Aric Almirola will be four-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson’s backup driver in the coming weeks as Johnson’s wife, Chandra, nears the due date for giving birth to the couple’s first child, Johnson said Friday at Pocono Raceway. Chandra is due in five weeks, and Johnson hopes that means the baby will come sometime in the week off between the Chicago race July 10 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis July 29. Johnson said he had confidence in Almirola if he needs to relinquish his car. “He’ll do a great job in the car and it’s just a matter of time before he ends up in a full-time Cup ride,” Johnson said. “The other thing that is good for us is our body size and height are very similar so he’ll be an easy fit to get in the car.”(SceneDaily.com)(6-4-2010)
UPDATE: Aric Almirola likely will test this week with the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 team at The Milwaukee Mile, but says he doesn’t plan on having to go to Infineon Raceway next week as part of his role as backup driver for father-to-be Jimmie Johnson. “I’m going to hang out and watch the [Michigan] race and stay and listen and see how they operate,” Almirola said Saturday after winning the Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Raceway. “The next few weeks should be interesting. “I’m not going to go to Sonoma that’s not in the plan,” Almirola said about next week’s race at Infineon Raceway. “After Sonoma, from that point forward, I’ll be going to the race track just to be around if they need to me, hanging out and trying to watch and learn.”(SceneDaily.com)(6-13-2010)
