Kansas Race Review

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 STP Ford Fusion
• AJ Allmendinger started in the 26th position Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway
• Allmendinger wheeled his way to a 27th-place finishing position
• Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 16th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings

Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up his STP Ford Fusion in the 26th starting position for Sunday’s STP 400 at Kansas Speedway. With a paint scheme resembling team owner Richard Petty’s 1972 STP ride, Allmendinger and his RPM team had high hopes for a successful day.

Not long after the drop of the green flag, Allmendinger let Crew Chief Mike Shiplett know that the No. 43 Ford was lacking rear grip. Shiplett made plans to make air pressure and track bar adjustments during the first pit stop of the day, which came under green flag conditions at Lap 42 of the 267-lap race.

Allmendinger had worked his way into 18th place at the Lap-100 mark, but was still struggling with a loose racecar on long runs. A combination of quick pit stops and pit strategy helped Allmendinger break into the Top 15 near the Lap 150 point. The Richard Petty Motorsports crew made adjustments to the car during every pit stop throughout the event, but the changes made weren’t enough to keep Allmendinger from falling a lap down to the leaders with 50 laps remaining in the race.

Allmendinger and the STP crew continued to work through the handling issues throughout the final laps and the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion took the checkered flag in the 27th position.

Sunday’s finish resulted in Allmendinger falling three position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He now holds down 16th place heading to Pocono (Penn.) Raceway next weekend, but remains within sight of the top 10.

Mike Shiplett’s Thoughts After the Race: “We were fighting grip all day. I thought we had a handle on it and we were moving up there during the middle of the race, but something happened and we lost a lot of track position and we got behind. This place is extremely tough to pass at and some guys could run the top and some guys could run the bottom, but it is very hard to pass.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR