It does not matter what level of racing a driver is in. Whenever that driver is making his or her first few starts in a a series, there is going to be a steep learning curve. So it comes as no surprise when Aric Almirola struggled in only his second race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Almirola began the Goody's Cool Orange 500 strong, but quickly fell to the back of the pack. Despite his poor performance in Martinsville, Almirola is one of the most promising rookies in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Aric Almirola began his 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season in dominant fashion finishing eighth in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. No one expected the rookie out of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. stable to do this well in his first showing of the season. Yet he beat the expectations and had one of the best finishes for any driver 2 weeks ago. It is one thing to come from a short track racing background, but short track racing with 42 of the best drivers in the world is difficult.
Fast forward to Sunday, when Aric Almirola began the race where he left off at Bristol, but this time, his performance would get worse rather than better as the race went on. His aggressive and wild driving caused at least five or six race cars to wreck throughout the course of the day. Eventually, Almirola would be knocked out by mechanical problems. Despite his poor performance overall , Almirola still ran with the leaders early on, and has great potential. He just needs some more time to learn the ropes of running in Sprint Cup racing.
The situation with Aric Almirola comes down to one thing and one thing only: he had a great run at Bristol and he thought that he could be just as successful at Martinsville, even though the tracks are two completely different monsters. The tracks were setup differently, yet Almirola was racing like they were the same track. I can guarantee you that Mark Martin is sitting down with him right now teaching him a thing or two.
I had the chance to talk to Mark Martin during testing at California Speedway (now Auto Club Speedway of Southern California) and he loves being a mentor to the young kids. I asked Mark whether he felt like he was a mentor to all the young drivers at DEI. His answer came as no surprise. Martin said, "I sure hope so. I love working with younger drivers and trying to help out… I think everyone knows the way I feel about Regan Smith and Aric Almirola."
Aric Almirola has all the talent necessary to be a successful NASCAR Sprint Cup driver. Now, the only thing necessary to start winning races is the experience and seat time. There is no doubt that Almirola will eventually become DEI's top driver, and with a mentor like Mark Martin, his success will become a reality sooner than most imagine.
