CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Aric Almirola, who has missed the past seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup points races and the All-Star Race because of a broken back, will return to competition this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver suffered a partially crushed vertebra in his middle back in an accident on May 13 at Kansas Speedway. He has had to wait for his bone to heal so it would not be compromised if he crashed again.

A scan June 28 showed good healing progress, and a test Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway went well. That led doctors to recommend that NASCAR approve Almirola for competition, and NASCAR granted that approval Wednesday. Almirola will return to the seat of the No. 43 car for practice Friday at New Hampshire.

Aric Almirola (No. 43) suffered a partially crushed vertebra in his middle back in this crash during the May 13 Cup race at Kansas Speedway. Colin E. Braley/AP Photo

"It felt great to be back in the race car yesterday," Almirola said in a news release. "After racing in the Monster Energy Series for five and a half years, it got to be routine, and I took it for granted. When something gets taken away from you at a moment's notice like that, it has certainly made me appreciate my passion for racing and my desire to compete at this level.

"The thrill of running 200 miles per hour in a stock car was something that I had honestly lost a little bit. After being out of the car for eight weeks, the passion is back, now more than ever. ... Physically, I felt great in the car and had no pain associated with the injury during yesterday's test."

RPM can ask NASCAR for a waiver for Almirola to remain eligible for the playoffs. He would need to win one of the eight remaining regular-season races and finish the regular season in the top 30 in the standings. He sits 32nd, eight points out of the top 30 despite missing those seven points races.

Almirola, 33, had two top-5s and three top-10s this season and was 23rd in the standings at the time of his injury.

"[Making the playoffs] certainly is possible to us," Almirola said Wednesday afternoon. "We've got cars fast enough now to be able to capitalize on fuel strategy. I'm not ruling out the fact that we can make the playoffs."

Regan Smith replaced Almirola for the All-Star weekend and two points races with Darrell Wallace Jr. driving four races and road-course racer Billy Johnson filling in at Sonoma Raceway.

"I'd like to sincerely thank all of the medical personnel that have helped me through this process, my family, my friends, my team and all the fans that supported me," Almirola said. "I'm very grateful to Bubba [Wallace], Regan and Billy for all of their efforts subbing for me both on and off the track."

One thing that will be different for Almirola when he returns is the positioning of his seat and how he will sit in it. His seat and seat belts are the same; it's mainly a change to his posture, he said Wednesday. He said the doctors feel that on the initial frontal impact where he hit Joey Logano's car, that he likely tore some ligaments and muscle tissue around the vertebra. After the car got airborne and came back down on the frame, the G-load was enough for him to suffer a broken back.

"I'm trying to get my spine aligned a little bit better when I'm sitting in the seat, so if I do get in another accident -- which is inevitable, I will be in another accident as long as I drive a race car -- trying to have better posture and better alignment of my spine," Almirola said.

Almirola will have a follow-up scan Thursday morning just to make sure everything is healing properly, but he said he felt great after the four-hour test Tuesday, which included a longest run of 30 laps. He had a little soreness Tuesday night from muscles that had not been used. The change in the positioning of the seat didn't cause any pain and he felt comfortable with the new seating position.

"We feel like it might have happened regardless, but my posture precrash was a little bit more curvature of the spine, a little bit more curled up, so that definitely didn't help things," Almirola said.

"I used to sit a little bit more C-shaped. I sat with my pelvis rolled up underneath me and my shoulders kind of slouched forward up on the wheel."