Look who’s retiring after 2022 season …
The 2022 season will be Aric Almirola’s 15th and final year as a NASCAR Cup Series driver. The 37-year-old racer will retire after the season finale Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway.
Longtime sponsor Smithfield Foods will continue as an anchor partner of Almirola and the No. 10 team of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), with 2022 marking the brand’s 11th year with Almirola and its fifth with SHR.
“I truly enjoy driving racecars and I’m excited to race my heart out in 2022 for Smithfield and Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. “But to be the best in this business, you’ve got to be selfish, and for the last 37 years my life has always revolved around me and what I needed to do.
“I want to be present. I want to be the best husband and father, and that to me means more than being a racecar driver. So, it’s one more year where I’m all in on racing, where we’ll do whatever it takes to compete at the highest level. But when the season is over, I’ll be ready to wave goodbye. I’ve loved every minute of it, but it’s time for the next chapter of my life.”
Almirola made his Cup Series debut March 11, 2007, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, three days before his 23rd birthday. He teamed up with Smithfield in 2012 while at Richard Petty Motorsports for his first full year in Cup. The Smithfield/Almirola partnership is now one of the most tenured in NASCAR, and since the duo joined SHR in 2018, Almirola has represented Smithfield in the NASCAR Playoffs every year and scored two wins – Oct. 14, 2018 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and July 18, 2021 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
Almirola’s decision to make the 2022 season his last was pragmatic. The Tampa, Florida-native is a husband and father of two, and as he and his wife, Janice, looked at life beyond racetracks on Sundays, Almirola determined that stepping back from racing would allow him to take new steps with his children as they pursue dreams of their own.
“Janice and I have spent many nights talking about it and the questions are the same as anyone else would have when you’re going to stop doing something. Can I afford it? The answer I kept coming up with is that I can’t afford not to. Will I regret it? I think I’ll regret it if I don’t,” Almirola said.
“At the end of this season, we’re going to have a 10-year-old in Alex and a nine-year-old in Abby, and I’m going to have a short window with them while they still think Dad is cool. I want to be there for them and to be a part of the things they’re interested in. Before we know it, they’re going to have car keys and they’re going to be running off with their friends, doing the same things I did when I was 16 or 17.”
“This year will bring a lot of cool moments that he’ll be able to share with his family,” said Tony Stewart, coowner of SHR.