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In the current climate of funded drivers and retreating sponsorship dollars, it’s very uncommon for a young driver without his own money to get a second chance.  What we are seeing with Aric Almirola though, goes against all of that.  JR Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Almirola had signed a multi-year agreement to drive the team’s #88 car in the Nationwide Series.

After getting high profile gigs at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ginn Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and finally Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it appeared Almirola had washed out.  Once at EGR, his #8 team was shut down only seven races into the 2009 season due to lack of funding.  Through those seven races however, Almirola hadn’t exactly set the world on fire.  His average finish was 32.8 and his best finish was a 21st at Atlanta.  Before that, Almirola was best known for his Nationwide Series “win” at Milwaukee in which he started the race, but was pulled part way through and replaced by Denny Hamlin who went on to score the victory.

After leaving EGR in 2009, Almirola spent the rest of the season making sporadic starts for Phoenix Racing, Key Motorsports, Smith Ganassi Racing, and Billy Ballew Motorsports across all three major NASCAR series.  He was one of a small group of drivers who turned to some of the lower seriesto advance his career and get more experience.  And as it turned out, the 16 starts Almirola made for Billy Ballew in which he led 98 laps and had six top five finishes, would turn into a full time Truck Series ride for the 2010 season.

Fast forward to this season, Almirola has two Truck Series wins and sits second in the Truck Series points.  His strong CWTS runs led to him being the backup driver for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon while they were on baby watch, plus he was given the chance to run JRM’s #88 at ORP.  Almirola didn’t disappoint there either, finishing third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.  All of this led up to JRM signing Almirola for the 2011 season and beyond.

Before this deal came about, we’d heard (along with others) that Almirola was a candidate for some Cup organizations, including Richard Petty Motorsports.  Almirola even admitted to ESPN that he’d been offered Cup deals (see the link above).  With that said, I think it’s interesting that he decided to take the Nationwide deal with JRM.  It would seem that in a situation like Almirola’s, especially with his stock being high, that he would have wanted to capitalize fully and take a Cup deal.  Instead, he will continue to have to prove himself and his ability in the NNS with JRM.

If Almirola continues to progress, and has continued success in the future, this should help serve as a lesson to owners about driver development.  Instead of rushing these kids along, and giving them a season or two to prove themselves, why not keep them in lower series longer?  Let them develop their skills, then bring them along slowly.  Almirola is extremely lucky that he’s been given the chances to show that he can improve, and hopefully he will parlay those chances into more success on the track.

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Bass Pro Shops and Kasey Kahne don’t seemingly have a lot in common, but with the season now in full swing the two are about to have a very similar decision to make: do they stay where they’re at or look for greener pastures elsewhere.

It’s well known Kahne and Bass Pro are in contract years, and given the tension they’ve had with their respective organizations in the past their futures might seem clear; but with recent success and transition both could make surprise moves.

For Bass Pro the transition from DEI to EGR was less than a happy one. It was quite apparent last year that they weren’t putting much into their long standing deal. Even worse, when Martin Truex Jr. left, EGR had to do a lot of convincing to get the company to sign off on Jamie McMurray.

In just a matter of a couple of months though Bass Pro went from skepticism of their new driver, to celebrating with him in victory lane at the Daytona 500. As a sponsor do you stick with the current iteration of a team you’ve been with for years or go elsewhere? Arguably McMurray isn’t the best representative of the company, but if he continues to perform is there any reason for them to move on?

For Kasey Kahne the decision to leave Richard Petty Motorsports is equally murky. He joined Evernham Motorsports in 2004 and in that time racked up 11 wins, including two last year. Since 2004 though, the organization has gone through two mergers and all but lost Ray Evernham’s guidance.

In September, Kahne was among those publicly and privately questioning who was in charge at RPM.

“There are not a lot of answers out there right now. I don’t know if it’s because we’re in the middle of a lot of things, we just don’t have a person in that position. I think Robbie Loomis is supposedly going to be that guy, but I don’t think that he is yet. Is it Foster? You can’t get anything out of Foster. So it’s hard to say who that is, and I think that’s because we’re in a lot of different things right now. But when you’re in things, you still need to keep your team and your guys, your company behind you knowing what’s going on, and we don’t have that. Hopefully, we’ll get it soon. The sooner we get that, the better everybody will be.”

Since that time though Kahne seems like a guy much happier with and much more sure of his situation. That said as one of the sport’s most popular and talented drivers, does he stick with a team that needs him more than he needs them? If Kahne enters free agency he’s sure to be the hottest driver on the market. He’ll likely be able to write his own ticket.

Certainly continued success is going to be important for all parties involved to consider staying where they’re at, but if that does happen is there a reason to move on? And how much success do Kahne and McMurray need to have?

No matter what happens from here on out, I think both have to consider the options available to them. Either one may choose to stay where they’re at, but with plenty of teams looking for sponsors and the likelihood of any number of available seats, Kahne and Bass Pro would be crazy to not see who’s interested.

So what do you think? Will Kahne and Bass Pro stay put? What will it take for their respective teams to keep them? If they do move on where do you think they’ll they go?