WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.: Retirement will have to wait at least one more year for Aric Almirola.
The Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver has agreed to return to the driving duties of the No. 10 Ford Mustang for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series, sources with knowledge of Almirola’s decision have confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com.
Motorsport.com was the first to report the return of the 38-year-old NASCAR veteran.
Smithfield Foods is also likely to return as the primary sponsor of the No. 10 team for what will now be his final full-time season, sources added.
An official announcement of Almirola’s plan is expected in the next few weeks.
A spokesperson for SHR said, “Stewart-Haas Racing does not comment on the status of its contracts, be it driver or partner related.”
In early January, Almirola announced in an extravagant social media video that the 2022 season would be his last driving fulltime in NASCAR competition.
At the time, Almirola said he wanted to spend more time with his family, his wife Janice and son, Alex, and daughter, Abby.
“I want to win and I want to be a champion, but at the end of the day, I know that those things mean way less than being there for my family,” Almirola said then. “I made it to the highest level of American motorsports as a professional race car driver. It’s been amazing, with a lot of ups and downs and everything in between.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
In recent months, speculation intensified about whether Almirola was reconsidering his retirement decision and would return to SHR for one more year.
“I haven’t put much thought into (returning) at all just going throughout the course of the year, and then it just keeps getting brought up, and then the chatter turns into real chatter,” Almirola said in an interview recently.
“Like more questions are getting asked by decision-makers, not just (the media). So, it puts that in my head to where I should at least give it thought.”
Almirola made his Cup Series debut at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in 2007, three days before his 23rd birthday.
He teamed up with Smithfield in 2012 at Richard Petty Motorsports for his first full year in Cup.
The Smithfield and Almirola partnership is one of the most tenured in NASCAR, and since the duo joined SHR in 2018, Almirola has represented Smithfield in the NASCAR Playoffs every year and scored two wins – 2018 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and 2021 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Almirola’s best seasons in Cup have come with SHR. He finished a career-high fifth in points in 2018 and scored a career-best 18 top-10 finishes in 2020.
With two races remaining in the regular Cup Series in 2022, Almirola is 16th in the championship standings with two top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
He will need to win either Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International or next Saturday night at Daytona to qualify for the Playoffs this season since they are already 15 different winners.
Throughout his NASCAR career which launched in 2005, Almirola has won three Cup races, three Xfinity Series races and two in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
The decision by Almirola also eliminates the No. 10 as an option in 2023 for two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who remains without a confirmed ride in Cup next season.
Busch’s current contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires at the end of this season and he has yet to agree to an extension.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
