2010 Wrap-up. Bring on 2011!!!

2010 has come to an end. It was a year of ups and downs as a fan of the #43 driver AJ Allmendinger. The year started out on a good note purely for the fact that AJ was locked into the Daytona 500 for the first time in his NASCAR career. The Thursday of the Duel races wasn’t looked upon with the normal dread, and hopes were high for a great year on the track.

Despite a fast car, the pothole got the better of AJ in the Daytona 500, and the team spent the next couple of races struggling to find some momentum. After the spring Atlanta race, the #43 team put together a run of consistent finishes inside the top 20 and top 15, though. AJ even scored his first career pole start at Phoenix during that stretch.

The team again searched for answers during the mid-summer races before gaining their stride. A season best finish of 4th at Watkins Glen and a great run at the fall Dover race marked the high points of the year for AJ and the Insignia crew. Then a strong finish to close out the last few races left everyone wishing the season wasn’t quite over yet.

In all, I would say 2010 was a successful year for the Mike Shiplett led team. Richard Petty Motorsports was dealing with a lot of financial instability and trying to fund four struggling entries, three of which were in lame duck status with the drivers moving elsewhere. It wasn’t the ideal circumstances for AJ to try and flourish as a driver, but he did the best with the circumstances he was given.

I would have to say that the fall Dover race where AJ led the field for 143 laps before having a tire issue was the highlight of the year for on-track activity, followed closely by the pole win at Phoenix in second place. Off the track, the Las Vegas race was by far the best race of the year, though. As a NASCAR fan for almost ten years and never having seen a live race, I ventured to the Vegas track for my first excursion and couldn’t have enjoyed the experience more.

Just like AJ’s year in racing, I had a very up and down year in my personal life. From illness, to financial troubles, to the dreaded cancer word, my life was turned upside down in 2010. Yet at the same time, I made some really great friends that changed my life for the better. In both the racing world and my own world, I could choose to focus on the negatives that happened and say that the year was a disappointment. Instead, I’m focused on the positives and looking forward to seeing what other good things might happen.

I have a sticky note stuck to my computer that reminds me to be thankful every day. In 2011 my resolution is to sit back every evening and think of one thing that made me happy during the day. And on the racing side of things, I’m going to take the time after every race next season to find something positive that the team showed me, no matter what the finish is.

Homestead Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger began the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway from the fifth position
*The No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion took the checkered flag in fifth position
*Allmendinger took home 19th place in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger began the final race of the 2010 season from the fifth position and moved into third place by just the second lap of Sunday’s event. Allmendinger took second place after a restart on Lap 28 and communicated to his Insignia HDTV team that the car was tight on entry into the corners.

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett called for air pressure adjustments, four tires and fuel during a pit stop on Lap 69 of the 267-lap season-ending race. Allmendinger remained inside the top five throughout the first half of the race but began to slip through the field as the handling of his No. 43 Ford began to fade. Shiplett called for chassis or shock adjustments during the remaining pit stops.

The team got a break when a caution flag flew at Lap 245. Many teams had already made what were to be their final pit stops of the day. Having not made his stop prior to the caution, Allmendinger lined up in the 11th spot for the restart.

Allmendinger took full advantage of the situation and began one final ascent to the front of the field with 17 laps to go. Allmendinger made it as far as fifth before the checkered flag flew on the event and the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season as a whole.

Allmendinger on Sunday’s Event: “That was pretty wild. We were pretty good in the beginning and then about the third run in we got so loose it was almost like something broke on the race car. The Insignia HDTV Ford was so loose and we tried everything to fix it. We basically flipped this thing upside down. I give all the credit to Mike Shiplett who kept me calm and pep talked me. I was frustrated and it was tough out there but he kept working on it and throwing things at it and finally we hit something at the end. It still wasn’t great but we got it raceable and we got a little lucky with that yellow to get us track position and a top five.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Homestead Post-Race Quotes

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Finished 4th
"This is awesome. Working with Kenny Francis and all the guys on this Budweiser team has been a pleasure. They have fast race cars. Really fast race cars. Richard Petty Motorsports should be very proud of themselves. I know they are going through a lot, but they are going to get this race team turned around. They have great equipment, great people and they are going to be successful."

WAS IT NERVE RACKING RACING AROUND THE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS? "Oh my gosh, it was. I was so conscious to not make a mistake. I made several today and we were able to rebound. It felt like we had a car capable of winning. All in all it was a great day and I am proud of all my guys on this team to step in and let me fill in on this team has been fun. I have learned a lot and it has been awesome."

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 5th
"That was pretty wild. We were pretty good in the beginning and then about the third run in we got so loose it was almost like something broke on the race car. We were so loose and we tried everything to fix it. We basically flipped this thing upside down. I give all the credit to Mike Shiplett who kept me calm and pep talked me. I was frustrated and it was tough out there but he kept working on it and throwing things at it and finally we hit something at the end. It still wasn't great but we got it raceable and we got a little lucky with that yellow to get us track position and a top five."

THAT IS A PRETTY EXCITING WAY TO END YOUR YEAR ON WHAT HAS BEEN A BIT OF A CRAZY SEASON FOR YOU ISN'T IT? "Yeah, all the credit goes to my race team and all the guys back at the shop. Credit goes to Ford, Insignia, Best Buy and Valvoline too. This team could have easily fallen apart and fought and just dismantled itself, but I feel like we became stronger and when we figure this stuff out back at the shop we will get this race team back where it needs to be and I think we will be that much stronger for having gone through this."

Credit - Ford Racing

Homestead Race Results

Ford 400 Finishing Order
1. Carl Edwards
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Aric Almirola
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Ryan Newman
8. Tony Stewart
9. Matt Kenseth
10. Greg Biffle
11. Martin Truex, Jr.
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Bill Elliott
16. Mark Martin
17. Regan Smith
18. Kurt Busch
19. Paul Menard
20. David Ragan
21. Jamie McMurray
22. Bobby Labonte
23. Scott Speed
24. Sam Hornish, Jr.
25. David Gilliland
26. Marcos Ambrose
27. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
28. Elliott Sadler
29. Andy Lally
30. Kevin Conway
31. Jeff Burton
32. Kyle Busch
33. Casey Mears
34. Travis Kvapil
35. Juan Pablo Montoya
36. Dave Blaney
37. Jeff Gordon
38. David Reutimann
39. Joey Logano
40. Landon Cassill
41. Joe Nemechek
42. JJ Yeley
43. Mike Bliss

Homestead Qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 43 Best Buy/Insignia Ford Fusion
Qualified 5th
"It was alright. This isn't my best place to qualify at. It's a tough race track trying to figure out what line you want to go and contemplate if you want to do something different. I'm happy with it. There could have been a little more there but us race car drivers always think there could have been. That should get us in the top 10 and I think we should have a pretty good car for Sunday. Maybe we can win 43 people a Ford Fiesta."

***

PAUL MENARD, No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Qualified 16th
"It felt pretty good. We have been fighting a little bit loose off of four. It had the same issues. It was a little late getting back to wide open but the car drove pretty decent so we should be okay."

***

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Qualified 24th
"I didn't do a very good job there. The car was a lot better than that and I did a bad job. I am disappointed in myself because we have a much better car that that. I just missed it. We have a really good car in race trim and I think we will be in good shape come Sunday."

Credit - Ford Racing

Homestead Qualifying Results

Ford 400 Starting Lineup
1. Kasey Kahne
2. Carl Edwards
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Bill Elliott
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. David Reutimann
8. Mark Martin
9. David Ragan
10. Regan Smith
11. Jeff Gordon
12. Elliott Sadler
13. Matt Kenseth
14. Jeff Burton
15. Kurt Busch
16. Paul Menard
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Brad Keselowski
19. Joey Logano
20. Joey Logano
21. JJ Yeley
22. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
23. Ryan Newman
24. Aric Almirola
25. Martin Truex, Jr.
26. Sam Hornish, Jr.
27. Greg Biffle
28. Kevin Harvick
29. Joe Nemechek
30. Mike Bliss
31. Tony Stewart
32. Bobby Labonte
33. Kyle Busch
34. Casey Mears
35. Andy Lally
36. Dave Blaney
37. Denny Hamlin
38. David Gilliland
39. Travis Kvapil
40. Juan Pablo Montoya
41. Scott Speed
42. Kevin Conway
43. Landon Cassill
DNQ Michael McDowell
DNQ Patrick Carpentier

Ford Racing Driver Appearance Schedule - Ford Championship Weekend

This is the Ford Racing driver appearance schedule for the main Ford display at Homestead-Miami Speedway
All appearances are stage Q & A sessions, unless noted...

Friday, November 19
Jennifer Jo Cobb 3:00 PM
Jason White 3:30 PM
Brent Raymer 4:00 PM

Saturday, November 20
Ken Block / Tanner Foust /Vaughn Gittin, Jr. /John Force 12:00 - 12:30 PM
Ken Block / Tanner Foust /Vaughn Gittin, Jr. /John Force AUTOGRAPHS 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Colin Braun 1:30 - 1:45 PM
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 1:45 - 2:00 PM

Sunday, November 21
Vaughn Gittin, Jr. 9:00 - 9:15 AM
Ken Block / Tanner Foust 9:15 - 9:30 AM
Greg Biffle 9:30 - 9:45 AM
AJ Allmendinger 9:45 - 9:55 AM
John Force 10:00 - 10:15 AM

Credit - Ford Racing

Homestead Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger has made two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway
• Allmendinger has never finished outside the top 11 at HMS
• After 35 races, Allmendinger holds down 20th place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Homestead-Miami Speedway: “It’s a completely different mile-and-a-half than say a Texas or a Charlotte or an Atlanta, so it’s a different feel. We haven’t been the strongest on the mile-and-a-half race tracks as a race team on the 43 side of it, but we did the test there and it is a completely different mile-and-a-half, so for that reason I’m looking forward to it. I know Doug [Yates, Engine Builder] is gonna put a little extra horsepower behind it and we’re gonna bring our best piece and see what we’ve got out there.”

AJ on the 43 Fiestas Promotion:“It’s been really cool. The last couple of months have obviously been leading up to this with the commercials and all the promotion we’ve been doing, so there’s gonna be a little extra pressure, I’m not gonna lie. Being able to hang out with Ken Block and meet somebody like that is really cool. I read where he just scored his first championship points in World Rally, the first American to do that, so he’s obviously pretty good when it comes to his sport. And doing the Team O’Neil thing was fun. It’s fun to be a part of Ford and, ultimately to have something that’s such a big promotion and be one of the lead guys is pretty cool. It’s an experience I’ve enjoyed from the start and hopefully we finish it off right.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on HMS: “I wouldn’t say there is anything special about Homestead-Miami Speedway as far as the keys to getting around the place. It’s a pretty standard mile-and-a-half-track, really. Goodyear has a new tire for the weekend and we were able to participate in the tire test a while back, so I’m hopeful that will help our team as well as the rest of the Richard Petty Motorsports Fords on Friday.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 265 for this weekend’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This particular chassis has been utilized on several occasions this season including most recently at Charlotte in October.

Notes: Allmendinger has competed in two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on the 1.5-mile oval and has scored two finished inside the top 11, including a top-10 effort in the season finale last year. Allmendinger qualified for that event in the 13th position.

Allmendinger will spend Friday night at the Loews Hotel in the Miami Beach area celebrating with the winners of Ford’s 43 Fiestas promotion. The 43 Fiestas promotion kicked off several months ago and was highlighted a trip by Allmendinger to a rally school in New Hampshire and videos featuring Allmendinger, Ken Block and Richard Petty. 43 lucky fans won LCD flat-screen TVs and airfare, lodging and tickets to the Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. One of these fans will be awarded a special Ford Fiesta, but should AJ Allmendinger happen to walk away with the win this weekend, everyone in the grand-prize lot will receive a new Fiesta.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

The #43 Has Gone to the Elves

Christmas time is closing in, and everyone’s excited to see what Santa might leave under the tree. It’s likely that a good portion of the presents received this year will be in the form of electronics. Digital cameras, mp3 players, laptops, cell phones, gaming systems, DVRs, etc. – from children to senior citizens, the most sought after items this year more than likely can be found at an electronics store such as Best Buy. Unfortunately, all these items also come with a complicated instruction manual. And there’s nothing worse than opening your new gift and realizing that you can’t figure out how to make it work.

This year Best Buy comes to the rescue by offering free technical support through New Years, including on Christmas Day, by either visiting http://www.bestbuy.com/ or by calling 1-888-BEST BUY. To inform consumers of their dedication to making the holidays a stress-free time, Best Buy has introduced Kenneth the Blue Elf. Kenneth is a gung-ho, tech savvy, Santa’s helper who enthusiastically rallies the other elves to help customers. Now thanks to Best Buy, Kenneth the Blue Elf is coming to NASCAR!



Best Buy, the sponsor of the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion driven by AJ Allmendinger, is getting elf happy at the Homestead Miami Speedway for the final race of 2010. Kenneth the Elf will be riding on the hood of the green Insignia car as NASCAR closes out the season. With only two prior starts at the track, Allmendinger has finishes of 11th and 10th place. This year he not only has Kenneth the Elf hoping for a win, but also some lucky prize winners in the 43 Fiestas promotion by Ford. If the #43 car wins the Ford 400 then 43 people get a brand new Ford Fiesta. So this weekend there is a lot riding on that Insignia HDTV Ford, including Kenneth the Blue Elf.

AJ Allmendinger - Ford Interview

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion, will have the chance to win an all-new Ford Fiesta for 42 race fans on Sunday if he can earn his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in the Ford 400. This weekend is the culmination of Ford's 43 Fiestas promotion, which also included Richard Petty and rally driver Ken Block. Allmendinger talked about his feelings heading into Ford Championship Weekend.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SEE THIS 43 FIESTAS PROMOTION COME TO A CLIMAX?
"It's been really cool. The last couple of months have obviously been leading up to this with the commercials and all the promotion we've been doing, so there's gonna be a little extra pressure, I ain't gonna lie. I want to go out there and obviously win for multiple reasons, but that's just another one. All I can do is show up and go there and do everything that we can. We did the tire test there, so we have some notes we can lean on when we get there, so it's gonna be a fun weekend. I'm really excited for the first time to be a part of Ford during all of Ford Championship Weekend and all the parties and get- togethers that go along with that, so it's just gonna be a fun weekend overall."

DO YOU LIKE THE TRACK FROM A RACING PERSPECTIVE?
"I don't know if it favors my style, but I enjoy it a lot more because you kind of get away from that cookie-cutter mile-and-a-half. It's a completely different mile- and-a-half than say a Texas or a Charlotte or an Atlanta, so it's a different feel. We haven't been the strongest on the mile-and-a-half race tracks as a race team on the 43 side of it, but, like I said, we did the test there and it is a completely different mile-and-a-half, so for that reason I'm looking forward to it. I know Doug is gonna put a little extra horsepower behind it and we're gonna bring our best piece and see what we've got out there."

WHAT'S BEEN THE BEST PART ABOUT THIS 43 FIESTAS PROMOTION FOR YOU?
"There's nothing that's been a favorite, it's just been everything together. Something like that, I think we get so caught up in sometimes, and I'm the first person that you're always focused on racing, you're focused on the task at hand and sometimes along with that you have to do stuff like commercials or photo shoots or things like that where you say, 'Oh, it's just taking up time. I want to be racing.' But something the King has taught me is that you're gonna have to do that stuff, so have fun with it. The point of being able to hang out with Ken Block and meet somebody like that. I read where he just scored his first championship points in World Rally, the first American to do that, so he's obviously pretty good when it comes to his sport. And doing the Team O'Neil thing was fun. It's fun to be a part of Ford and, ultimately to have something that's such a big promotion and be one of the lead guys is pretty cool. It's an experience I've enjoyed from the start and hopefully we finish it off right."

Credit - Ford Racing

Phoenix II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion
■ AJ Allmendinger began the race at Phoenix International Raceway from the front row
■ The No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion took the checkered flag in the 18th position
■ Allmendinger remains in the 20th position in the points battle with one race remaining on the schedule

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger narrowly missed scoring his second career pole at Phoenix International Raceway but settled into the second position for the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. Allmendinger’s green No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion was fast at the start of the 312-lap event and despite front end handling issues the driver remained in the top 10 for the majority of the first 100 laps.

Through a series of green and yellow flag condition pit stops, Crew Chief Mike Shiplett called for various adjustments to help alleviate the handling issues Allmendinger reported. The California native kept his Richard Petty Motorsports machine in the top 15 with under 100 laps to go.

Shiplett rolled the dice and called for a right side tire only pit stop towards the end of the event. Allmendinger and the No. 43 lost a little ground following the stop and slid back slightly in the pack. The driver held on and fought to regain a top-15 position, but when the checkered flag flew, the No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion was running in the 18th position.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next week for the season finale. Allmendinger holds down the 20th position in the NSCS point standings and is within striking distance of 19th place.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Phoenix II Race Results

Kobalt Tools 500 Finishing Order
1. Carl Edwards
2. Ryan Newman
3. Joey Logano
4. Greg Biffle
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Mark Martin
9. Kurt Busch
10. Jamie McMurray
11. Jeff Gordon
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Kyle Busch
14. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
15. Martin Truex, Jr.
16. Juan Pablo Montoya
17. Tony Stewart
18. AJ Allmendinger
19. Jeff Burton
20. Bobby Labonte
21. Clint Bowyer
22. Marcos Ambrose
23. Regan Smith
24. Casey Mears
25. David Ragan
26. David Reutimann
27. Aric Almirola
28. Elliott Sadler
29. Paul Menard
30. Kasey Kahne
31. JJ Yeley
32. Sam Hornish, Jr.
33. Robby Gordon
34. Travis Kvapil
35. Scott Speed
36. Tony Raines
37. Dave Blaney
38. David Gilliland
39. Mike Bliss
40. Landon Cassill
41. Terry Labonte
42. Brad Keselowski
43. Brendan Gaughan

Phoenix II Qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion
Qualified 2nd
"As Kurt said, he put up a great lap, especially as early as he went. Nobody could really get near him until the track cooled down a little bit. I knew it was gonna be tight there. In qualifying practice we were really good and I just felt like I wanted to go out there and put a solid lap in. I felt like I got everything I could out of the race car there, and I knew Carl was gonna be tough there at the end. I feel good about what everybody is doing on the race team, it's such a tough time here, so I'm just happy and proud of the guys back at the shop and here at the race track. Having Insignia back on the race car is really cool, so it's a good starting spot and now we've just got to put in a good race on Sunday."

"No matter what happens I'm just proud of everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports. There's no secret of what we're going through right now and it's a tough time. All the crew guys here and all the guys at the shop listening and watching, they're amazing people because it could easily tear this team apart. Everybody could be fighting with each other and not want to be here, but everybody is sticking together and fighting hard to go out there and perform. We've shown that, no matter what, it's not gonna get us off our game. We're just gonna keep getting better as a race team. I thank everybody at Insignia and Best Buy, Valvolina, PVA, everybody at Ford Racing and Doug Yates for building such great horsepower and everybody for building great race cars. That's all we can do, just go out there and drive."

IS THIS MORE MOTIVATION? "It's such a cut-throat sport. There's no secret to that. This is a tough sport and in tough times like that, we could easily give up or we could start fighting each other and it's not more motivation. We don't need anymore motivation than what we have, but it's just a tough time and these guys are fighting hard. I'm just going out there and trying to drive the wheels off this thing every weekend. These guys are stepping their game up and I'm proud of them. I'm proud to be here. We know The King and Robbie Loomis, all the guys, they're doing what they can to resolve these problems and we're just gonna put our heads down and do our jobs."

HOW HARD IS IT FOR THIS TEAM RIGHT NOW? "There's no secret right now with what our race team is going through right now. I think it shows my crew guys here and back at the shop and everybody at RPM that there's really two scenarios that can happen in a situation like this - you can try to band together and be stronger and come to the race track more focused, or you can let things start tearing you apart. It's wearing on everybody. It wears on me, but with that said, everybody inside the race team doesn't let it effect each other. Everybody is working well together. With everything they're still having to go through, to build great race cars, Doug Yates and everybody at Ford is still giving us great horsepower. It's a tough thing, but once we get to the race track our cars are here and it's pretty simple, we focus on the job at hand. That's all you can do. You just put your head down and keep working hard and that makes it a lot easier to go out there and run up front and try to sell the race team than struggling and trying to sell the race team. That's all we can do."

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK YOU SEEM TO LIKE? "It's more Mike Shiplett and the guys. He's got a good setup here. This is a track initially when I came here in '07 that I hated, I struggled here. It's the same thing, it's kind of like Loudon where once you get a good setup there, it makes it easier. For us to go out there in qualifying trim especially we had a really good setup. It's something that we need to work on in race trim. We struggled a little bit in the race here in the spring. In race trim today we were OK, we weren't great, so we definitely have to keep working on it, but once you have a good setup you can start building off of it, instead of just trying to start from scratch and showing up each weekend with a different setup."

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT NEXT YEAR? "No, honestly we're taking it day-to-day. It's not something I can really focus on and help do anything with. My job is to get in the race car and run strong. We know Richard and everybody there is doing the best they can to go out there and figure out this situation and that's all we ask, so we just focus on day-to-day - just getting to the race track. These next two weeks are really important. We've got Insignia back on the car for the last two races and they've been a huge supporter of this race team throughout the year, and next week we have a huge Ford promotion with 43 Ford Fiestas and have a chance to go out there and win 43 fans a Ford Fiesta, so those are the things I'm focused on. Next year is something that as we go into the off-season we have to learn more about what's happening with the race team, but, honestly, no matter what, I can't do anything about it. I've just got to go out there and do my job and try to make Best Buy and everybody happy and just focus on that."

***

ARIC ALMIROLA - No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Qualified 9th
That was a respectable lap time because I thought that was gonna be extremely slow. I was actually surprised at how fast it went for how bad it drove, to be honest. I'm proud of Kenny and all the guys on this Budweiser team. They've done a good job."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE PART OF THIS TEAM NOW AFTER THREE OR FOUR WEEKS BEHIND THE WHEEL? "Yeah, I really do. Kenny Francis and all the guys on this team do a good job of making me feel welcome, and I've had a lot of fun with it. That's the biggest thing I've noticed is how much fun I'm having. I don't have a whole lot of pressure involved with it, so it's been a good time."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 Paralyzed Veterans of America Ford Fusion
Qualified 23rd
I was a little disappointed. I didn't make a good lap. I didn't get through three and four like I needed to. My car was a little tight and I tried to run across the apron to loosen it up and got it a little bit too loose. That's definitely not the lap we wanted or needed, so we've got a lot of work to do on Sunday. We'll race hard and see where it takes us."

Credit - Ford Racing

Phoenix II Qualifying Results

Kobalt Tools 500 Starting Lineup
1. Carl Edwards
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Kurt Busch
4. Greg Biffle
5. Jamie McMurray
6. David Reutimann
7. Kyle Busch
8. Regan Smith
9. Aric Almirola
10. Joey Logano
11. Martin Truex, Jr.
12. David Ragan
13. Marcos Ambrose
14. Clint Bowyer
15. Matt Kenseth
16. Sam Hornish, Jr.
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Paul Menard
19. Ryan Newman
20. Tony Stewart
21. Jimmie Johnson
22. Jeff Gordon
23. Elliott Sadler
24. Casey Mears
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Bobby Labonte
27. Scott Speed
28. Mark Martin
29. Kevin Harvick
30. Brad Keselowski
31. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
32. Dave Blaney
33. JJ Yeley
34. Robby Gordon
35. Juan Pablo Montoya
36. Mike Bliss
37. David Gilliland
38. Travis Kvapil
39. Landon Cassill
40. Jeff Burton
41. Brendan Gaughan
42. Tony Raines
43. Terry Labonte
DNQ Jason Leffler
DNQ Joe Nemechek
DNQ Michael McDowell

Phoenix II Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger has made four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway
*Allmendinger posted his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position at the track in the spring
*After 34 races, Allmendinger holds down 20th place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Phoenix International Raceway: "It's hard to believe we're down to two races left in this season. 2010 has been an interesting year. We've had some pretty high highs and some pretty low lows, but I'm proud of this Insignia team for working as hard as we have and having some really good things to show for it. We've come so close to breaking through so many times with our Insignia HDTV Ford and I'm truly surprised we haven't found our way to victory lane. Consistency has been our biggest problem, I think, but we're looking forward to finishing the season out strong. Mike [Shiplett--crew chief] and I have come a long way together this year. We work well together and our personalities complement each other. It's been a good year and it's not quite over yet, so there's still time for success."

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett's Thoughts on PIR: "In Phoenix, you really fight drive off and can get bad loose off the corner. Turns one and two are much different than three and four so even if you have your car perfect in one and two, you'll be way too loose off four. Turn two opens up and you have a lot of race track, but four doesn't open up like that and it's pretty easy to hit the wall. There's a lot of compromise in that respect and that's what you generally spend a good deal of time working through. We've got a good car, so we'll just have to see what happens when we unload and hit the track for practice on Friday."

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 267 for this weekend's event at Phoenix International Raceway. This particular chassis has been utilized on several occasions this season including most recently at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where the team qualified in the sixth position and finished the race in 12th.

Notes: Allmendinger will make a pit stop at the Glendale Best Buy before heading to the track. The driver will spend two hours at the store, located at 8290 West Bell Road, on Thursday evening. Allmendinger will sign autographs and meet with fans beginning at 6 p.m. local time.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Project Save the 43 video 11/11/2010

Project Save the 43

Texas II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger began the race at Texas Motor Speedway from the 10th position
*Allmendinger brought the No. 43 Valvoline Ford home in the 14th position
*Allmendinger advanced one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings and now stands in the 20th place

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger started Sunday’s 334-lap event in the Lone Star State from the 10th position. The top-10 start was the driver’s 10th of the season.

As the race around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth, Texas track began, Allmendinger relayed to his crew chief Mike Shiplett that his No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion was a little loose on entry into the corners but overall handling well. With the day’s first caution at Lap 12, the Richard Petty Motorsports team opted for fuel and two right side tires only and quickly sent Allmendinger back on track.

Allmendinger began to relay that his No. 43 Ford was struggling with rear grip at Lap 40. Opportunity to make necessary adjustments quickly came for the RPM team with another caution at Lap 43. Shiplett called for track bar and air pressure adjustments as well as four tires and fuel. Back to green flag racing, the driver fought for track position among the top 20 in the field for the majority of the middle stages of the race.

Struggling with handling, the Valvoline crew took every chance presented during the race to make adjustments to the No. 43 Ford. Allmendinger continued a steady flow of communication to his crew. As the laps wound down, Allmendinger reappeared in the top 15 and on the final lap of the event he sailed across the start/finish line in the 14th position. The top-15 finish is the driver’s 17th in 34 races this season.

AJ Allmendinger advanced one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings and stands 20th with two races remaining in the 2010 season. The Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway where Allmendinger collected his first career pole in April this season.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Texas II Race Results

AAA Texas 500 Finishing Order
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Mark Martin
4. Joey Logano
5. Greg Biffle
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Clint Bowyer
8. David Ragan
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Paul Menard
11. Tony Stewart
12. Marcos Ambrose
13. Kasey Kahne
14. AJ Allmendinger
15. David Reutimann
16. Jamie McMurray
17. Trevor Bayne
18. Sam Hornish, Jr.
19. Carl Edwards
20. Ryan Newman
21. Aric Almirola
22. Regan Smith
23. Elliott Sadler
24. Kurt Busch
25. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
26. Casey Mears
27. Scott Speed
28. Juan Pablo Montoya
29. David Gilliland
30. Bobby Labonte
31. Patrick Carpentier
32. Kyle Busch
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Andy Lally
35. Robby Gordon
36. Jeff Burton
37. Jeff Gordon
38. Martin Truex, Jr.
39. Mike Bliss
40. Landon Cassill
41. Travis Kvapil
42. Dave Blaney
43. Joe Nemechek

AJ Fan Support Hits the Airwaves

This homemade sign by a loyal AJ fan who wants Best Buy to continue to support the Dinger got a lot of air time on NASCAR RaceDay at Texas. Great job!

Texas II Qualifying Quotes

ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 19 Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 1st
“I don’t know if that is good enough for the pole or not. If they can run faster than that, then they can have it. That was a really good lap for us. I am proud of my guys. It means a lot for them to work as hard as they have been working the last couple weeks to get us in and get us good equipment. I really can’t thank my guys at RPM enough for working as hard as they have the last couple weeks to get us good cars to the race track. I could sit here and say it is me, or this or that, but Todd Parrott is the man. He can do so much as a crew chief. He is good for me from the mental side and we have been qualifying so much better here the last six weeks or so. We have a lot of folks here from Stanley this weekend, so that was a good start. That is a really fast lap for me. I got all I can get out of it.”

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion
Qualified 10th
“The car is better than the driver right now. I am really frustrated with myself. I can’t get the speed out of it that I want. I feel like the car is pretty decent but the driver is just not getting it right now. I am really struggling.”


***

PAUL MENARD, No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Qualified 12th
“The car has been driving really good. We picked up a little bit, but not enough. We will be disappointed with that I think. Three and four felt really good but we were late getting back to wide open off of two and that hurt us. We have a fast car and a good driving car though, so I am looking forward to the race.”

ARE YOU ENCOURAGED FOR SUNDAY? “Yeah, the car has been adjustable and we haven’t done any race runs yet, but it has been driving really well.”

***

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Qualified 13th
“It was good. We picked up a lot of speed from where we were in practice, so that was good. We encountered a few other problems we weren’t anticipating but we fought a few things that slowed us down a little bit. All in all it was a good run for us. I am proud of Kenny and all the guys on this Budweiser team.”

ARE THE PROBLEMS CORRECTABLE BY SUNDAY? “Yeah, absolutely. They are things that are an easy fix really. It should be no problem. Hopefully we can take that, build upon it and we should have a good car for the race.”

Credit - Ford Racing

Texas II Qualifying Results

AAA Texas 500 Starting Lineup
1. Elliott Sadler
2. Greg Biffle
3. Carl Edwards
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. David Ragan
6. Kurt Busch
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Regan Smith
9. Mark Martin
10. AJ Allmendinger
11. Tony Stewart
12. Paul Menard
13. Aric Almirola
14. Ryan Newman
15. Jeff Gordon
16. Jeff Burton
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. David Reutimann
19. Matt Kenseth
20. Joey Logano
21. Martin Truex, Jr.
22. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
23. Scott Speed
24. Kasey Kahne
25. Jamie McMurray
26. Kevin Harvick
27. Sam Hornish, Jr.
28. Trevor Bayne
29. Kyle Busch
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Bobby Labonte
32. Marcos Ambrose
33. David Gilliland
34. Joe Nemechek
35. Casey Mears
36. Brad Keselowski
37. Patrick Carpentier
38. Mike Bliss
39. Robby Gordon
40. Andy Lally
41. Travis Kvapil
42. Dave Blaney
43. Landon Cassill
DNQ JJ Yeley
DNQ Scott Riggs
DNQ Michael McDowell
DNQ Jeff Green
DNQ Josh Wise
DNQ Brian Keselowski

Project Save the 43

If you haven't been over to Facebook yet to check out the Project Save the 43 page, do it now. A fellow Dinger fan, Silas Smithies, has made a fun page for everyone to share their AJ pictures, stories about AJ and how they became fans of his, and has even created a Youtube channel to keep Dinger fans up to date on all the news.

I love to see someone who is as enthusiastic as me about doing everything they can to support their driver, and Silas has definitely stepped up. If you are an AJ fan, a 43 fan, or just a NASCAR fan, you will love this page and the videos on it. So show him your support and Like his page, watch his videos, and every now and then let out a big GO DINGERRRRR!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Project-Save-The-43/172683082742427

The Dinger Song

Texas II Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger has made five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway
*Allmendinger posted his best finish at the track (10th) in the fall event last season
*After 33 races, Allmendinger holds down 21st place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Texas Motor Speedway: “I’m just glad to be out of Talladega, to be honest. That’s a track I really don’t enjoy so I’m really happy to be headed to Texas this weekend. We went through a lot in Texas in the spring and had a couple of different chances to really get frustrated, but my guys did a really good job of making quick repairs a couple of times and it was really their hard work in the pits that helped us squeak a top-15 finish out of that one.

“I think our mile and a half program is pretty good right now. I know that Mike Shiplett and the Valvoline crew have got a really good Ford Fusion for this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do. We’ve got a couple of more chances to get ourselves in Victory Lane this season and I think we’ve got a pretty good shot at it this weekend.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on TMS: “Texas is a big downforce track. It has a lot of speed and it doesn’t have a lot of grip so you usually fight a little loose off the corners and not turning in the middle there. We’ll concentrate on those things this weekend and see what we can do.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 288 for this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. This is the same car the team utilized in the most recent race at Dover (Del.) International Raceway where Allmendinger qualified on the front row and finished inside the top 10. This Ford Fusion was also run at Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Pocono (Penn.) Raceway.

Notes: AJ Allmendinger will spend Thursday evening bowling for charity. Allmendinger will join several of his fellow NASCAR competitors for the AutoTrader.com Sam Hornish, Jr. Celebrity Bowling in Grapevine, Texas. This is the sixth year of the event, which raises money for the Texas Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities.

Valvoline will return to the hood of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion this weekend in Texas. This is the second consecutive week that Valvoline has served as the primary sponsor for the No. 43 team. Valvoline, a division of Ashland Inc., serves more than 100 countries worldwide and is a leading marketer, distributor and producer of quality branded automotive and industrial products and services. For more information about Valvoline products, please visit http://valvoline.com.

Talladega II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger began the race at Talladega Superspeedway from the 36th position
*Allmendinger’s race ended a half lap early due to an accident and the team was credited with a 32nd-place finish
*Allmendinger fell one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings and now stands in the 21st place.

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger started Sunday’s 188-lap event at Talladega Superspeedway from the 36th position. The green flag brought the field roaring to life under sunny skies in front of a crowd eager to see what kind of action would unfold on the high banks of the Alabama track.

The field raced single-file and Allmendinger remained in the second of two packs of cars that sailed around the 2.5-mile superspeedway for the opening laps of the race. At Lap 38, teams began to cycle through scheduled green flag stops including the No. 43 Valvoline team. With the first stop of the day, the Richard Petty Motorsports crew bolted on four fresh Goodyear tires and topped the Ford Racing machine with fuel. As Allmendinger went to leave the pit, however, his racecar stalled, which left the driver needing a push from his crew before the engine re-fired.

Back on track the 28-year-old driver patiently held position among the middle pack of the field as spotter Tony Hirschman kept his eye on when and how the driver should make his next move. At Lap 69, Allmendinger got sideways after contact from another competitor but was able to avoid contact with the inside wall as he spun down on the apron. With the caution flag displayed, the Valvoline crew was able to make necessary repairs to the bumper cover and quarter panel as well as add fresh tires and fuel in two trips down pit road.

Due to the team having to make the stops for repairs, Allmendinger subsequently lost two laps to the leader. However with 36 laps to go in the event, the driver was in position to receive the free pass, which put him back on the lead lap for the closing laps.

Allmendinger had clawed his way into the top 20 with only a few laps remaining and was in the thick of the pack making a move towards the front. But bad luck came calling again for the No. 43 Ford. On the final lap of the race as the field made its way around Turns 3 and 4, Allmendinger was involved in an accident that sent him flipping in the air before making contact with the inside wall. Thankfully the driver was injury-free after the incident. The No. 43 was credited with a 32nd place finish.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports

Talladega II Post-Race Quotes

PAUL MENARD - No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Finished 13th
"We struggled in the pits. We struggled getting the tire off because of the rebound, so it's something we've got to look at, but I think we ran something like 300 miles on the left side tires. We just kept taking two tires and gaining track position. The car sucked up really well. We struggled on restarts, but once it got wound up it was pretty quick."

BIFFLE PUSHED YOU INTO THE LEAD LATE. DID YOU FEEL YOU WERE IN POSITION TO WIN? "We were working pretty well together. I think we were both hoping it was gonna run out to the end. We were kind of formulating a plan to do that again with a lap or two to go and then a caution came out and kind of ruined that idea. It was just wild at the end. Everybody was pushing the hell out of each other. It was a lot of fun."

WERE YOU SURPRISED THERE WASN'T A HUGE MULTI-CAR WRECK? "Yeah. There were a couple wrecks that I thought would collect more people, but everybody did a good job. I knew with that last restart it was gonna get wild. Everybody kind of kept their heads until it was time to go, so it was good."

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion
Finished 32nd
"I'm alright. It's not the most fun run I've ever had, but it's Talladega. It's one of those things. I hate this place. I always have and always will. I don't know. I'm not really sure. I wish I could give you a description of what happened. I was just in the middle four-wide, I was getting shoved and I got in the right-rear of Michael, but I was on the brakes as hard as I could be getting pushed as hard as I was. It was just one of those things."

HAVE YOU EVER FLIPPED LIKE THAT BEFORE? "No, I've never flipped in anything like that. I guess there's a first for everything, but that's the first I never wanted to have."

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR RACE BEFORE THAT? "It wasn't very good. I just hate this place. I'm proud of my guys. They fought hard. We went two laps down and we've got something with our shocks with the compression in it. It just doesn't allow us to change the right-front very fast, so we got a lap down and we lost the draft, and then we got bundled up and I got hit once and spin to go two down, so I'm just proud of the guys for fighting so hard. We got back on the lead lap and I thought maybe we had a chance to get something good out of it, so I'm sorry for that. Honestly, like I said, I hate this place but I'm just proud of my guys. They keep fighting in a lot of tough times right now."

Credit - Ford Racing

Talladega Race Results

Amp Energy 500 Finishing Order
1. Clint Bowyer
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. David Reutimann
5. Joey Logano
6. Martin Truex, Jr.
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Mark Martin
12. Regan Smith
13. Paul Menard
14. Elliott Sadler
15. Sam Hornish, Jr.
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Carl Edwards
18. Robby Gordon
19. Greg Biffle
20. Aric Almirola
21. David Ragan
22. Chad McCumbee
23. Ryan Newman
24. Casey Mears
25. Kyle Busch
26. Kasey Kahne
27. Joe Nemechek
28. Michael Waltrip
29. Scott Speed
30. Kurt Busch
31. Tony Stewart
32. AJ Allmendinger
33. David Gilliland
34. Marcos Ambrose
35. Michael McDowell
36. Jamie McMurray
37. Robert Richardson
38. Bobby Labonte
39. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
40. Bill Elliott
41. Jeff Burton
42. Dave Blaney
43. Jeff Fuller

Talladega II Qualifying Quotes

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 Hunt Brother's Ford Fusion
Qualified 33rd
"That was a normal Talladega lap, you just hold it straight and hold the gas down, and where you qualify is where you qualify. We'll go get 'em tomorrow. We're definitely gonna race, at least at the beginning and see what happens, see what kind of position we're in or how wild it is, but it's gonna be a pretty wild race tomorrow with the two-car tandems we've figured out and all the bump drafting. It should be a really good race for everyone tomorrow to watch."

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion
Qualified 36th
"It's funny. It really doesn't matter that much where you end up in the qualifying order. It's one of those things where you're just out there kind of riding along trying to not move your hands very much, just out for a Sunday drive. It wasn't a big deal. We'll start where we start and go from there."

HOW WAS THE LAP OVERALL? "I fell asleep at one point down the back straightaway. I took a nap, but woke up for three, luckily, just in time to make the corner. Other than that, there's some nice scenery down the back straight. There seems like a nice party still going on from last night, so that was pretty good. I was pretty excited about that. I think I know where to hang out tonight, but, other than that, that was about it (laughing)."

HOW CHALLENGING IS IT RIGHT NOW? "Ultimately, you can only control what you can control. I can control racing the car right now. I wish I had answers. I wish I could tell my team guys it's gonna be okay. I wish I could have answers that everybody wants, but I don't. Robbie Loomis is the guy to talk to about those answers. For me, all we can do is just like last week, we go to the race track and come with the guys, have fun, put our heads down and try to win a race. It's not easy. I'm not sitting at home just thinking everything is peachy. I'm a guy that stresses a lot about everything, so, in the end, we're here racing the car. Hopefully, next weekend we're at Texas racing the car, but we're here, we're having fun and it's the same goal - go out there and win."

***

ARIC ALMIROLA - No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Qualified 37th
"That was good. It was good yesterday in race practice, so that's what I'm more worried about. I'm just gonna go race. I know there's a lot of people on a lot of different agendas, but the beauty of the situation that I feel like I'm put in is I have absolutely no pressure. I've got a great opportunity next year to go drive Dale Jr's. Nationwide car, so I'm not auditioning for a job or anything like that, so I can just go race. It's kind of fun for me, actually."

***

PAUL MENARD - No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Qualified 38th
"Qualifying here is never eventful, but the race makes up for it. We lost a little bit of time from yesterday. It's a lot less windy today, but we knew we weren't gonna start on the pole. Hopefully, we can stay out of trouble because we've got a really fast race car. We'll try to stay out of trouble for the first 450 miles and race them the last 50."

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN FOR TOMORROW? "We'll see where we end up in qualifying, but we tried a lot of things yesterday. Our Fusion sucks up really well. It can push the car in front and there's no problem with handling. I can put it where I want to, it's just a matter of being in the right line at the right time."

Credit - Ford Racing

Talladega II Qualifying Results

Amp Energy Juice 500 Starting Lineup
1. Juan Pablo Montoya
2. Clint Bowyer
3. Kurt Busch
4. Joe Nemechek
5. Jeff Burton
6. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
7. Dave Blaney
8. Ryan Newman
9. Casey Mears
10. Sam Hornish, Jr.
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Jamie McMurray
13. Jeff Fuller
14. Kevin Harvick
15. Michael McDowell
16. Kasey Kahne
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Martin Truex, Jr.
19. Jimmie Johnson
20. Michael Waltrip
21. David Reutimann
22. Chad McCumbee
23. Carl Edwards
24. Bobby Labonte
25. Joey Logano
26. Tony Stewart
27. Matt Kenseth
28. David Ragan
29. Scott Speed
30. Mark Martin
31. Jeff Gordon
32. Kyle Busch
33. Elliott Sadler
34. Greg Biffle
35. Marcos Ambrose
36. AJ Allmendinger
37. Aric Almirola
38. Paul Menard
39. Regan Smith
40. David Gilliland
41. Robert Richardson, Jr.
42. Robby Gordon
43. Bill Elliott
DNQ Landon Cassill
DNQ Travis Kvapil
DNQ Johnny Sauter

Talladega II Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger has made four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
• Allmendinger posted his best finish at the track (19th) in the spring event this season
• After 32 races, Allmendinger holds down 20th place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Talladega Superspeedway: “I never know exactly how to feel about going to the superspeedway events. These races are such big question marks. We have four pretty strong teams and really talented superspeedway drivers and the more help you can have on these tracks, the better. Our Valvoline Ford should be pretty strong and I think I get to be a better driver at these restrictor plate races every time we go, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do this weekend.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on Talladega: “Talladega is like a big lottery. If you get in the right line at the right time you can go from the 20th position all the way to first or from first to all the way back to 20th in one lap. Its just being in the right place at the right time, finding people that will help you and missing the wrecks.

“At Talladega handling is kind of a non-issue. Its mostly about horsepower and how fast you can go because the track has so much banking and its so smooth since they’ve repaved it. You’re just wide open all the way around the 2.66-mile track. You never have to lift out of the throttle. The name of the game is staying out of trouble for 160 laps and then really going racing for the last 28.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 682 for this weekend’s event at Talladega Superspeedway. This is the team’s favorite superspeedway car and is the same one the No. 43 crew has prepared for all three of the previous superspeedway races this season.

Notes: Valvoline will make a return appearance on the hood of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion this weekend in Talladega. This week, the names of the Spotlight Lexington volunteers from the World Equestrian Games, which took place at the beginning of this month, are on the hood of the No. 43 Ford. On the final day of the festival, Oct. 10, one lucky volunteer won the car hood and two tickets to the race, Valvoline was a large supporter of the World Equestrian Games, which took place in Lexington, Ky., this year.

Valvoline, a division of Ashland Inc., serves more than 100 countries worldwide and is a leading marketer, distributor and producer of quality branded automotive and industrial products and services. For more information about Valvoline products, please visit http://valvoline.com/.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Martinsville II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger began the race at Martinsville Speedway from the 15th position
• Allmendinger finished the event in 12th place
• The No. 43 team scored its 16th top-15 finish this weekend in Martinsville

Race Summary: On what was a beautiful fall Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, AJ Allmendinger launched from the 15th position to start race No. 31 of the 2010 season. In the opening laps around the .526-mile track, Allmendinger took time to assess how his No.

43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion was handling and relayed to Crew Chief Mike Shiplett that the machine was tight. Shiplett was given a chance to call for changes with the 500-lap event’s first caution of the day at Lap 47. Allmendinger brought the No. 43 down pit road to the attention of his Richard Petty Motorsports crew for both wedge and trackbar adjustments. The team also bolted on four fresh tires and topped the racecar off with fuel before sending its driver off pit road.

Allmendinger fought hard to overcome slight handling issues and was able to maintain track position among the top-20 in the field for the majority of the event. In typical short-track fashion, the race witnessed 15 caution periods. While Shiplett made the decision to not pit at each caution, he was able to utilize several of the them to bring his driver down pit road for further adjustments.

Over the course of the remaining 150 laps, it was as if Allmendinger and the No. 43 team found the right mix and came to life. Allmendinger cracked the top 10 at Lap 364. The driver held position among the top-10. When the checkered flag waved, the No. 43 shot across the finish line in the 12th position.

Allmendinger remains in the 20th position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings with four races remaining.

Allmendinger on the Martinsville Event: “I’m happy, but I’m mad at myself because I messed up on that pit stop. We finally got some track position, and were finally getting to the front when we were up to seventh or eighth, but I messed up on our two-tire stop. I just tried to leave too quickly and stalled it and that put us in the back, so we had to fight from there, so I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m pleased with the finish. Anytime you get a top 12 at Martinsville, and I think it’s the first time I’ve ever run all 500 laps here, too; so, all in all, it was a good day. I’m happy for the guys and mad at myself a little bit, but it was a decent day. After everything this week, I’m just proud of my guys, my pit crew, my road crew and everybody back at the shop for building a good race car and rallying, putting their heads down and just forgetting about everything going on around us.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Martinsville II Post-Race Quote

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 12th
"I'm happy, but I'm mad at myself because I messed up on that pit stop. We finally got some track position, and were finally getting to the front when we were up to seventh or eighth, but I messed up on our two-tire stop. I just tried to leave too quick and stalled it and that put us in the back, so we had to fight from there, so I wouldn't say I'm happy, but I'm pleased with the finish. Anytime you get a top 12 at Martinsville, I think it's the first time I've ever run all 500 laps here, too, so, all in all, it was a good day. I think we gained some points on a couple guys around us, but, more importantly, we got back to running well after the last couple of weeks. I'm happy for the guys and mad at myself a little bit, but it was a decent day."

WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOUR TEAM THAT WITH ALL THE DISTRACTIONS THIS WEEK THEY HAD A SOLID PERFORMANCE TODAY? "We can't change anything that's going on behind the scenes and what's gonna happen. We can't change that. We can come here and, for me, no matter what happens I feel like I'll figure something out. I'm more worried for my guys because they bust their butts to go out here and work this hard. They don't get paid a lot of money and they spend their whole life doing this, so I just want to try to take care of them. After everything this week, I'm just proud of my guys, my pit crew, my road crew and everybody back at the shop for building a good race car and rallying - putting their heads down and just forgetting about everything going on around us."

Credit - Ford Racing

Martinsville II Race Results

Tums Fast Relief 500 Finishing Order
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Mark Martin
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kyle Busch
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Joey Logano
7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
8. Carl Edwards
9. Jeff Burton
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Jamie McMurray
12. AJ Allmendinger
13. Paul Menard
14. Kasey Kahne
15. Matt Kenseth
16. Kurt Busch
17. David Ragan
18. Ken Schrader
19. Juan Pablo Montoya
20. Jeff Gordon
21. Aric Almirola
22. Robby Gordon
23. Scott Speed
24. Tony Stewart
25. Sam Hornish, Jr.
26. Hermie Sadler
27. David Reutimann
28. Elliott Sadler
29. Martin Truex, Jr.
30. Ryan Newman
31. Regan Smith
32. Tony Raines
33. Greg Biffle
34. Marcos Ambrose
35. Travis Kvapil
36. Dave Blaney
37. David Gilliland
38. Clint Bowyer
39. JJ Yeley
40. Casey Mears
41. Joe Nemechek
42. Landon Cassill
43. Bobby Labonte

Martinsville II Qualifying Results

Tums Fast Relief 500 Starting Lineup
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Marcos Ambrose
3. Greg Biffle
4. Ryan Newman
5. Juan Pablo Montoya
6. Tony Stewart
7. Carl Edwards
8. David Reutimann
9. Jamie McMurray
10. David Ragan
11. Jeff Gordon
12. Paul Menard
13. Regan Smith
14. Scott Speed
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Martin Truex, Jr.
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Jeff Burton
19. Jimmie Johnson
20. Casey Mears
21. Mark Martin
22. Joey Logano
23. Bobby Labonte
24. Sam Hornish, Jr.
25. Brad Keselowski
26. Kyle Busch
27. Travis Kvapil
28. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
29. Kurt Busch
30. Landon Cassill
31. Elliott Sadler
32. Matt Kenseth
33. Kasey Kahne
34. Dave Blaney
35. Aric Almirola
36. Kevin Harvick
37. Joe Nemechek
38. Ken Schrader
39. David Gilliland
40. Tony Raines
41. Kevin Conway
42. Hermie Sadler
43. JJ Yeley
DNQ Michael McDowell
DNQ Robby Gordon
DNQ Terry Cook
DNQ Johnny Sauter

Martinsville II Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger has made six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
• Allmendinger’s best finish at the .526-mile track is a ninth-place effort (2009)
• After 31 races, Allmendinger holds down 20th place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Martinsville (Va.) Speedway: “We were disappointed in the way things went on raceday last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The guys did a good job with the car and was decent all night, but I felt like we struggled with some things that were out of our control. The good news is that all of our hard work has finally helped us make it into the top 20 in points. It has taken us a while to get there, but it’s been a goal of ours and our perseverance has paid off. Now we just need to make sure we stay there. Martinsville and Talladega can be a bit of a crapshoot, and we got into some trouble the last time we were in Martinsville, so the most important thing will be finishing the race problem free.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on Martinsville: “Martinsville is one of those places we visit where one of the hardest challenges is pit road. It’s pretty narrow getting on and off so we’ll have to be careful and make sure we don’t make any mistakes there. It’s important to qualify up front, obviously, because it’s so hard to pass there and it’s so easy to get lapped on a longer green flag run. We’ve had some good qualifying runs on the shorter tracks we’ve run on recently, so I’m pretty confident we have what it takes to start up front in Martinsville.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 289 for this weekend’s event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. This chassis has been utilized on several occasions this season including in the most recent event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway where Allmendinger drove to a eighth-place finish.

Notes: Car chief Brian Dantinne will serve as one of the 43 Grand Marshals for this weekend’s event at Martinsville Speedway. Born in Wallace, Mich., in 1967, Dantinne began his career by turning wrenches on race cars at the local short tracks at the age of 12. He spent time in the American Speed Association ranks before moving to NASCAR. For the past three seasons, he has worked as car chief for the No. 43 Fords made famous by team owner Richard Petty.

“My job both on race day and back at the shop is to oversee the guys working on the car and making sure everything is performing the way it’s supposed to,” Dantinne says. “My favorite part of the job is meeting new people and traveling. It’s a people sport. We get to see new parts of the country and enjoy new venues. I never dreamed I could make a career of racing but I’ve been involved now for 30 years. It’s been a fun ride.”

Martinsville Speedway is the site of the most recent time the No. 43 car went to Victory Lane. Piloted by John Andretti, the No. 43 machine was the first to the checkered flag in the spring event in 1999. AJ Allmendinger has had some success on the .526-mile track. Allmendinger posted a ninth-place effort in the spring event on the concrete, paper-clip shaped oval driving for Richard Petty Motorsports back in 2009.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Charlotte II Race Recap

AJ Allmendinger finished Saturday night's Bank of America 500 in 25th with the No. 43 WIx Filters Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports after fighting to the finish with a stricken motor. The result is the worst finish for AJ and the No. 43 since taking 31st at Bristol in August, yet still moved him up one spot in the points to 20th with just five races left to go in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Despite the disappointment of starting so well with a third place spot on the grid, the run to 25th was another strong showing as AJ made the most of his Fusion's handling to stay on the lead lap and in the top 20 for most of the long race despite not having full power from the drop of the green.

Entering the weekend, Allmendinger and crew chief Mike Shiplett had been hitting a strong stride, taking top twenty finishes in every race since Labor Day including three top tens as well as some stout qualifying runs to boot. The issue marked the second weekend where AJ didn't seem to have the full complement of ponies on offer from the motor, but he kept his head down and made the most of what he had to bring home some points. "I'm not sure what was going on," said AJ.

"We seemed right away to have a similar issue as last week with the horsepower. It's like I had no pick up out of the corner and no speed down the straights.It got progressively worse and we just tried to nurse it to get what we could. I apologized to Mike and my guys because I got pretty frustrated on the radio. We're just so much a top 10 team now and the last two weeks have been frustrating because of that. I know they're taking apart the engine right now to figure it out, so we'll see what happened."

Credit - www.ajallmendinger.com

Charlotte II Race Results

Bank of America 500 Finishing Order
1. Jamie McMurray
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Greg Biffle
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Joey Logano
8. Kevin Harvick
9. David Reutimann
10. David Ragan
11. Juan Pablo Montoya
12. Carl Edwards
13. Regan Smith
14. Mark Martin
15. Martin Truex, Jr.
16. Marcos Ambrose
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Reed Sorenson
19. Scott Speed
20. Jeff Burton
21. Tony Stewart
22. Bobby Labonte
23. Jeff Gordon
24. Paul Menard
25. AJ Allmendinger
26. Elliot Sadler
27. Brad Keselowski
28. David Gilliland
29. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
30. Kurt Busch
31. Travis Kvapil
32. Dave Blaney
33. Robby Gordon
34. Andy Lally
35. Bill Elliott
36. Ryan Newman
37. Patrick Carpentier
38. Kasey Kahne
39. Michael McDowell
40. Sam Hornish, Jr.
41. Jeff Green
42. Landon Cassill
43. JJ Yeley

Charlotte II Post-Qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 WIX Filters Ford Fusion
Qualified 3rd
"The 43 team has been fast unloading the last few weeks and in qualifying the last couple of weeks we just kind of lost it a little bit. I'm not very good around here, so when I threw that lap down, it felt good but there was so much grip on the race track you didn't really know how good the car was, but Mike Shiplett and all the guys on the 43 team pumped me up. Mike is fun to work with. He's always pumping me up, even when I'm a little nervous about qualifying or struggling after practice. He's just a great guy to work for and have as a crew chief, so I'm happy we've got Wix Filters. We've got a sweet little paint job on the car this weekend, it's their first time as a primary, so we've got them up front and hope we have a great Saturday night."

***

PAUL MENARD - No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Qualified 5th
"It was a good lap. I was hoping for more and an early draw might hurt us here. I'm not sure how much more it's gonna cool off, but it'll probably get some more grip. It was a good lap, though."

HAVE YOU EVER GONE THIS FAST BEFORE AT CHARLOTTE? "It's pretty close if it's not. I remember some guys running in the 27's here a year or two ago. I'm not sure if I was one of those guys, but it was pretty fast."

HOW WAS THE LAP? "Charlotte is one of the most temperature sensitive tracks we go to and obviously we practiced and it was sunny out and a little bit slicker. The sun went down and it's dark, so the track has a lot more grip. I was hoping I'd go a little bit faster. The car felt really good and it felt like I could maybe have gotten a little bit more, but we'll just have to see how it holds up. I didn't hold back anything, but I messed up because I didn't run a perfect lap. I ran a 95 percent lap. I could have gotten just a little bit more here and there if I would have hit my marks just right, but there is more speed out there and somebody is probably gonna get it."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 9th
"I'm glad to be back at Charlotte. We've got a brand new race car these guys have brought for me this weekend. I'm very happy with it in race trim. I don't know where that's gonna stack up because there is plenty of grip tonight in the race track. I don't know about my track record. I don't know if it's gonna last through the night or not, but I'm proud of my guys. It was a great night and I'm very happy with it. We'll go and get the most of it on Saturday night."

HOW IS IT TO PRACTICE IN THE DAY AND RACE AT NIGHT? "That's when you have to have a good crew chief, and I think I've got the best one in the garage in Todd Parrott. We've had a lot of success together. We qualified second last week and that's the best we've qualified in a long time. We feel like we have a really good car for this weekend. It's his job to make all the adjustments and my job to try to hold it to the mat, so he did his job very, very well for tonight. I was very, very pleased with the car. We'll see how it ends up."

Credit - Ford Racing

Allmendinger - Third Place Post-Qualifying Interview

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 WIX Filters Ford Fusion
Qualified 3rd

"It was a bit of a surprise. The car was good in practice. In race trim I was really excited about it. With about the 15 laps we ran the car was handling really well, and then in qualifying trim the thing seemed pretty good, but the car was better than the driver honestly in qualifying. I usually struggle here, so for the actual qualifying lap Mike Shiplett, he does a good job pumping me up. I saw my teammates were fast and they were saying the track had a lot of grip, so I just went out there and tried to lay down a lap the best I could and the car was solid. It got a little bit tight in three and four. I don't know if that hurt us and our chance to maybe get the pole, but, all in all, from where we were in practice and how the car was handling in race trim I'm real excited. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and to go out there and work on the car, and for Saturday night to get the new sponsor, Wix Filters, get that up there. The car looks really cool, so hopefully for their first primary on the 43 we can go out there and put on a show for them."

ARE YOU FEELING LIKE SOMETHING HAS CLICKED FOR YOU? "Honestly, it's just experience with the race team. This is my first full year working with Mike Shiplett and all the guys on the 43. For us to come together and really assemble the team, at the end of last year we kind of had a few of our guys working together, but, really, it's our first full year and obviously working with Ford for the first full year. The alliance with have with Roush Fenway, I think it took awhile in the beginning of the season to get our cars and what we wanted and I think just over the last six to seven weeks Mike and I have been really working well together. We kind of made some changes inside the race team engineering-wise, just putting a couple people here and there and I think that's helped a lot, so just all together we're clicking. The race cars are getting better, the guys at the race shop are building great cars, making the cars lighter. This is probably the lightest car we've run all year - the newest, updated body - so the cars are just getting better and when that happens I get more confidence, Mike gets more confident, and I feel like we're clicking. To me, what's exciting is we've had some good races but even the races that we've struggled in - Kansas, even Fontana last week - when we're running 30th in the beginning of the race, those are the races typically at the beginning of the season where we would finish 25th. We'd kind of stay there. We wouldn't make the car any better. We'd struggle all day and we finished 10th at Kansas and if it wasn't for that late-race yellow last week at Fontana I think we had a chance at 10th, so those are the races I'm really proud of - the ones we struggle in and can still make something good out of it. That's what makes these teams that are so good - the 48, the 29 - makes them what they are is not the good days, but when they're struggling, to make something good out of it."

WHAT ACTIVATED THIS SUCCESS FOR RPM? "It's everything I really talked about. The alliance with Roush Fenway and Ford keeps updating stuff and making motors faster. We're working well together and I think all the cars are starting to run well and that's good, especially in qualifying trim I think the last few weeks there has been an RPM car on the pole or the front row, so the whole race team is working well together, working hard and just trying to go out there and make everything better. It's not one thing, it's a lot of small things and everybody is working well together. When the teams run strong, I think that just gives everybody confidence and it shows throughout the organization."

DID THE TRACK CHANGE MUCH FROM PRACTICE? "For me, like I said, the car was good in race trim. I know what I want it to feel like in race trim here, it's just that I've always struggled in qualifying. It was the same thing, the car wasn't really that bad in practice, I could just never really get a good lap and a feel for how to get around this place, especially today with being so cool. There was so much grip on the race track that you just really had to get after it and to be able to go back in the truck and look to see what other cars were doing on the race track, being compared to like the 39 and the 20 car - seeing what they were doing on both ends of the race track helped me out a lot, and listening to Paul and Elliott on the radio talk about how much grip the race track had. I went out there just knowing that there was gonna be a ton of grip and to just try to get after it from the things I learned. I think the car was good all day, I just needed to keep getting better."

YOU'RE KIND OF ON A ROLLERCOASTER WITH QUALIFYING OF LATE. "We got on such a good roll there qualifying-wise and Kansas all weekend we struggled and we were never really good. We were struggling, especially on Friday and Saturday, even Sunday we struggled a lot, and we pulled something good out of it at the end there. Fontana last week we were second after practice, but didn't have a great draw. We went out second and just got the car a little bit too tight, so I think it was a combination of the draw hurting us last week and I didn't hit a real clean lap last week, so I felt like the car was a lot better than we qualified. We came here and it was the same thing, we unloaded well. The biggest thing for us, and something that I think over the last six or seven weeks that has improved, is just unloading good off the hauler and getting on the race track and being good in race trim, and then being able to go over to qualifying trim and make that work, so I think it's part of the way the Sprint Cup Series is, you just have to keep working hard and some weeks are better than others."

Credit - Ford Racing

Charlotte II Qualifying Results

Bank of America 500 Starting Lineup
1. Jeff Gordon
2. Carl Edwards
3. AJ Allmendinger
4. Mark Martin
5. Paul Menard
6. Kyle Busch
7. Reed Sorenson
8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
9. Elliott Sadler
10. Jimmie Johnson
11. Ryan Newman
12. Joey Logano
13. Martin Truex, Jr.
14. Marcos Ambrose
15. Kurt Busch
16. David Reutimann
17. Matt Kenseth
18. Jeff Burton
19. Sam Hornish, Jr.
20. Clint Bowyer
21. Scott Speed
22. Greg Biffle
23. Denny Hamlin
24. Kevin Harvick
25. Kasey Kahne
26. David Ragan
27. Jamie McMurray
28. Landon Cassill
29. Tony Stewart
30. Bobby Labonte
31. Brad Keselowski
32. Regan Smith
33. Michael McDowell
34. Juan Pablo Montoya
35. Patrick Carpentier
36. David Gilliland
37. Bill Elliott
38. Andy Lally
39. Robby Gordon
40. JJ Yeley
41. Dave Blaney
42. Travis Kvapil
43. Jeff Green
DNQ Joe Nemechek
DNQ Casey Mears
DNQ Mike Bliss
DNQ Jason Leffler
DNQ Kevin Conway
DNQ Johnny Sauter

Charlotte II Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 WIX Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger has made seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Allmendinger posted his best finish at the track (14th) this spring
• After 30 races, Allmendinger holds down 21st place in the NSCS driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway: “I think Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of the most temperature-sensitive tracks that we go to, When it’s hot out, the track is very slick and you fight grip issues, but when it’s a little cooler, like I expect it will be this weekend, the track can get really tight and you’ll struggle trying to get your car to turn. It also seems like the corners are really short. It’s really important that you can get your car to turn in and off the corners because you need to have as much momentum as possible to get down the straightaways.

“We’ve got a new paint scheme on the No. 43 Ford this weekend. WIX has been around the sport for a long time and been a long-time partner with Richard Petty and they’ve come on board this weekend to serve as primary sponsor. The car’s got a bunch of Petty Blue and looks great. I’m really excited to be behind the wheel and to be representing WIX Filters this weekend.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on Charlotte: “We practice during the day and then we qualify at night, so we have to work on getting the balance right for nighttime qualifying and then the next day we practice during the day and have to get the balance right for the night race, so this one always keeps us on our toes.

“Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway is always special because it’s so close to home. This is usually one that is really important to our partners and sponsors and they typically attend this race. It’s also one of the only times during the year the crew guys’ friends and families can see them in action, so running well at CMS is important from a competition standpoint, but it has a certain pride factor involved with it too.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 265 for this weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This chassis has been utilized on several occasions this season including the most recent event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and the spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Allmendinger drove to a sixth-place finish.

Notes: The No. 43 Ford Fusion will showcase the familiar Petty Blue color this weekend as WIX Filters hops on board the car to serve as primary sponsor. WIX Filter’s history in racing started with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty, who began using the product to protect his stock car engines in 1967. WIX partnered with Petty to win his second NASCAR championship that season, and WIX filtration technology went on to help him win five more throughout his illustrious career.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Fontana II Race Recap

Auto Club Speedway has not been one of the kindest tracks to AJ since the California native moved to Richard Petty Motorsports. With finishes of 29th, 33rd, and 25th in the three outings prior to this weekend’s race, my expectations weren’t unrealistically high for him being able to extend his streak of top-10 finishes.

The #43 Valvoline Ford was fast in first practice on Friday, but a bad qualifying draw and a hot, slick race track put him way back in the field for Sunday’s race. The team worked on the handling of the car in both the Saturday practice sessions, but they were still struggling to find over-all grip when Happy Hour wrapped up.

When the green flag dropped for Sunday’s race, AJ gradually made his way forward. By the first green flag pit stop he had moved from 30th position to 19th. The #43 Ford Fusion was slow on new tires, but faster on long runs. After a quick caution for the blown up #16 car of Greg Biffle, AJ made some gutsy moves on a restart and moved from 21st place to 8th in the matter of five laps.

As the middle stretch of the race played out, wind started wreaking havoc on the competitors. Already battling a car that felt like it was being driven on ice, the crosswinds mad the #43 Ford want to come around in the corner. AJ slipped back through the field and then a slow pit stop where the driver slid in too close to the wall cost them some valuable track position.

AJ stayed in the top 15 for much for the remainder of the first half of the race, but continued to battle with no front or rear grip. After another bad pit stop, this time on the part of the crew, the team decided to make some big adjustments and risk the loss of a few spots on the track. The handling seemed to be better though, because after restarting in 20th position AJ managed to again crack the top 10 by lap 150.

The last quarter of the race was plagued with cautions, one coming right after AJ hit a piece of debris that did slight damage to the splitter of the car. Varying pit strategy and a car that had trouble on newer tires led to the team falling back through the field and then coming forward.

By the final Green-White-Checker, AJ was sitting in 11th place but unfortunately was one of the last cars without fresh tires. After being blocked by Regan Smith on the restart, AJ lost his momentum going into the corner and found himself in the middle of a five-wide gaggle of cars. Just trying to survive at this point, AJ drove his heart out for the final two laps to what would end up being a 19th place finish.

It was AJ’s best result at Auto Club Speedway since joining RPM, but it was still not indicative of where he ran for most of the day. The team had a solid top-15 car and unfortunately didn’t finish where they should have. It was still an improvement on a track that they have struggled with, and hopefully will give them some notes to take to the rest of the 1 ½ and 2 mile tracks.

Fontana II Race Results

Pepsi Max 400 Finishing Order
1. Tony Stewart
2. Clint Bowyer
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Ryan Newman
6. Mark Martin
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Jeff Gordon
10. David Reutimann
11. Joey Logano
12. Regan Smith
13. Elliott Sadler
14. Juan Pablo Montoya
15. Sam Hornish, Jr.
16. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
17. Jamie McMurray
18. Martin Truex, Jr.
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. David Gilliland
21. Kurt Busch
22. Paul Menard
23. Jeff Burton
24. Scott Speed
25. Casey Mears
26. Brad Keselowski
27. Reed Sorenson
28. Travis Kvapil
29. Dave Blaney
30. Matt Kenseth
31. Kevin Conway
32. David Ragan
33. Marcos Ambrose
34. Carl Edwards
35. Kyle Busch
36. Andy Lally
37. Joe Nemechek
38. Bobby Labonte
39. Michael McDowell
40. Landon Cassill
41. Greg Biffle
42. JJ Yeley
43. Jason Leffler

Fontana II Qualifying Results

Pepsi Max 400 Starting Lineup
1. Jamie McMurray
2. Elliott Sadler
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Martin Truex, Jr.
7. Greg Biffle
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
10. Joey Logano
11. Mark Martin
12. Casey Mears
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Ryan Newman
15. Jeff Burton
16. Kyle Busch
17. Jeff Gordon
18. David Ragan
19. Regan Smith
20. Carl Edwards
21. Kevin Harvick
22. Tony Stewart
23. David Reutimann
24. Paul Menard
25. Brad Keselowski
26. Marcos Ambrose
27. Reed Sorenson
28. Michael McDowell
29. Scott Speed
30. AJ Allmendinger
31. JJ Yeley
32. David Gilliland
33. Jason Leffler
34. Denny Hamlin
35. Joe Nemechek
36. Landon Cassill
37. Sam Hornish, Jr.
38. Kurt Busch
39. Dave Blaney
40. Travis Kvapil
41. Kevin Conway
42. Andy Lally
43. Bobby Labonte
DNQ Mike Bliss
DNQ Patrick Carpentier

Fontana II Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion

AJ Allmendinger on Auto Club Speedway: "I'm excited to get to the racetrack every week these days and the fact that we are headed to California is just an added bonus for me. I always enjoy the opportunity to go home to California and have the chance to see friends and family even in the limited amount of time that we have available. More importantly though, I get to get back in the No. 43 Ford Fusion and see what we can do.

"I think we've begun to turn a corner in the past month or so. We run much more consistently each weekend and even when we start off a little behind the eight ball like we did last week in Kansas, we are able to make better decisions in regards to what to do to make the car better throughout the course of the weekend and during the race. I'm really proud of my team and how far we've come this year. We have really high hopes for what we can accomplish together during these last seven races of the season. Everything we do now is only going to make the program for next year even stronger. This No. 43 team still has things to improve upon in order for us to be a force to be reckoned with every week, but people know we're there week in and week out and that's a step in the right direction."

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett's Thoughts on Fontana: "You can move around a lot at that track. California is a really wide track and there are three or four different lines you can take and move around in to help the car out if you need to. It's a big momentum track to so you need to be able to get in and off the corners well so you have good momentum getting onto the long straightaways."

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett has prepared chassis No. 276 for this weekend's event at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. This chassis was most recently run at the second event at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and has also been utilized at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

AJ Allmendinger - Ford Interview

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion, has been one of the hotter drivers on the Cup circuit in recent weeks. Allmendinger posted a top-10 finish last weekend in Kansas and now returns to his home state of California for this weekend's Pepsi MAX 400. Allmendinger talked about returning to the Golden State and his recent work on Fords 43 Fiestas campaign, meeting Ken Block, and more.

YOU ARE HEADING BACK TO YOUR HOME STATE THIS WEEKEND, IS THAT FUN OR STRESSFUL OR BOTH FOR YOU? "Fontana is not too bad because it is Southern California. I basically have a few family and friends that will come out there. Sonoma is a lot more stressful for me. I enjoy going back to California any chance I get. We are going out early this week and we are going to play Pebble Beach and Spyglass, which the way it has been going I am not sure why, but it should be cool. When it comes to the race itself, we didn't have a very good first race there but it is something we have been working on and I feel we have gotten a lot better since we were there. It is exciting, but I am a little nervous to see how we will be there. It hasn't been our best type of race track, but I think we have learned a lot of things over the last few weeks that I think will help us there."

YOU ARE INVOLVED IN A BIG PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR FORD RIGHT NOW WITH THE 43 FIESTAS. ARE YOU GOING HOLLYWOOD ON US? "I have always been Hollywood; people are just now starting to recognize it (laughter)."

WELL YOU SEEM COMFORTABLE IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, DO YOU ENJOY IT? "It has been cool. Being able to be a part of Ford and have a certain thing that has to do with myself and the No. 43 and Ken Block has been really fun. It will be a lot better if we go to Homestead and actually win the thing because people will like me after that. If I don't win, then people will hate me, which I am used to. Seriously though, it has been a lot of fun and exciting to be a part of Ford and for them to allow me to do these things has been great. Every day I would rather be driving a race car, but I enjoy doing stuff like that. That is something that Richard Petty has taught me. He always says that if you are going to be asked to do stuff like that, then you should have fun doing it. It has been really cool."

YOU GOT TO INVOLVE RICHARD PETTY AND KEN BLOCK IN THESE COMMERCIALS AND WEBISODES, WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO HAVE THOSE WORLDS ALL COLLIDE? "Obviously I am around Richard every weekend, but to be able to see Ken Block and meet him and to talk to him was great. I always enjoy being able to talk to different athletes and learn about their sport. It is still auto racing, but it is a completely different type. He is pretty good at it, so to talk to him and see what gets him going and what he thrives on and how he goes about things is really cool. Seeing the inside videos he has that he is doing, like Gymkhana THREE which is amazing, was really fun."

IS THERE ANYTING ABOUT THAT PRODUCTION PROCESS THAT SURPRISED YOU? "It is a lot of work for the camera crew, but for us it is kind of boring. We got like an hour of fun and 10 hours of standing around. For something that is 30-seconds long, you think that we can knock it out in a couple of hours. It just takes a long time, but at the same time it is really fun. We had some weather issues along the way that lengthened our days. Everything that goes into those things and being able to hang out with the crew and having some fun with them was great. The whole experience has been awesome. Now if we can just get everyone to go to 43Fiestas.com and register so that I get even more people cheering for me in Homestead, that would be awesome."

Credit - Ford Racing