Update: Official Release Almirola grateful to Gibbs, Nemechek released ...A month ago, Aric Almirola denied wanting to leave Joe Gibbs Racing, despite being unhappy about the team giving his first win to his teammate, Denny Hamlin, at Infineon:
"I'm under contract at JGR. I have a long history with them. I've been there since I was 18 years old. I started racing late models with them, and they've become like family to me. I see our relationship growing."I guess he meant growing apart.
No official announcement has been made, but according to Dave Moody, Aric Almirola has asked to be release from his contract with JGR and David Caraviello confirms the move to Ginn.
I understand that some fans, including the Fanhouse's own Geoffrey Miller, were quite passionate about Almirola getting robbed of his first win by his own team and called on him to leave the team immediately. But really? Almirola knew he was the fill-in driver for that race. Yeah Hamlin was late, but it was his car and his race to run. Everyone was on the same page going in.
As Almirola himself said, he has a long history with Gibbs. I certainly wish him the best whatever decision he should make for his future, but I sure hope he considered more than just one bad day at the office before making a career-move like this one.
Almirola's plan is to head to Ginn Racing to split the remainder of the 2007 season in the #01 with Mark Martin, with Regan Smith moving over to the #14 taking over driving duties for Sterling Marlin. The plan presumably eliminates the idea of a full-blown Ginn / DEI merger, but I imagine the #13 is still in play.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-17-2007 @ 6:28PM
valli said...
as Keanu Reeves would say "whoa"
ya know this really messes me up with our military.com pages and all, all of this silly moving about, now i'll have to find all new photos to post. grr. :)
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7-18-2007 @ 8:44AM
John Smith said...
You watch...In two years Aric will be back at JGR in a full-time Cup ride. JGR has a committment to diversity and this deal shows that. The same type of deal was made for Aric and his Truck ride with Spears Mfg.
It's not that Aric wanted to leave JGR, it's just that this ride came along and JGR sees it as a way for Aric to continue on his career path and for thier diversity initiative to take the next step.
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7-18-2007 @ 10:08AM
Samantha said...
I don't really see a Nextel Cup ride being available for Aric at Joe Gibbs anytime soon, it doesn't seem they could find enough money for a full time Busch ride even, so how can Aric be blamed for taking this opportunity. I'm sure no matter what happened in Milwaukee, he would have taken this chance.
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7-18-2007 @ 11:35AM
Virginia Hoyt said...
Glad to see Almirola left Gibbs. Getting dumped for Hamlin in that race made me see red. Let Gibbs keep their two crybabies and Aric needs to move on to better prospects.
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7-19-2007 @ 4:14PM
Denny said...
I don't know the financial status of Ginn or Gibbs but it seems to me that an organization that has had the layoffs that Ginn has had recently would not be the way I'd want to go. Of course with the talk of Gibbs switching to Toyota next year I wonder what smoked oops, smoke thinks. Maybe he'll want to leave and go to DEI. God what a soap opera!!
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7-20-2007 @ 12:07AM
Don Emerson said...
Hiya Buttermilk, big deal, Ginn drops two has-beens and picks up an unknown. Look for Ginn to go bellyup in the not too distant future. Also look for most of the major teams to make massive layoffs during the upcoming off season. The COT was too little too late.The cost of racing is slowly killing the sport from the top down. Word on the street is that Nascar will have competition from a new league within two years. Remember you heard it here first.
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7-20-2007 @ 10:21AM
CJ said...
Cant blame Amirola for this move, especially with what happened at Milwaulkee. I question Aric's talent, and if he has any, i dont think Ginn will show it off, cause if Regan Smith has any, and he doesnt, Ginn hasnt shown it off either.
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7-21-2007 @ 5:13PM
sandie said...
To Amirola good luck in your new endeavor. I felt that Gibbs treated you very badly to baby the crying Denny Hamlin. I want you to get out there and show the Gibbs team what you are made of and do it well. At least you won't be pulled out of a car you qualified and are winning in. Best Wishes.
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