Almirola "along for the ride" at New Hampshire

After earning his first Sprint Cup win less than one week ago, Aric Almirola suffered a setback on Saturday morning when an issue with his left rear tire sent him spinning into the outside wall in Turn three during practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He had completed just 14 laps during the exercise before the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford got away from him and damaged the rear of the car

“Yeah, I am okay,” Almirola said. “It was a hard hit for sure, but I am good.

“I honestly have no idea what is going on. I just don’t know. That was our third or fourth run on that same set of tires so I honestly cannot give you and answer. That was probably my fourth lap on the track. It is just weird.” 

Brad Keselowski topped the speed chart in the second practice session at Loudon with a lap of 133.745 mph. He rolls off seventh on Sunday.

Almirola qualified 19^th for the Camping World RV Sales 301 at the Magic Mile but the team was forced to pull out the backup car for Sunday’s race and will be forced to start from the rear of the field.

Despite winning last Sunday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Almirola was clearly upset following the incident.

“It is still disappointing,” Almirola said. “It is always disappointing when you wreck a race car.”