TALLADEGA, Ala. – Aside from Kyle Larson, who is locked into the next round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the happiest person at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday might have been Aric Almirola.
Almirola had good reason to be smiling, too, after confirming an extension with sponsor Smithfield Foods and with Stewart-Haas Racing to continue as the driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang for 2020 earlier in the week.
The continuation of the partnership between driver and team seemed a natural fit, considering Almirola has made the playoffs in each of his first two years with SHR.
“I’m excited about that,” Almirola said of the renewal. “They’ve been a great partner of mine for eight years, going on nine years now, so I’m really proud of that relationship that we’ve built together and it’s been a lot of fun. I feel like I’m certainly part of the Smithfield family and they’ve been a fantastic partner. I’m excited to continue that relationship and continue to provide success on and off the race track for them.
“Having a sponsor in this day and age is pretty critical, so I think it’s extremely important to have the support and the backing,” Almirola added. “But I felt confident about my relationship with Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. I never really felt concerned. I felt like they wanted me to be there. I wanted to be there, so it was just a matter of dotting all the I’s and crossing all the t’s, and we were able to get that done, which was nice.
“Stewart-Haas Racing has been great to me and I’ve enjoyed getting in fast race cars and running up front and competing week in and week out.”
Though Almirola has been in the mix at different points this year, the season as a whole has been more up and down compared to 2018, when Almirola won at Talladega and finished fifth in points when all was said and done.
The roller-coaster doesn’t get Almirola down, however; it just motivates him to push harder.
“As a competitor you always strive for more. That’s just the nature of the beast,” Almirola noted. “I think with your job, you still want to accomplish and do more. Nobody is just satisfied with the status quo, so I think that’s across the board … from race car driver to journalist to anybody else. You always want to achieve and accomplish more. If not, then go find something else to do. But for me, I’ve been excited and happy with the results that we have achieved. Last year was a great year for us, for my first year with the company, to have the success that we did and to finish fifth in the point standings. That was really, really good and something that we were very excited about.
“This year, we set the bar a little bit higher and we haven’t achieved those similar results and haven’t had the year that we had last year, but that’s just part of this sport,” he continued. “You look at a seven-time champion (Jimmie Johnson) that you would automatically say he’s gonna make the playoffs, and he didn’t. Look at Joey Logano; a couple of years ago, he missed the playoffs, and then he turned around the next year and won the championship. There are a lot of ups and downs in this sport.
“Last year was a good year for us. This year has been an OK year, but certainly not the year that we had hoped or wanted. We’re looking forward though, and striving for more success. That’s what we do as competitors and as human beings. You want to continue to move the needle.”
Almirola isn’t worrying that he hasn’t won this season; he knows the sport is often cyclical and he hopes that cycle will shuffle him back to the top of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
“I think it comes with time. I think it’s just part of it. It’s hard,” said Almirola. “If it was easy, everybody would do it. I think it’s not easy. There’s nothing given to you. You have to earn it, so I think for us as an organization, as a race team last year we were in position to win several races and we capitalized on one.
“This year, we quite honestly haven’t been in position to win as many races, but we’re looking to rectify that and hope to be doing a lot more winning going into next year.”