Aric Almirola set to take his turn in the drivers seat at JR Motorsports
Aric Almirola will drive for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park Saturday. // James Rapp, NASCAR Illustrated
Aric Almirola will become the 14th JR Motorsports driver this year and the ninth to start a race in the No. 88 car when he takes the green flag for the Kroger 200 on Saturday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
Driving a NASCAR Camping World Series truck full time for Billy Ballew Motorsports, Almirola was named to drive the No. 88 Nationwide car this weekend for JRM after the team decided not to try to shuttle Sprint Cup driver Elliott Sadler back and forth from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Almirola is no stranger to the 0.686-mile track as he has led 87 laps in a Nationwide car there and has one top-10 finish. He also has three truck starts there with one top-five and two top-10 finishes.
“I have a decent amount of experience at ORP,” Almirola said. “In 2007, I sat on the pole in a Gibbs car and led a bunch of laps. Running the truck race on Friday night will definitely help out, too.”
Almirola will have sponsorship from GT Vodka, which is sponsoring the team for 10 races this year and 15 next year.
Steve Arpin, Kelly Bires, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ron Fellows, Jamie McMurray, Coleman Pressley, Greg Sacks and Sadler have all driven the No. 88 car this season.
“The JR Motorsports equipment is definitely top-notch stuff, so we just want to go in and get everything we can out of the car,” Almirola said. “Like any short track, it’s all about track position.
“[Crew chief] Tony Eury Sr. is a definite old-school racer, and I’m sure he’ll have a solid setup and good pit strategy for this race. He’s the guy you want on the pit box for you at a place like this.”
While Almirola will be in the No. 88 car, Josh Wise will drive the No. 7 JRM car. Wise’s best career Nationwide finish came at ORP in 2008 when he placed fifth.
His eighth-place finish last week at Gateway was the best for the No. 7 car, which has had Danica Patrick, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Scott Wimmer, Landon Cassill and Arpin in the car this year.
“Last week, my goal was to take everything one step at a time and go for a top-10 finish,” said Wise, who will have sponsorship from GoDaddy.com through its HowDoYou.com website. “We were successful with that at Gateway. Now it’s time to step it up a notch. ORP is a track that I’m very familiar with and a top-five finish is a realistic goal for this week.”
Wise tested with the team earlier this week at North Wilkesboro.
