Almirola sitting on top of world with the new DEI

INDIANAPOLIS -- Aric Almirola has the look of a guy who just found a $100 bill on the sidewalk.

A week ago, he was a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing who had crashed 46 laps into his only Nextel Cup start and was credited with a victory in the Busch Series despite being miles from the track when the car crossed the finish line.

When Bobby Ginn's outfit came calling earlier this month and offered him a chance to share the No. 01 Chevrolet with Mark Martin, Almirola thought he had won the lottery. Just imagine his surprise when word leaked out that Ginn was merging with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

"I've spent a lot of sleepless nights here lately," Almirola said Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before weather postponed the first of two scheduled practice sessions. "Man, everything's happening so fast, I'm just trying to process it all. My schedule has gone from pretty empty to pretty full really fast.

"It's definitely a change of lifestyle and a change of pace. I can't express enough how excited I am to be partners and teammates with Mark Martin and being a part of DEI now."

Almirola claimed he had no prior knowledge of the impending merger when he switched teams.

"I was going to Ginn Racing, as far as I knew and I was going to be a partner with Mark Martin and that was what I was excited about," Almirola said. "The thing I'm excited about still hasn't changed. I'm still going to drive the No. 01 Army car with Mark Martin, so that doesn't change for me one bit."

That was the deciding factor why Almirola was willing to make the move to Ginn.

"I think it's a pretty neat deal, with Mark being how he is and me being the young guy, sort of like the recruit coming in," Almirola said. "Mark Martin has done a lot for a lot of guys' careers so I'm excited about what he can do for mine."

Almirola said he expects to sit down with the new management team and discuss his future. For now, he's certain he'll be partnered with Martin for 2008, but he'd like the chance to lobby for some extra work.

"I haven't sat down and talked with the people from DEI on what all the possibilities are just yet," he said. "I'm going to push for all I can, for sure, because I want to be in a racecar every weekend. Anything I can do to get more seat time is just going to make me a better driver."

Almirola believes he'll only get better as a driver with more seat time, and he hopes that's DEI's plan as well.

"The thing that's always been my No. 1 priority was to race and race as much as possible," Almirola said. "The only way I'm going to get better as a development driver is to race.

"You've got to be out there in the line of fire. There's no real practice in this sport. There are many other sports where you can go out and practice on the football field or baseball field. Our only practice is to race."

When first told about the merger, Almirola begin thinking about how DEI is turning its Car of Tomorrow program around.

"At first, with the COT, they weren't as good as they probably needed to be but all of a sudden, out of nowhere these last couple of months, they have been running really, really good," he said. "Especially with 2008 being all Car of Tomorrow, their COT stuff is running really, really good."

So was there any point this week where you second-guessed your decision?

"Once everything came out that they were going to DEI, I definitely didn't think I had made a wrong decision," Almirola said. "I'm excited about going over there and being a part of DEI. I think that was one of the best things that could have happened. It was no secret that Ginn Motorsports was in a little bit of a situation. This took their situation and substantially upgraded it."