“My Time Is Done at JGR”: Joe Gibbs’ Xfinity Ace Discloses Being Ditched for Denny Hamlin Early in His Career

During the 2007 AT&T Busch Series race at Milwaukee, Aric Almirola was asked to come down the pit road in the middle of the race to be replaced by Denny Hamlin. It was indeed a controversial move by the team, but they were left with no option as the sponsors wanted to see Hamlin take the wheel. Almirola, who had to take a back seat over the call that day, decided that he would never race for Joe Gibbs Racing from that day on.

However, it wasn’t to be true because, after all those years racing in the Cup Series, the veteran driver drove to victory lane in a JGR car last weekend at Martinsville. While the Milwaukee win was credited to his name, in a real sense, this was his first win for coach Joe Gibbs. However, the details of the entire Buschwaking scenario were put to light by Aric Almirola himself during a recent interview on NASCAR’s YouTube channel.

Why did Aric Almirola give up his seat to Hamlin at Milwaukee?

At the time, the Ford Walton Beach Native was looking to make his breakthrough in the Cup Series scene, and Joe Gibbs presented him with an opportunity. He was sharing the No. 20 car back in the Busch Series, which is now known as the Xfinity Series. Aric Almirola had previously qualified for Hamlin in the series, but at Milwaukee, the JGR star couldn’t make the trip from Sonoma in time, thus allowing Almirola to take the ride.

Despite leading the laps in the race, he was instructed by Dave Rodgers to hit the pit road and give his place to Denny Hamlin. It was indeed a bitter blow to the young driver. Explaining how he made the tough call to give his place to No. 11, Aric Almirola, via NASCAR, said, “So I’m 22 years old and I’m trying to make my career, so I’m not in a position to give them the middle finger. Like if I don’t come down pit road I pretty much made my bed. Like my time is done at JGR. If I do listen, maybe we work it out. At the time, we were in the middle of talks with Rockwell Automation, who was the sponsor on the car about sponsoring me the next year to go full time.

“Not to share the car with Denny anymore. So I thought I need to do the right thing here, we were at their hometown race. So I did the right thing. I came down pit road, got out of the car, was furious,” Aric Almirola shared. However, making a full circle moment in his racing career, he sort of felt relieved and healed after his win at Martinsville last weekend, driving a JGR car.

Xfinity Series win with JGR allowed Almirola to heal his wounds

The 2023 season was Almirola’s last Cup Series season, and he decided to call it quits from racing. He was ready to retire from racing, but Coach Gibbs had other ideas. He called his former driver and offered him to run a partial schedule in the Xfinity Series, an offer that the former SHR driver gladly accepted. What followed next at Martinsville Speedway was perhaps the best story of the 2024 NASCAR season so far.

With time, Aric Almirola got over his unjust experience in Milwaukee, but it looks like he wasn’t completely healed from the incident until last weekend’s win, where he said, “I had that buried for a long, long time. They say time heals, and I don’t know if time heals, just makes it less hurtful.” He was then asked if the win gets that deep wound out, and his response was, “Yeah, you see that in the post-race interview, the level of excitement I had.”

It’s fair to say Aric Almirola’s reunion with Joe Gibbs Racing has been a huge success so far in the Xfinity Series.