Talladega Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion

• Allmendinger has made three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the 2.66-mile Talladega, Ala. track
• The driver started the event from the fourth position in his first start there in 2008
• Allmendinger holds down 23rd place in the points standings

AJ Allmendinger on Talladega: “I am really looking forward to Talladega this week. I think our team has found some momentum and I want to keep it going. We’ve posted back-to-back top-15 finishes, plus we grabbed the pole at Phoenix and led laps there. At Texas on Monday we could have just given up after that late race accident but this No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy team just kept fighting.

“This will only be my fourth start at Talladega and I haven’t had the best of luck so far. We ran well at Daytona - our Richard Petty Motorsports Ford was so fast there - so I’m hoping some of that translates over to this weekend’s race. It was so cool to pass through the field at Daytona and put the No. 43 in the lead position. I really hope this could be the week we put the No. 43 back in Victory Lane.”

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. We switch gears too this week as far as downforce goes. At Texas it was all about downforce where as here it will be about not having downforce, not having drag in the car.

“NASCAR did a test last month here and they played around with the new plate and the new spoiler. They think they found a good balance. The spoiler is not really going to make a big difference. It may affect drafting a little bit in the sense that it may make you suck up behind a car faster because the car in front of you is going to make the air get a little farther out creating a pocket for you to drive into. But that should be it. The No. 98 Richard Petty Motorsports team participated in that test so we have its notes to work with as well.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett have prepared chassis No. 682 for Sunday’s event at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. This is the same Ford Fusion the team ran in the season opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February.

Notes: The DIRECTV NASCAR Head 2 Head Challenge began this week at Texas Motor Speedway. 32 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams competed in a bracket formation challenge to benefit charities of their choosing. Allmendinger’s crew was pitted against the No. 14 team. Since the No. 43 Ford finished ahead of the No. 14, Allmendinger will compete in the next round this weekend in Talladega. This week he will be matched up against the No. 56 car driven by Martin Truex Jr.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR