Dover II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

• AJ Allmendinger started Sunday’s event at Dover International Speedway from the front row
• Allmendinger led 143 laps of the event before a cut tire forced an unscheduled pit stop
• Allmendinger persevered and brought home a 10th-place finish in the event

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event from the outside of the front row and wrestled the lead from the No. 48 car on Lap 14 of the 400-lap event.

The first pit stop of the day came at Lap 39 and the Insignia HDTV pit crew went to work to ensure that their car was the first off pit road. Crew Chief Mike Shiplett called for four fresh tires and fuel during that stop, but made no adjustments to the car.

Allmendinger stretched his lead to over six seconds during the course of the first 125 laps. Shiplett called for a minor air pressure adjustment to the No. 43 Ford during a Lap 114 pit stop after his driver relayed that the car had become just a bit tight. Allmendinger continued to pace the field until Lap 172, when he was forced to make an unscheduled stop after suspecting that his Insignia HDTV Ford had a tire going down. Allmendinger drove down pit road to the attention of this crew who went to work to change all four tires and make a track bar adjustment. After some investigation, the team confirmed that the right rear tire had been punctured.

Allmendinger lost only one lap and returned to the track in 27th. By Lap 231 the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports machine was back on the lead lap running in the 18th position. Allmendinger continued to charge to the front of the field and less than 100 laps later, the driver held down the 13th position.

Allmendinger broke into the top 10 with just under 70 laps left in the event and despite a bit of a tight handling condition with his No. 43 Ford, was able to remain there when the checkered flag flew. It was the sixth time this season the team has posted a top-10 effort.

Allmendinger on the Dover Event: “Everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports is building great race cars and Doug Yates and all those guys are bringing a lot of horsepower. The car was dialed in and just a stupid five-cent washer got inside the tire. I knew something was wrong. I knew the right-rear was going down and after that you’re just fighting back the rest of the day. We have fast race cars and we’re getting there. They saw us lead. They saw that we had the speed there. They saw the Insignia/Best Buy Ford just out there flying. It was a good day, but it
could have been a great day.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR