Great Work If You Can Get It

It's been quite a month for Aric Almirola.

He went from having no Nextel Cup ride, to having a third-rate Cup ride to possibly taking over what is now the most popular Cup ride on the circuit.

According to Marty Smith, DEI might solve their "too many drivers not enough cars and lack of a new high-caliber driver to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr." with the most obvious solution: putting veteran Mark Martin behind the wheel of the #8.

DEI President Max Siegel:

"If there's anyone that would represent Dale Earnhardt Inc. and what the No. 8 means to this company it would be Mark Martin."

Martin doesn't want a full-time Cup ride, though, so he'd split the season with Almirola, but nothing is written in stone yet.

The car would be sponsored by The Army and presumably this means that Regan Smith could still have a job driving the #01 for 2008 with sponsor TBD. But, it sounds like DEI is keeping their "several options" open and is still looking at Greg Biffle for 2009.

Almirola will make his DEI debut Saturday night in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the #01. I don't know what to make of his racing abilities yet since I haven't seen him race too much and he hasn't completed even one full season in any NASCAR series. But I do know he's gonna have to work his a** off to get the same kind of love showered on the #8 car as it gets now.