Notebook: Newest winner Almirola gets checkered flag five days late

SHOW ME THE CHECKERED

Aric Almirola didn't get to enjoy a typical postrace celebration after winning last Sunday's rain-delayed, rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Almirola, who had to wait 125 races to pick up his first Sprint Cup Series victory, was out of the car and attempting to stay dry when NASCAR declared the race official with 112 of 160 laps completed.

That meant no celebratory burnout or opportunity for the Richard Petty Motorsports driver to take a victory lap with checkered flag in hand, as other race winners often do.

Upon arriving for opening practice on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Almirola finally got his checkered flag.

"So obviously I didn't win under green-flag conditions. Usually if you do, you swing back by and grab the flag from the flag man at the end of the race, and so I didn't get to do that," Almirola said during his scheduled media availability at NHMS. "So this morning, the flag man, Rodney, brought down to my team guys the checkered flag. When I got in the race car this morning the checkered flag was sitting inside my race car. That was really cool."

The numerous congratulatory notes he received this past week also touched Almirola, who with his Daytona victory in all likelihood clinched his first-ever berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"I was really surprised when I woke up on Monday morning. I had 223 text messages to respond to," the 30-year-old Richard Petty Motorsports driver said. "All of them were very kind and everybody was really happy for me. That was really neat to wake up to that. I had quite a few voicemails and emails, too.

"It was really neat for me to see that kind of outpouring. There are plenty of days when I have bad days at the racetrack that I wish I would get 200 text messages telling me to keep my head up."

WHAT PLANS?

Reigning and six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was asked Friday if he has any big plans for the ultra-rare off week coming up after Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Suffice it to say, Johnson is looking forward to the break, which is the second and final one of the 2014 season for NASCAR's top series.

"I'm happy to see it," Johnson said. "I think we could use six or seven more of them. I think everybody in the room would agree. Getting down to a 25-race schedule or something with more weekends off would be awesome. I'm excited. Even if we were winning and didn't want it to stop from that momentum standpoint, I can't wait to chill out with family and relax."

What else does the Hendrick Motorsports plan to do?

"As little as possible," he said.

IN A HOLE

Three races ago, Kyle Larson was in great position to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Thanks to consecutive finishes of 28th, 40th and 36th, however, the series rookie finds himself in a precarious position with just eight races left before the 16-driver playoff grid is set.

So has the recent run of misfortune been humbling for Larson, who netted seven top-10 finishes in the season's first 15 races?

"I knew at some point with how well we were running everybody is going to run into some bad luck," said Larson, 21. "I was just hoping it wouldn't be three weeks in a row worth of bad luck. I figured we may have some bad luck one week or two weeks in a row -- not three. It makes you stress out coming here to New Hampshire hoping that you get a good finish. You can't have four bad finishes in a row. I mean, I understand the whole luck factor, so it was humbling, but didn't surprise me."

Larson hasn't given up on fighting his way back into the Chase picture. The most straightforward way to do that, of course, is with a win.

"It makes you stress out a little bit just because each week it gets closer and closer to the Chase," he said. "Now we have fallen to where we have to fight really hard again. It makes it nerve-racking, but we are all pretty close. I think there are six or so guys that are pretty close in points. I have to have a couple of good runs and hopefully get back up there. It would be nice to get a win soon, for sure."

NEWMAN WINS MODIFIED THRILLER

Executing a dramatic last-lap slingshot pass for the lead, Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman won Friday's inaugural Whelen All-Star Shootout modified race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The 40-lap, two-segment affair featured 20 cars driven by previous winners, champions and the 2013 Sunoco Rookies of the Year from the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

After the first 20-lap segment, officials spun a wheel to determine the number of drivers who would be inverted for the second segment. The No. 10 came up, inverting the top 10. Newman, who was sixth at the time, moved to fifth.

"The racing you see in modified is awesome," said Newman, who as a two-time modified winner at Loudon earned his spot in the shootout.

"There is drafting and they are a lot of fun to drive. It was an opportunity to win a trophy, so we did that."