Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Loudon II Race Recap

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion

*AJ Allmendinger started Sunday’s event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway from the sixth position
*Allmendinger brought home a 12th-place finish
*The driver picked up one place in the point standings and now stands in 21st place

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger fired up his No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion five cars behind the leader for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After a top-10 finish in Richmond the week prior, the Insignia team hoped to carry the momentum onto this one-mile track. With a few laps on his tires, Allmendinger communicated to Crew Chief Mike Shiplett that his Richard Petty Motorsports machine was too tight. After a right rear wedge adjustment during the first pit stop, Allmendinger and the Insignia HDTV team maintained a top-10 position.

At Lap 98, Allmendinger ran out of gas on pit road while attempting to bring his No. 43 in for four fresh tires and fuel. The extra time it took for Allmendinger to get to his pit caused the team to fall a lap down and forced the team to push for the lucky dog award. Allmendinger raced his competitors hard for the next 50 laps to ensure he would reap the benefits of the next caution flag. That yellow flag finally came at Lap 145 and after the team took advantage of the chance to pit for a slight air pressure adjustment, four tires and fuel, Allmendinger lined up for the restart back on the lead lap.

By lap 207, Allmendinger had worked his way to 18th position. Three more pit stops and 93 laps later, the No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford Fusion crossed the finish line in 12th position. Allmendinger, who ran as high as third during the 300-lap race, picked up one spot in the point standings and now stands in 21st place, only 40 markers outside the top 20.

Allmendinger on the Loudon Event:
“We just ran out of gas two laps earlier than we expected early in the race and that put us behind. The Insignia HDTV Ford was good all day, it just was so hard because we were back there in traffic and it is so hard to fight back. At the end we were pretty good. We were stuck behind Carl and racing him clean. It felt like if we could have gotten around him then we might have been able to run up to seventh or eighth with what happened out there. The car was fast though and it was a solid weekend all around.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

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