Richard Petty Motorsports visits Michigan International Speedway this weekend with plans to continue its streak as the only four-car team without a DNF—did not finish— in the 2009 points races. The two-car team of Stewart-Haas is the only other team to avoid a DNF this year. The Petty streak stretches to 140 starts without a DNF. Kasey Kahne’s DNF at Martinsville on Oct.19 was the team’s last.
AJ Allmendinger and the No. 44 Super 8 Dodge team hope that durability continues at Michigan where he qualified sixth in June. The 27-year-old Petty driver visits MIS with a little bit of a different look. Crew Chief Mike Shiplett and the crew that fielded the No. 43 Dodges for Reed Sorenson will begin working on the No. 44 with Allmendinger at Michigan and the rest of the 2009 season. Sam Johns and his crew that worked on the No. 44 will begin working on the No. 43 with Sorenson at Michigan.
ALLMENDINGER — “That’s a pretty impressive streak for us. I think it shows the quality of work they are doing at the Statesville (N.C.) race shop and our engine shop in Concord. This is going to be a fun weekend. We qualified sixth there last time and then had problems in the race but we know what was wrong and it won’t be an issue again. We know we can run fast there. I’m pumped about working with Mike (Shiplett) and his crew again. We went testing at Dover last week and worked real well together.
“Sammy Johns and those guys did a heck of a job getting us ready to go racing right before the season and we had some really good runs. They are going to go over with Reed (Sorenson) and we’ll pool the information and improve our teams. We’re here to win and get a jump on 2010. Mike and I want to work on everything that will make us a contender the rest of the season and hit the ground running in Daytona in February.”
* Tweet of the Week - “13th not too bad. Car was pretty good. Not great on new tires. Thank you Sammy and Wolf and the whole team for all their effort”
* Allmendinger is a weekly columnist at www.racer.com. For in-race twitter updates on Allmendinger go to @ajdinger
* Allmendinger will sign autographs at his merchandise hauler at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday in Michigan.
* In the final fives races of 2008 when AJ Allmendinger and Crew Chief Mike Shiplett worked with each other, the team scored the 13th most points.
Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR
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