Aric Almirola has dedicated over two decades to the pursuit of a NASCAR championship and while this is not the most orthodox version of it, that journey will feature a shot at one next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
In winning the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville on Saturday, Almirola has combined with Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Truex and Christopher Bell to qualify for the owners championship race, which is actually the standings that pays at the end of the year.
Almirola has contributed the most to that run (since active Cup driver wins do not count towards seeding) with his two victories, plus running the car throughout the entirety of the playoffs.
He retired from full-time Cup Series competition at the end of last season, the closest he ever came to making a final four appearance as a driver coming in 2018 where he advanced to the Round of 8, but there were also personal lessons he learned from the campaign that really makes what happens next week inconsequential in his big picture.
“I came up short of making it to the final four that year,” Almirola recalled. “I won at Talladega to get into the Round of 8. I ran really good in the Round of 8, went to Phoenix and I almost advanced.
“I ran wheel-to-wheel with Kyle Busch for the lead for a while and just wasn’t able to complete the pass cleanly and just didn’t have it in me to move him or wreck him.”
But he was dejected.
“I got home and was like ‘why not me, God, why not me,” Almirola said.
He realized in that moment that his goals were out of alignment and made a laminated sticker on his door that had Christ on the cross at the top, then a picture of his family, and then the Cup Series championship trophy.
Make no mistake, next Saturday and the chance to bring Joe Gibbs Racing the championship that pays the bills is a big deal but it’s not going to dictate his worth or value.
“That offseason was just just a reminder that racing is priority number three in my life,” Almiorla said. “But racing for the championship is amazing and I’m incredibly grateful to have that opportunity but if I win or not is not going to define who I am.”
But, at 40 years old, could this kind of be a second act for Almirola, where he just runs the final eight races of a season in a star car to win it a championship?
“NO,” shouted his wife, Janice, from the back of the room.
After all, the whole point of retirement was to finally make the baseball games, field trips and vacations they missed out on over the past decade.
“I have had the coolest job in the world, but at the end of the day, I didn’t have to go to Pocono this year or COTA, or any of those places when we were at home or vacation or at a Major League Baseball game. I have loved this year and not having to go to the race track every week.
“So this year, being able to do it on my terms and having as much off time as I’ve had, I do not think that this is going to sway me into a second act for sure.”
So is next week the end?
“I don’t know.”
Custer v Smith
Meanwhile, this was a race that Chandler Smith absolutely needed to win to make the final four but Cole Custer felt that way too, even if it was only partially true.
If Smith won, Custer would have earned the final spot on points over Justin Allgaier as long as he finished seven spots ahead, which he generally maintained all night. But with Almirola winning the race, and taking an owner’s playoff spot, that would come at the expense of the No. 00 driven by the defending champion.
So Custer felt like he needed to win the race from that standpoint too, leading to several run-ins between himself and Smith throughout the race in a season in which they’ve had a couple over the summer and fall too.
Smith hit Custer with a bump-and-run earlier in the race. Custer lined up behind Smith on a restart with 29 laps to go, giving up a row in not taking the preferred bottom. He stayed on the gas until Smith shot up the track.
It enraged Smith, who confronted Custer about it after the race, including throwing a kind of half-hearted punch that bounced off the defending champion.
“I was planning to do more than that,” Smith said. “I was extremely pissed off. I gave him five laps before that caution came out and beat his bumper off and never shipped him or anything like that. Then finally, it’s like, alright, the laps are winding down. I’m in a must-win. The 20’s starting to drive away. He was really good all day. I can’t waste any more time with him. So, I finally had a good enough run and pushed him up the racetrack and went on our way.”
Smith just could not understand why Custer would be mad enough to hurt both of their days’ by choosing the outside just to retaliate in the closing laps of the race.
“I think he was the first guy all day that chose the outside lane from third place, so that’s very interesting,” Smith said. “And then he didn’t even give me a chance to make the corner when we got to Turn 1. I thought it was a little bit of a chickenshit move, honestly. Funny enough, the restart right after that, picks right behind me again … how ironic is that?”
Custer said Smith argued that the No. 00 had nothing to race for because he was already locked in but Custer argued back that the owner’s championship is what pays the bills in NASCAR. That wasn’t the answer Smith wanted to hear.
As for Smith accusing Custer of intentionally ‘shipping him,’ he didn’t argue.
“Yeah, at the end of the day, I used the bumper on him, but I didn’t wreck him,” Custer said. “I did not end his day. I moved him up the track like he moved me up the track.”
So that was the entire reason Custer gave up a lane?
“Yeah, I did,” Custer said. “I did. At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with that. The easiest way to move someone out of the way is to move them right up the track.”
Of Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith
Going into the race, Smith, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith and Jesse Love all needed to win.
Sammy Smith nearly did at the end, finishing second and coming up just short in a last ditch charge to the finish.
“I could have [bumped Almirola for the lead], but there was no way to get to him,” Smith said. “I was so far back. I probably would need to be three car lengths to be able to move him, but at that point it probably would have been close to wrecking him, and it’s just a tough spot there.”
Jesse Love was a non-factor throughout the race and Mayer crashed out.
What now?
Allmendinger, Custer, Allgaier and Austin Hill will race for the championship next week at Phoenix. The highest finishing driver amongst those four wins the championship.
Simultaneously, Almirola, Allmendinger, Custer and Hill be racing for the owners championship. The same rules apply. Custer’s 00 car was the one that got bumped when Almirola won the race.