Aric Almirola Finds Fulfillment in Joe Gibbs Racing Owner's Title

After a hard-fought second-place finish in Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Aric Almirola leaned against the No. 19 Toyota. Around him, the Joe Gibbs Racing crew shouted. A family was celebrating something far deeper than another trophy.

He didn’t win the race that night; Jesse Love took the checkered flag to secure his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series driver’s championship, but the boxscore couldn’t tell the full story. For Almirola, finishing second wasn’t a disappointment. It was the exclamation point on a journey that had taken the journeyman driver more than two decades to complete.

While not a race win, the No. 19 team had done it. They had secured the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner’s Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing.

And for Almirola, that meant everything.

Tonight is not about Aric Almirola. I just happened to be the guy driving the racing car.

"This will go down in history as Joe Gibbs Racing 2025 Xfinity Owner's Championship, not Aric Almirola. I am so grateful to be a part of that and to deliver that to Joe Gibbs Racing," Almirola said.

The Call That Changed Everything

Two years earlier, Almirola thought he was done going in circles for a living. He had said his goodbyes after the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, as he walked away from full-time racing and the Stewart-Haas Racing team to focus on his family, his wife Janice, and their two kids, Alex and Abby.

He wasn’t burned out. He was just done chasing.

Then one evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, his phone vibrated and the screen illuminated. On the screen: “Coach Gibbs.”

Almirola recalled the conversation with Gibbs, "He said, 'Hey, I think I got something you might be interested in. Be fun for both of us. I'd like for you to come back to Joe Gibbs Racing and finish your career here. It would mean a lot to me and our family."

Almirola didn’t say yes immediately. He prayed about it. Talked it over with his family. The more he thought about it, the more he realized what the call really was. It wasn’t a job offer, but a chance to give back to the people who gave him his start.

"J.D. [Gibbs] gave me an opportunity as a 19-year-old kid to become a professional race car driver, to get a paycheck to drive a race car," Almirola said. "I'm just so grateful that I got that opportunity and that 22 years later, I was able to win a championship for Joe Gibbs Racing. Not for me, but for Joe Gibbs Racing. It's just really special."

A Championship Run That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen

The wildest thing about Almirola collecting the owner’s championship for Joe Gibbs Racing is that he wasn’t even originally slated to compete in the final two races of the season at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.

The plan was for Almirola to run a limited Xfinity schedule, a few select starts in the No. 19 Toyota, maybe help mentor some younger drivers. But when he won at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, everything changed.

"I won Bristol. It was like, Oh, boy, we might have a shot at this. Leading into Vegas, we sat down and talked. It was like, Hey, we need to seriously consider going to race for the Owner's Championship," Almirola said. "I think we can do it. We went to Vegas. We won. Obviously put us in position to come here and have a chance to race for it again."

It was an unlikely run, a patchwork schedule that came together only a few weeks before Daytona, with Almirola sharing the car with modified star Justin Bonsignore. When the opportunity came to finish the season out with an owner’s championship, Bonsignore graciously stepped aside.

"Justin Bonsignore was so gracious to give up Martinsville and the race here so that I could drive the 19 car," Almirola explained. "Just really grateful to Justin for doing that."

For Joe Gibbs, that was the point. His mantra has always been simple: You win with people.

And on this night, surrounded by the Gibbs family, Melissa Gibbs, J.D.’s wife; their sons Miller and Jason; Ty Gibbs fresh from his Cup duties; and even a phone call from Heather Gibbs, Coach’s wife, the scene felt less like a celebration and more like a reunion.

And in an interesting twist of fate, Bonsignore wound up running Martinsville and Phoenix after William Sawalich, the full-time driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was sidelined from the final two races with concussion-like symptoms. Bonsignore would collect the first two top-10 finishes of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career in those two starts to close out the season.

Racing for a Higher Purpose

Faith has always been Almirola’s compass, but in the twilight of his career, it became the steering wheel.

"I've learned to just let God lead, and I'll follow," Almirola said. "I tried for so much of my life and of my career to white knuckle it, steer the ship. It's been really fun for me the last couple years to just let God steer the ship. I'm just along for the ride."

That surrender, Almirola explained, changed everything, including the way he measured success.

Earlier in his career, Almirola was often labeled a journeyman. A driver good enough to compete, good enough to win on the right day, but never in the conversation with NASCAR’s elite.

He heard the whispers. He carried the weight.

But as he sat in that press conference room in Phoenix, his perspective was clear.

“There's only so many Jimmie Johnsons and Jeff Gordons. There's only so many Dale Earnhardts and Kyle Larsons, Richard Pettys. I was not one of those. I am totally fine with that,” Almirola stated. “I'm Aric Almirola, and I'm exactly who God wants me to be.”

Could this be the final race for Aric Almirola? Maybe.

"Potentially, yeah," Almirola laughed. "I left here last year, not knowing what to expect. I'm leaving here again, not knowing what to expect."

If this does prove to be the end of Almirola's lengthy racing career, the final chapter will be one that was filled with fulfillment, perhaps more fulfillment than any other chapter that was penned.