Pocono Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Coleman Natural Foods Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger has made five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
• Allmendinger’s best finish on the 2.5-mile tri-oval is 12th (2008)
• The driver is currently 23rd in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings

AJ Allmendinger on Pocono Raceway: “We’re excited to have Coleman Natural Foods on board our No. 43 Ford Fusion this weekend in Pocono. We’ll try our best to give them a great finish at this big, tough track.

“Pocono is a track you either really look forward to getting to or one that makes you lose a bunch of sleep the week before. The fans are always great and the area is beautiful, but the track can be really tough to figure out. Getting off the corners is so important and that’s we’ll concentrate on in practice. If you don’t get off the corners well, your momentum heading into the straights will really suffer and it will be a really long 500 miles. We’re one of a couple of Ford teams running the FR9 this weekend too, so it will be exciting to see how that affects things. I know we’ve got the speed we will need there and I know Mike Shiplett and the guys have prepared a really good car for me, so I’m ready to get there and get to work.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts on Pocono: “From a crew chief’s perspective, this is an important track. I mean, they’re all important, but since this track has some of the same characteristics as Indianapolis Motor Speedway and we race at Pocono twice so close together, you want to make sure you have your act together or you could be chasing your tail quite a bit in the next couple of months. We don’t want that, that’s for sure. AJ has had some pretty good success at this track and we’re hoping to build on that this weekend.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett has prepared chassis No. 288 for this weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway. This is the same chassis the car ran earlier this season at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and again several weeks ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

Notes: Richard Petty’s No. 43 won the first Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway back in 1974.

The No. 43 car will be the only Richard Petty Motorsports car running the new Ford FR9 engine this weekend in Pocono. All four RPM drivers are scheduled to run it the following weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Coleman Natural Foods will sponsor the No. 43 entry this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Coleman Natural Foods’ strict animal raising protocols surpass USDA standards providing your family with truly ALL NATURAL fresh pork and poultry cuts. Using only meats grown with their standards, Coleman Natural Foods offers Ready-to-Eat and Fully Cooked entrees like Bacon, Sausage, Hot Dogs, and Chicken Strips. For more information about Coleman Natural Foods, please visit www.ColemanNatural.com.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR