AJ Allmendinger puts his best feet forward with his Cup return. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After two successful full-time seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, AJ Allmendinger returns to full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition in grand fashion.
While Allmendinger raced a partial schedule for Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 program, he showcased some of the promising prowess and race winning pace from his hardy team.
Before the 41-year-old Los Gatos, California native clambered into his unmistakable Chevy Camaro for his qualifying effort on Wednesday night, he faced the throngs of assembled press awaiting his every word.
“I’m already tired! I forgot about all this media stuff… I thought we just showed up and drove!” Allmendinger said with his trademark wit. “No, I’m just ready to start.”
Allmendinger has his work cut out for him as he starts 29th for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Despite the deep starting position, he is no stranger with marching his way through the field.
In Allmendinger’s past two Daytona starts, both during the 2018 season, he started 20th and 24th before salvaging finishes of 10th and third.
There is something to be said for a driver who has a fast car and great pit crew.
Then again, there is more to said about a driver who has a car that handles well and a pit crew who delivers with consistently fast pit stops.
Based on the two practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, the two-time Cup race winner likes his chances in “The Great American Race.”
Allmendinger understands what it takes to succeed at Daytona. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
“Overall, I feel like it’s pretty good,” he said. “It’s going to just be more about learning during the race tomorrow with 40 cars out there; how the car is reacting. It will be a little bit warmer than (Saturday). How the tires start to slide around and stuff with that many cars around you.”
In spite of his renowned reputation with the road courses, “The Dinger” knows how to win a superspeedway race. After all, he pulled a rabbit out of his hat-like victory in last fall’s Xfinity thriller at Talladega.
As the 16-year Cup veteran prepares for his latest Daytona 500 efforts, he faces familiarity around him with his Kaulig Racing team.
Namely, he will work with Matt Swiderski, his Cup crew chief for the past two years. Both know how to extract the maximum from their cars based on their successful results during their part-time premier division starts.
Moreover, he will have a familiar looking No. 16 car with its distinct white and green livery.
“I’m pretty happy with everything. We’ll be ready to go. It’s really cool to have Nutrien Ag Solutions on the car; moving up to Cup with me,” Allmendinger said. “It’s been a great partnership with our race team for the past several years now, so for them to come to the Cup side with me means a lot. It’s really cool to have them here.”
There is no bigger race to have familiar sponsors and a balanced racecar than the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. Regardless of the generation of cars, drivers like Allmendinger face interesting challenges with the race package.
“I think as we’ve all seen, it’s hard to get a third line working around here,” he said. “In the past, I was always one of those guys that would kind of just sit back early on in the race and just let it develop. Some of it, at those times, maybe I didn’t quite have the speed to consistently run up front. So it was more about trying to time when to get up front and stay there at the end of the race.
“With this car, I feel like you have to have more track position early on. So with 100 laps to go – I think 60 to 70 to go – you need your track position. It’s hard to try to get back up there. What I fought in the Duel was I felt like we were pretty decent, but it’s just hard to make moves. So I think trying to get up front however we do that and obviously trying to stay there, especially after halfway, is going to be really critical.”
Aside from the grueling distance and constant action, Allmendinger will need to be a master chess player, particularly with this 190+ mph season opener awaiting him and his peers on Sunday afternoon.
Allmendinger is not fazed by his 29th starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
“The race is long enough; it doesn’t matter where you start,” he said. “As I said, the track position is more critical, but if you have a fast car, you can still work your way up there. I think it’s more that you have to pick and choose when you do it because if you kind of go for it and you get kind of tossed to the back, it’s a lot harder to get back up there now.
“But yeah, if it’s meant to be and we make the right moves – there’s so much luck that goes into this too. You just try to make the right moves and if a wreck happens and you’re part of it, that is what it is. You just don’t want to be the cause of the wreck. That was always my mindset.”
Through it all, even with a bit of a disdain toward superspeedway races during his Xfinity Series career, the affable Californian relishes his return and competitive opportunity.
“We’ll be ready to go. I’m so pumped to be back here. This is a great race for all of us to be a part. We should all feel lucky enough that we get to do this,” Allmendinger said.
