Texas Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Valvoline Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made six starts at Texas Motor Speedway
• Allmendinger enters the race in 14th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) at the track came in 2009

Allmendinger on Texas Motor Speedway: “Texas is a fast 1.5-mile track. I’ve run six races there and I feel like I’ve been able to improve every time we’ve raced there. We had a good run going last weekend at Martinsville before we got caught on pit road and went a lap down. I feel like we’ve got some momentum going into Texas. We had a decent finish (13th) there last spring, so I’m hopeful for good things this weekend in the Valvoline Ford.”

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett’s Keys to Getting Around Texas Motor Speedway: “It’s 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 of the corners. We’ll concentrate on those things this weekend and see what we can do with the Valvoline Ford.

“The biggest trouble with Texas is that there are some big bumps in the track in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 that really upset the car. The Valvoline Ford will have to be very loose to run fast. The bumps make the back of the car step out and will make the car loose off the corners. The car carries so much entry speed into the corners that the right front tire takes a lot of the load causing the tires to wear out fast. When the tires get a lot of laps on them the car begins to push in the middle of the corner. We will focus a lot on bump stop load in the right front corner of the car this weekend.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 752 for this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. This Valvoline Ford is a new car and has never been tested.

Notes: Allmendinger has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway and three top-15 finishes at the 1.5-mile track. Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) came at the fall race at Texas in 2009. He has completed a total of 1,811 laps at the track and has an average starting position of 18.2.

Allmendinger’s car will have a different look this weekend as Valvoline will make its second appearance of the year as the primary partner of the No. 43 Ford Fusion.

Allmendinger will be participating in the U.S. Air Force’s Dipped In Blue program Tuesday and Wednesday in San Antonio, Texas prior to going to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. During the two-day event Allmendinger will visit Randolph Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base to tour the facility and meet with trainees. As part of the program, he will also visit Randolph High School and talk with students about the Air Force program.

Can’t get enough of AJ? The Dinger will be appearing at the Best Buy Mobile store in Fort Worth, Texas (4800 S. Hulen Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76132). The appearance is scheduled for Thursday, April 7, from 7:30-9 p.m. CT and is open to the public.

Allmendinger will also be signing autographs at the Richard Petty Motorsports merchandise hauler Saturday, April 9 at 3:20 p.m. The first 80 guests in line at the merchandise hauler when it opens will receive a ticket that will allow them to take part in the autograph session.

Credit- Richard Petty Motorsports PR