10 Questions: Aric Almirola

1. What's the best advice you ever received and who was it from?

Almirola: Man, that's a toughie. Probably my family as a whole. They've always instilled in me and told me, "If you want something bad enough, go get it." So I think that's the best advice anybody's ever given me. It's come from different people in my family at different times. As a whole, I think my family has done a really good job of supporting me and what I do.

2. What was your first job?

Almirola: My grandfather owns an auto-body repair shop in Tampa and my first job was I had to paint all of the walls inside the shop. There was bondo all over the walls and different colored paint all over the walls, and he wanted me to paint the walls white. It took about five coats and it's probably a 6,000 square-foot shop. So it took me at least a week to do that when I was 12, 13 years old.

Aric Almirola:
Red

3. What's your favorite video game?

Almirola: Probably the World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars game on Sony Playstation 2. That's typically one of my favorites. I really enjoy playing that.

4. What athlete outside of racing do you most admire?

Almirola: I really admire Tiger Woods. He's done so much for his sport. I think he's a pretty cool individual and it's amazing how much he's done for golf. I'd definitely pick him, for sure.

5. What sport would you choose if you couldn't be a race driver?

Almirola: Baseball, for sure. I love baseball. It's definitely a big passion of mine. I played baseball all the way up until high school. I love the game of baseball. I'm not a huge fan of watching it 'cause the games are so long and boring but without a doubt, playing it is one of my most favorite things to do. At times, at an early age, I felt like I was pretty good at it.

6. What was your favorite Christmas present?

Almirola: Every single year, for Christmas when I was growing up, I'd ask for a remote-controlled car. That was without a doubt my favorite Christmas present. Every year I'd get a new remote-controlled car. They kept getting better and better -- and cooler as technology got better. As I got older and more responsible, I kept getting cooler and cooler remote-controlled cars.

7. What's No. 1 on your "things to accomplish" list?

Almirola: Definitely to establish myself in the Nextel Cup Series. Without a doubt, that's a high priority in my life and definitely at the top of my to-do list, that's for sure.

8. If you could take someone to eat in Tampa, where would you go and what would you order?

Almirola: That's an easy one. More than likely, we'd go to a little steakhouse there called Charley's Steakhouse. It's just a fabulous restaurant with really tasty food. They have the best steaks in the world there. Typically I have to have a little bit of sauce on a steak -- like A-1 or barbecue or whatever it may be -- but you can go there and eat a steak and it just melts in your mouth. It's awesome.

9. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

Almirola: I get heckled about this quite a bit. Mint chocolate chip is my favorite but it seems like every time I have a friend around -- actually, I was up at Eddie Jarvis' cabin with Tony [Stewart] -- and everybody tells me that's a "girly" ice cream. But it's one of my favorites.

10. If you could play catch with anybody in baseball, past or present, who would you choose?

Almirola: That's a tough question. Two of my most favorite players growing up were Barry Larkin and Cal Ripken Jr. It's a tossup between those two but if I had to pick one or the other, I choose Cal Ripken.