His short NASCAR career has already featured more potholes than the track at Daytona International Speedway. There was one contentious night in Milwaukee, and an eventual split from the organization that gave him his start. There was a team that was absorbed by another, and then merged with a third. There was a full-time ride in the Cup Series, short-circuited when his program ran out of money and was shut down. There was another opportunity on NASCAR's premier circuit, hamstrung when a longtime sponsor walked away.

Aric Almirola's attempts to climb the ladder in NASCAR have taken more hits than Brad Keselowski's race car. And yet, he's found a large degree of solace and comfort back where he began -- in the Camping World Truck Series.

“

... to be 100 percent honest with you, I think I almost went too fast too quick.

”

-- ARIC ALMIROLA

"The most fun part of my weekend is getting in that truck," said Almirola, a 25-year-old Tampa native who drives the No. 51 Toyota for owner Billy Ballew. "I have a full-time sponsor, which not many people in this series or any series can say, so I'm very thankful for what they've done."

Almirola has learned the value of sponsorship the hard way. After coming up through the development program overseen by Joe Gibbs Racing and the late Reggie White, Almirola got what appeared to be his big career break in 2008, when he was named co-driver of Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s No. 8 car with Mark Martin. His results -- including an eighth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway -- were promising enough that the now-combined Earnhardt Ganassi team gave him the ride on his own the next year, after Martin departed for Hendrick Motorsports.

Any celebration, though, was short-lived. With no sponsorship, the No. 8 car survived for only seven races before it was shut down for lack of funds. Almirola, once seen as a rising young prospect in NASCAR, was suddenly cast adrift. Then Ballew, who has fielded trucks since 1996 and won 17 races on the circuit, offered him a life raft.

"It stung very, very badly," Almirola said of the shuttering of the No. 8 car. "That was the first major letdown in my career, where I felt I had nowhere to go and nothing to look forward to. I was fortunate and blessed that I got a phone call from Billy to go race his truck, because it at least put me back on the map as a race car driver in one of NASCAR's top three series. I feel like that was a big boost for me in my career, to not just go away forever." (Continued)