"Grateful" - Aric Almirola reminisces late JD Gibbs’ hug after an emotional Xfinity win at Kansas

Aric Almirola took NASCAR fans by surprise by winning the Xfinity Series Playoffs opening race at Kansas Speedway. The #20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver posted an emotional message on social media, remembering a special moment with the late co-founder of JGR, J.D. Gibbs.

Born in a family with a military and racing background, Almirola began his racing career with karting at an early age. After honing his driving skills, the Florida-based racer progressed to stock car racing. In 2004, he got a major break in racing with Joe Gibbs Racing, as their development driver, while he was pursuing his mechanical engineering degree.

Almirola was one of the earliest racers to compete under NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. In a career spanning about two decades, the 40-year-old driver has started in 647 races (460 in Cup, 109 in Xfinity, and 78 in Truck Series), and has 11 wins to his name (three in Cup, six in Xfinity, and two in Truck Series).

After his most recent victory at Kansas Speedway, Almirola reminisced the hug from the late J.D. Gibbs. He shared an emotional message on X, along with a couple of pictures.

"Grateful that God has allowed me this opportunity to do this with Coach and everyone @joegibbsracing. I’ve always remembered the hug JD gave me when I asked to leave JGR. He said I hope you come back someday. This means so much more to me than just driving cars around in circles," he wrote.

Although Almirola retired as a full-time racer after the 2022 season, he chose to return to NASCAR as a part-time driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series for the 2024 season.

So far this season, Almirola has competed in eight of the 27 races and has two victories (Martinsville and Kansas), and five Top-5 finishes.

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“I’m wore out” - Joe Gibbs Racing's Aric Almirola claims after winning the roller-coaster-like Lottery 300 race at Kansas Speedway

Aric Almirola emerged victorious through the ups and downs of the Lottery 300 race at Kansas Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver claimed he felt exhausted after working hard to snatch the win from Xfinity Series championship leader Cole Custer.

“I’m wore out. That was a hard day at the office especially for a guy that’s been sitting on the couch... I just pushed too hard there when we had the issue on pit road (a slow stop), and I got in the fence and cut the right-rear tire down," Almirola said in a post-race interview (0:52 onwards).

“I knew I had to put my head down and go to work after that. We got lucky to get the caution when we did, and we were out of tires, so the fact that it went green there to the end. That’s where we were strong. We were really strong on the long run,” he added (1:22 onwards).

Here's a look at the video of the aforementioned interview from YouTube:

Running part-time for JGR, Aric Almirola currently stands 25th in the Xfinity Series driver's championship, 1753 points behind Cole Custer.