AJ Allmendinger Tallies Dominant Charlotte ROVAL Win

AJ Allmendinger celebrates a sentimental Bank of America ROVAL 400 win at Charlotte. (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish)

CONCORD, N.C. — The focus may have been on this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field, but AJ Allmendinger decided to be the headline at Charlotte.

In his first, full-time Cup season since 2018, the 41-year-old Los Gatos, California native flirted with a postseason position before a late summer swoon.

At times, this year has been a struggle for the No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry fielded by Kaulig Racing. However, last Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 was a virtually complete effort for the driven, genuine racer.

Starting from the sixth position, Allmendinger placed 10th in Stage 1 and 12th in Stage 2. The topsy turvy results were more indicative of the different pit strategies and cautions that shook up the leaderboard.

Nevertheless, Allmendinger was like a Third Eye Blind song from 1999 when it came to the lead — in this case, he never let it go from Lap 77 onward in the 109-lap race.

Throughout the race at the 2.32-mile, 17-turn hybrid road course, Allmendinger had good situational awareness while racing the postseason contenders with calculating tenacity.

“I try to study a lot of — not just the racetrack and things like that, but knowing where everybody is at in the Playoffs and what they’re racing for because you’re still going for a Cup win,” Allmendinger said. “Everybody is going to be aggressive, but there’s a different aggressive level and there’s desperation and there’s things like that.”

It became clear that Allmendinger would battle the likes of Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch and William Byron for the win.

“I’ve loved racing against Ty over the last, what, four years now, 2020 or whenever he started in the XFINTY Series,” he said. “I feel like me and him get along great. Us going back and forth was a lot of fun. But with that said, you know what he’s lacing for, his first Cup win. It’s hard to do this. It’s freaking hard.

“I know there’s certain teams and certain drivers that get a lot of opportunities to go win Cup races, but there’s also a lot of drivers and teams that don’t. I knew Ty — I thought we raced fairly clean for knowing what we were battling for. I knew Kyle had to win to make the Playoffs. I kept looking up at the board to see where he was at points-wise.”

That situational awareness paid dividends in terms of fending off his nearest on track rival to tally his third Cup Series victory.

There was no stopping AJ Allmendinger at the Charlotte ROVAL. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)

“Obviously I knew William was probably going to the next round,” he said. “He’s going to be aggressive but maybe not desperate-aggressive. That was kind of what was playing in my head on who I was racing around.

“At the end of the day, for me, it’s about if I give everything I have, I make no mistakes and William gets around me and beats me, yeah, it sucks, but I go home and I look in the mirror and say, yep, better team, better driver beat me that day.”

Confidence oozed from the veteran racer even when he perceived making some unforced errors in the final laps of the race, even as he staved off Byron by 0.666 seconds.

“I felt like I made a couple real small mistakes with the 24 behind me, the rear tires were starting to go, but those last seven, eight laps, that’s as perfect as I can drive a race car,” Allmendinger said. “Win or lose, but especially win, that’s the stuff that you walk in, you walk around with your chest out just that little bit because it’s very rare that I do that, but just walk around a little bit knowing when it’s time, I can be as perfect as possible.”

Despite placing runner-up, Byron was not too disappointed, racing Allmendinger in respectful fashion.

“It’s been a great year for the No. 24 HP Chevy team and we’ve been great on all the road courses,” Byron said. “I had that one shot with probably eight laps to go. AJ just did a good job blocking the chicane there. He didn’t miss his marks and it was too early to make a dive bomb to him.”

Meanwhile, Busch, who rounded out the podium finishers, kept his head up despite missing the Round of 8 field.

“Those last couple of restarts, we were just fighting with traction up off the corners and with front-turn to be able to turn into the corners,” Busch said. “We gave it a valiant effort. That was about what we thought we would get out of here, at least what I thought. We wanted to come in here and win.”

As for the race winner, Allmendinger felt some pressure to succeed, chalking it up to his ongoing, relatable struggles.

It was an emotional victory for AJ Allmendinger at the Charlotte ROVAL. (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish)

“The one thing I did not want to do was be that guy that made a mistake and let him by me, and that’s something that — this is what we all want, to be put in those pressure cooker moments, and if — these guys know,” Allmendinger said before getting genuine about his approach. “I struggle to believe in myself every day. It’s an ugly place sometimes. I always say I have the best life possible, and that’s why I’m miserable every day because it’s wake up, what the hell are you going to do to be better today.”

Much like Allmendinger revealed in an exclusive one-on-one interview, he finds ways to feel optimistic and ready for each day.

“God, it’s ugly sometimes, but it’s the way I am,” he said. “I won’t ever change. Those are the moments that I dream of, of knowing, hey, you got the best of the best in the world behind you, it’s on you to not let them by.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Tyler Reddick
2. Bubba Wallace
3. Ross Chastain
4. Martin True Jr.
5. Christopher Bell
6. Daniel Suárez
7. Chase Elliott
8. Kyle Busch
9. Ty Gibbs
10. AJ Allmendinger

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Chase Elliott
2. Christopher Bell
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Kyle Larson
6. Ross Chastain
7. Bubba Wallace
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Michael McDowell
10. Kyle Busch

Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 Playoffs Standings

Editor’s Notes

Stephen Conley contributed to this article from Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.