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Aric Almirola reflects on Martinsville sweep, racing for owners championship in Phoenix

JHby: Jonathan Howard11/03/24Jondean25
Aric Almirola
Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Tonight was a big night for Aric Almirola and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Almirola gets the sweep at Martinsville for the season. On top of that, the 20 team is going to race for a NASCAR owner’s championship next week at Phoenix.

When Aric Almirola retired last year, he knew he would return in the Xfinity Series. A nice part-time schedule without much going on for most of the year. However, he has been in the car for the entire playoffs.

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After the race, Almirola was thankful. He’s looking forward to racing for a championship.

“Yeah this has been so much fun,” Aric Almirola told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “It’s unbelievable to have the opportunity to race for Joe Gibbs Racing and just drive amazing race cars. It’s been so much fun this year to race with this group and this team. Just thankful to everybody that makes it work. Thankful to Coach, thankful to God first and foremost. I am such a lucky guy and so blessed and thankful to Toyota, the He Gets Us ministry, everybody involved.

“This is a really big deal. I know that I’ve run Cup for a long time but to come down here and race in the Xfinity Series and to compete against these best teams with the best team with Joe Gibbs Racing and get the job done is fun. It’s a lot of fun and we’re going to go to Phoenix and race for an owner’s championship. Which was the goal from Day 1 when I sat in Coach’s bus a year ago that was the goal was to come over here and go race for an owner’s championship.”

Aric Almirola dominated the race today. He was fantastic. It was exactly what you want out of a driver like Almirola. He is hitting his stride now that he is racing these Xfinity Series cars week in and week out and not just every once in a while like he did earlier in the year.

Let’s also not forget his suspension from the team earlier this year. Almirola and Bubba Wallace got into an altercation that included a physical attack from Almirola. That ordeal was handled internally at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Controversy aside, Aric Almirola now has three wins on the season, a sweep at Martinsville, and might be the favorite to win the race at Phoenix next week.