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 Hoping to race his way into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, as
he did last year, Almirola will be driving the No. 43 Richard Petty
Motorsports Ford -- complete with throwback STP paint scheme -- in
Sunday's Bojangles' Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET on NBC).
Perhaps the moustache will bring him luck.
"I have about five days with this," said Almirola, who is 16th in
the series standings and 35 points outside of a Chase-eligible
position with two races left before the cutoff at Richmond. "I
wasn't fully committed. I shaved last week on vacation when I went
to dinner with my wife and I got cleaned up.
"After that, I kind of just let it go crazy and I had a few drinks
out on the beach and thought it would be cool to grow this. I got a
late start. I would like for it to be a little fuller, but this is
all I've got for now."
It was full enough, however, to get a positive reaction from Petty.
"He saw it and he actually liked it," Almirola said. "He said he won
the Daytona 500 with a mustache that looked just like this. We'll
see if we can't win the Southern 500 with one."
Though Almirola currently is one spot out of the Chase, 35 points
behind Clint Bowyer, the driver of the No. 43 Ford remains
optimistic about his chances.
"I think when you are mathematically still in -- until somebody
tells us we're not -- I feel like we have a shot," Almirola said.
"I've been really proud of what we have accomplished this year. Last
year, we were 25th or 26th in points, but we made the Chase because
we won at Daytona.
"This year, I feel like if we made the Chase we certainly earned
it."
JEFF GORDON CAN BEAT STRESS BY WINNING
Jeff Gordon knows full well that the best way to remove the pressure
of a stressful weekend at Richmond is by winning on Sunday at
Darlington (7 p.m. ET on NBC).
Barring a victory at the Lady in Black, Gordon likely will have to
avoid disaster in the Bojangles' Southern 500 and the following
Saturday in Richmond to secure a spot in the Chase. And it will help
his chances immensely if the next two races don't produce a new
winner.
Gordon currently is 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings,
with a 52-point advantage over Aric Almirola, the first driver below
the current Chase cut line. But a victory comes with the immediate
guarantee of a Chase spot.
"That would be huge," said Gordon, who is making his final
appearance at Darlington. "We definitely feel pressure, and it's a
little bit stressful right now, being on the bubble. I felt like we
were in a pretty comfortable position about a month ago. We've just
had some misfortunes. I feel like we've performed well enough to
securely be in by points.
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"I can't say we have performed well enough to be real confident
coming in here that we are going to be one of the cars to beat. But
I will follow that up also with the amount of hard work that (crew
chief) Alan (Gustafson) and the team, everyone at Hendricks
Motorsports has been putting in, the effort for this weekend
especially, but going forward as well. I'm pretty happy with the
car. I think we've got a shot at doing that."
It's not that Gordon isn't used to pressure. In 2012, he edged Kyle
Busch for the final Chase spot by three points. In 2013, NASCAR
chairman and CEO Brian France added on to the Chase field after
late-race machinations at Richmond by Michael Waltrip Racing
finagled the four-time champion out of a Chase berth he otherwise
would have secured.
"No matter what, we realize it's important for us to execute really
well this weekend to put a great result out there on the track to
get those points we need to go to Richmond and be a little more
comfortable anyway," Gordon said.
"Other than a win this weekend, Richmond is going to be stressful.
But the good news is we've dealt with it before."
SHORT STROKES
Greg Biffle, whose only feasible path to the Chase requires a
victory in one of the next two races, led Friday's opening NASCAR
Sprint Cup practice at Darlington with a lap at 176.201 mph. Biffle
has won twice at the Lady in Black, his last victory coming in 2006.
... Austin Dillon was the first driver to pick up a Darlington
stripe early in the opening practice session. Though Dillon's No. 3
Chevrolet suffered hard contact with the outside wall, his team
opted to repair the car rather than go to a backup. ... Kurt Busch,
the only driver using the new high-tech digital dashboard in his car
this weekend, was quick in both practices. He was second to Biffle
in the opening session and second to Brad Keselowski in Happy Hour
... Kyle Busch was eighth fastest in final practice before smacking
the Turn 2 wall on his 33rd lap of the session. Busch's team rolled
out the backup No. 18 Toyota, which Busch will now drive in Sunday's
race. After his team prepped the backup car, Busch returned to the
track, ran 21 laps and ended up 34th fastest in the session.
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