Aric Almirola wins Yellawood 500 pole award at Talladega Superspeedway

Who saw this coming? Aric Almirola earns his sixth career NASCAR pole award and will lead the Yellawood 500 to green on Sunday afternoon. Stewart-Haas Racing has had some fast Ford Mustangs in recent years at Dega. Today was no different in qualifying.

Aric Almirola is going to be side-by-side with Joey Logano. A couple of playoff spoilers are hoping that they can take an automatic Round of 8 spot from one of the Round of 12 drivers. Almirola has won this race in the past, is he setting up to do it again?

Besides a stable of fast Mustangs, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Bubba Wallace all made the top-10 in qualifying. The rest were blue ovals.

Repost to congratulate Aric Almirola on his NASCAR Cup Series POLE at Talladega! Joey Logano also qualifies for the front row. pic.twitter.com/K3EByK2Q8M

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 30, 2023

For the first time this postseason, a Toyota did not win the pole award. It was Christopher Bell taking it three times in a row to sweep the Round of 16. Last week at Texas it was Bubba Wallace. This week we get a Ford and a non-playoff driver for the first time on the pole.

Stewart-Haas Racing could really mess things up for some playoff drivers. They have four cars and not a single one of them is in postseason contention. This is a purely selfish pursuit for SHR. If they are able to take the win away from a playoff driver, so be it. No skin off their back, and no repercussions that could hurt another one of their drivers.

Aric Almirola – what is next for the SHR driver?

While we don’t know what Aric Almirola wants to do for 2024, the time is coming for him to make a decision. It is clear that he still has enough juice to compete for pole awards. But winning the pole at Talladega and winning races are two different things. Perhaps a stint in the Xfinity Series awaits Almirola instead of retirement?

Stewart-Haas Racing has Cole Custer in the Xfinity Series, and not much else. They could try Riley Herbst in Cup, he does well at superspeedways, but Custer has put in more work. Then again, what do you get by putting him back in a seat he just lost a year ago? Has Custer really wowed anyone this season in the Xfinity Series?

Aric Almirola has a decision to make. I’m not sure it’s going to happen before the season ends at Phoenix. However, sooner or later, we will know what fate awaits the 10 car. Maybe a new driver? Or, perhaps Almirola wants to give it one more go around before he says goodbye.

This pole award will surely make him want to race a few more times, right?