Following his retirement from full-time racing in 2023, Aric Almirola joined the Xfinity Series arm of Joe Gibbs Racing to serve as a part-time driver. After completing five races as of May 11 at Darlington, he was scheduled to race at Charlotte on May 25. Due to some unrevealed reasons that were categorized as a “team decision”, he was replaced by Ty Gibbs at the last minute.
Advertisement
Though rumors were blowing around, it came to know through a report from The Athletic and Fox Sports this week that the reason for Almirola’s absence in Charlotte and the races that followed since is an altercation that he had with 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace during a Toyota alliance meeting. JGR had issued him a suspension for two months.
When asked about said incident last month, Wallace denied its occurrence. He said, “No, we’ve had our disagreements before, but damn, that’s crazy.” The prior disagreements that he mentioned include a scene of Almirola shoving Wallace during a rain delay at Charlotte in 2023. The duo had disagreed over racing too hard and risking the other’s chances of finishing the race.
Now, a month after the alliance meeting, there is word that Almirola will return to race at Indianapolis next month. The No. 20 Toyota Camry will once again fall into his hands on July 20. The news presents a huge relief for there were persistent rumors that Almirola had been let go by Joe Gibbs Racing in light of the incident.
Aric Almirola’s performance in the 2024 Xfinity Series season thus far
In the five Xfinity Series races that he started this season, in the No. 19 and the No. 20 cars, Almirola has one win and three top-5 finishes. The victory came at Martinsville. His average finish rate over the five races falls at 10.2.
Almirola signed up with Joe Gibbs Racing in the offseason as a driver and a mentor. Initially, John Hunter Nemechek was scheduled to race the No. 20 car in 10 races with Almirola taking up a majority of the remaining 23. Most of his races were scheduled in the latter half of the season as well since active Cup Series drivers are prohibited from running in the final eight races of the Xfinity Series.
