Aric Almirola will not return to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, he announced Saturday, a year after he postponed his planned 2023 retirement because sponsor Smithfield elected to remain in NASCAR.
But Smithfield said Saturday morning that “the time has come for Smithfield to end our NASCAR partnership,” and Almirola must now reconsider his immediate future.
Smithfield has sponsored Almirola since 2012.
“I’d like to not quit cold turkey. I think there are some opportunities, but it’s hard,” Almirola said. “It’s challenging to figure out things that make sense for race teams to do it part-time. Most race teams want somebody to run full-time and race for a championship, so we’ll see if we can get it worked out.
“I’d love to still scratch the itch, but just don’t want to do it like I have been doing it for the last 12 years, where it’s 38 weeks and it’s a grind.”
The 39-year-old did not rule out running Xfinity Series races in the future. Noah Gragson has been rumored to be the top candidate to replace Almirola in the No. 10 Ford at SHR.
Almirola has been with SHR since 2018. He scored two of his three career Cup wins with the organization and finished a career-high fifth in the points in 2018.
Kevin Harvick is retiring from NASCAR at the end of the season, and SHR has already said Josh Berry will drive the No. 4 next season.