Aric Almirola Gets Fresh Start With JR Motorsports

A driver who has bounced around all three of NASCAR's top divisions may have finally latched on to a consistent ride for next season.

JR Motorsports -- owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- announced Wednesday that Aric Almirola will be their full-time Nationwide Series driver in 2011, with the opportunity to make a few starts in the No. 88 at the end of this season.

"We raced at ORP together a month ago and had a really good run," Almirola said in a team news release after being announced to the JR Motorsports shop. "There is no reason why we cannot compete like that every race, and there is no reason why we shouldn't be running for a championship. I would expect nothing less."

No sponsor has been announced for the team for next season -- an issue that caused this season's original full-time No. 88 driver to leave the team. Kelly Bires signed with JRM for the season only to be released from the team after the sixth race at Phoenix.

In some pointed comments at SceneDaily.com, Bires acknowledged that being kept from the Nationwide season-opener in Daytona -- thanks to Danica Patrick taking his seat for the race -- and the overall team chemistry precipitated the breakup. The team had also decided to keep Bires out of a few races due to lack of funding.

The result has been an interesting grab bag of drivers for the JRM operation in the Nationwide Series this season. Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler and Earnhardt Jr. have all spent time in the seat, while 11 other drivers have made starts in one of the team's two cars.

"This has been a far different year than anything we have ever experienced before, but we feel like our decision to take our time and not be rushed into naming a full-schedule driver for the No. 88 paid off with the signing of Aric," JRM general manager Kelley Earnhardt said in the statement.

Earnhardt Jr. originally started the team to help new drivers make a name for themselves in the sport, but the 2000 series champion has acknowledged that a tough climate of sponsorship for the second-tier series has pushed him to put experienced, better-known drivers in the cars.

On top of that, the team suffered a very expensive start at Daytona after Patrick was caught in an early race crash and Earnhardt Jr. flipped his race car violently during the Daytona Nationwide season-opener.

"That was expensive right there," said Earnhardt Jr. said in February. "We're going to have to go back and balance our books after this one."

Almirola has certainly had his share of ups and downs in NASCAR. Originally with Joe Gibbs Racing, Almirola was the victim of corporate desire when he was yanked from the seat of a winning car in Milwaukee in 2007.

Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin was late to the race after travel issues from the Sprint Cup race in Sonoma, Calif., that weekend so Almirola started. When Hamlin arrived, he took over the car while Almirola was leading, made up the lap lost because of the driver change and won the race. Because he started the race, Almirola was credited with the win -- a bitter way to get your first NASCAR triumph.

Almirola left the team after the season and wound up with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2008, where he split Sprint Cup Series seat time with the then-part time Mark Martin. Almirola has now made 30 Cup starts and recorded a best finish of 8th during his first start at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2008.

Almirola has been having a breakout season this year as a regular in the NASCAR truck series. Driving for Billy Ballew, Almirola has scored his first two victories in trucks -- at Dover and Michigan -- and has a dozen top 10 finishes in 16 events. He's also currently second in points for the truck championship, 211 points behind Todd Bodine.