Almirola to get plenty of time in Cup, Truck in '10

Aric Almirola, a young driver who wheeled cars or trucks in NASCAR's three national series in 2009, plans to race this season in Sprint Cup for owner James Finch and again in the Camping World Truck Series for Billy Ballew.

In a Saturday appearance at Sprint Sound & Speed in Nashville, Tenn., Almirola said he'd start at Daytona for Finch, who plans to contest the full Cup schedule for the second consecutive season.

Almirola

"I went into Homestead having no idea what I was going to do [in 2010]," Almirola said of the 2009 season finale. "Over the winter months I was pleased to find out that I'm going to run the 09 Cup car [Finch's Phoenix Racing] and still be able to drive Billy's truck. I'm looking forward to it.

"I talked with James about [doing the full Cup season]. His plan is to go full time. We're still working on a lot of things. At this point, when I got off the phone with him just the other day, it was, 'We're going racing, and the rest will take care of itself.'

"Hopefully we can get everything situated in the next couple weeks, but yeah, we're going to go to Daytona."

In 2009, Finch ran a full-season program in the Nationwide Series and finished 11th in the owners' standings using several drivers. His Cup team also attempted every race, but was a "start-and-park" car in many of the events it made.

"I've asked them, 'Are we going to race [or] start-and-park? What's our plan?'" Almirola said. "[Finch] told me, 'Just get in and drive it.' So I'm excited. I'm looking forward to 2010. I'm ready."

Almirola has struggled to stay situated in a solid program the past couple of seasons. After moving through a development plan with Joe Gibbs Racing, then Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., Almirola started the 2009 season in an Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Cup car that closed down after seven races due to lack of sponsorship.

Almirola ran 16 Truck Series events for Ballew in 2009 and finished 20th in the drivers' standings with seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. He ran one Cup race for Finch and also crashed attempting to qualify at Bristol.

Almirola, 25, acknowledged his role as part of a transition from older, experienced competitors to a younger breed of driver.

"The future of our sport has to grow [and] the only way it's going to grow is with young people," Almirola said. "I mean, it's the law of physics. We always get older every year."

With Ginn and at DEI, Almirola was a teammate of Mark Martin, the 50-year-old who finished second in the 2009 Chase. Martin was always highly complimentary of Almirola's potential.

"Mark, I think has brought a lot of life back to the older veterans," Almirola said. "I think he's kind of proven what's still out there, what people are still able to do. I think he's pushing their limits for sure.

"At the same time, like I said, you're not going to stop having the next American Idol, so to speak, in NASCAR. You're not going to stop having the next young guy coming up. It was Jeff Gordon a long time ago, today it's Joey Logano. Who knows what is going to be next?"