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Aric Almirola, a Tampa, Florida native, began his racing career at the age of 8, in go-karts, collecting local and state championships. Almirola attended the University of Central Florida working on a degree in mechanical engineering before leaving to pursue a career in racing. The 1998 season saw Almirola advance to national competition, sitting on the pole for the WKA Grand Nationals in Daytona and finishing fourth in the national standings.
He continued with stints in open-wheel modifieds. In 2000, he earned Rookie of the Year honors by the Florida Modified division and the Southern Automobile Racing Association modified division after grabbing his first win in the Joslin Memorial 100 feature at the Orlando Speedworld.
In 2002, Almirola took his act to the Florida Sunbelt Series, the most competitive super late model series in the state, where he finished runner-up in the Rookie of the Year standings. Almirola blossomed the following year, winning a series high of six poles.
The 2003 racing season also acted as a turning point for Almirola, who became one of the original members of the Joe Gibbs Racing/Reggie White Driver Diversity Program. Of Cuban descent, Almirola began his NASCAR career in 2004 piloting late models at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, collecting two wins, six top-five finishes, and 15 top-10 finishes.
Continuing to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005, Almirola took his talent and traveled the southeast racing in big paying late model events. Almirola went on to win seven races and grab 11 poles. Competing at race tracks such as Motor Mile Speedway (Radford, Va.), Southern National Speedway (Kenly, N.C.), Ace Speedway (Altamahaw, N.C.), Caraway Speedway (Lexington, N.C.) and even at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway (Hickory, N.C.). His performance behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs late model earned him a chance with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports. Almirola piloted the No. 47 Silverado for four-races, scoring two top-10 finishes including an eighth place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway.
The Truck Series was a full-time home for Almirola in 2006. In association with Joe Gibbs Racing, Almirola competed for Spears Motorsports, scoring three top-10 finishes, including a season-best ninth place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Almirola also made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2006 season. In those nine events, he scored a season best finish of 11th at Dover International Speedway.
2007 was Almirola's most historical to date, competing in both the NASCAR Busch Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc. While he only ran six Cup events (with a best finish of 26th at Phoenix International Raceway), his Busch Series efforts were stellar--after 18 races, he accumulated one top-five finish, five top-10 finishes, and three poles. The season-long performance earned him a ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Moving into the 2008 season, Almirola shared the famed No. 8 Chevrolet with veteran Mark Martin. Almirola competed in 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events for Dale Earnhardt Inc., collecting one top-10 finish at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile" Bristol Motor Speedway. Almirola also led his first laps in the Sprint Cup Series, collectively three laps at Talladega and fifty-three laps at Martinsville. Almirola also climbed behind the wheel of a NASCAR Camping World Series East car at Dover International Speedway for the first time in his career. Almirola, starting eighth on the grid, drove the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Foundation Chevrolet straight to the front of the field in dominating fashion. Just at the half-way point of the race, Almirola experienced a tire issue that forced him to start at the tail end of the lead lap cars. As the laps clicked off, Almirola was passing two-three cars a lap moving towards the front of the field. Within 10 to-go, Almirola took the lead and never looked back to capture his first and only victory, at this point, in the NASCAR Camping World Series East.
Almirola looks to continue driving in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team in 2009.