvick’s replacement, and replacing half their lineup in a single offseason wouldn’t be ideal.