Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Bristol II Race Recap
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
* AJ Allmendinger started in the 18th position for the 500-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway
* Allmendinger, finished in the race in the 12th position at the .533-mile concrete oval
* Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 14th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up in the 18th position for the start of the 266.5-mile event at Bristol Motor Speedway. Picking up several spots in the early laps of the race, Allmendinger relayed to Crew Chief Greg Erwin the Best Buy Ford was handling to his liking.
Running in the 15th position when the first caution flag of the 500-lap event flew on Lap 33, Erwin called Allmendinger into the pits for right side tires and fuel. The two tire call by the crew allowed Allmendinger to pick up a couple spots on pit road and Allmendinger restarted in the 13th position.
The No. 43 Ford quickly jumped up to 11th place in just three laps, but shortly after, Allmendinger communicated to Erwin that the two tire call upset the handling of the Best Buy machine and the car was loose. The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford slipped back to the 16th spot before a Lap 105 caution allowed Erwin to again call Allmendinger into the pits, this time for four tires, fuel, wedge and air pressure adjustments.
Restarting in the 17th position, Allmendinger communicated to the crew that the changes made on the previous pit stop seemed to help the car’s handling issues. Running lap times as fast as the leader, Allmendinger began picking off cars one-by-one and had raced his way to 12th by Lap 235.
As the laps wore on, Allmendinger began to fight a tight handling car and the Best Buy crew made an array of chassis adjustments during the ensuing pit stops to try and correct the tight condition.
Though the Best Buy machine wasn’t exactly to Allmendinger’s liking, he was still able to run fast and consistent lap times and remain in or near the top 10 for the majority of the night. When the checkered flag flew at the half-mile oval, Allmendinger crossed the finish line in the 12th position.
The solid run at Bristol moved Allmendinger up one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, and he heads into the 25th race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the 14th spot.
Allmendinger’s Thoughts After the Race: “Off of past results this was an awesome night. With like 200 to go we were running sixth or seventh and we were just kind of going back and forth between being too loose and too tight and we got it too tight the rest of the night. Everybody just runs the top and especially when you are tight you can’t do anything. I feel like 12th place, I am pleased with it, not thrilled but pleased with it.”
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
* AJ Allmendinger started in the 18th position for the 500-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway
* Allmendinger, finished in the race in the 12th position at the .533-mile concrete oval
* Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 14th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up in the 18th position for the start of the 266.5-mile event at Bristol Motor Speedway. Picking up several spots in the early laps of the race, Allmendinger relayed to Crew Chief Greg Erwin the Best Buy Ford was handling to his liking.
Running in the 15th position when the first caution flag of the 500-lap event flew on Lap 33, Erwin called Allmendinger into the pits for right side tires and fuel. The two tire call by the crew allowed Allmendinger to pick up a couple spots on pit road and Allmendinger restarted in the 13th position.
The No. 43 Ford quickly jumped up to 11th place in just three laps, but shortly after, Allmendinger communicated to Erwin that the two tire call upset the handling of the Best Buy machine and the car was loose. The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford slipped back to the 16th spot before a Lap 105 caution allowed Erwin to again call Allmendinger into the pits, this time for four tires, fuel, wedge and air pressure adjustments.
Restarting in the 17th position, Allmendinger communicated to the crew that the changes made on the previous pit stop seemed to help the car’s handling issues. Running lap times as fast as the leader, Allmendinger began picking off cars one-by-one and had raced his way to 12th by Lap 235.
As the laps wore on, Allmendinger began to fight a tight handling car and the Best Buy crew made an array of chassis adjustments during the ensuing pit stops to try and correct the tight condition.
Though the Best Buy machine wasn’t exactly to Allmendinger’s liking, he was still able to run fast and consistent lap times and remain in or near the top 10 for the majority of the night. When the checkered flag flew at the half-mile oval, Allmendinger crossed the finish line in the 12th position.
The solid run at Bristol moved Allmendinger up one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, and he heads into the 25th race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the 14th spot.
Allmendinger’s Thoughts After the Race: “Off of past results this was an awesome night. With like 200 to go we were running sixth or seventh and we were just kind of going back and forth between being too loose and too tight and we got it too tight the rest of the night. Everybody just runs the top and especially when you are tight you can’t do anything. I feel like 12th place, I am pleased with it, not thrilled but pleased with it.”
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Be Active In Sponsorship Support
DingerWorld Note: This is a post from the Fans for Richard Petty Motorsports website asking all AJ Allmendinger & Richard Petty Motorsports fans to step up again like you did last year and help out. Supporting the sponsors is a huge benefit for the companies that put their advertising money into the sport of NASCAR. Let Best Buy know how much we appreciate their sponsorship not only by emailing them, but also by shopping at their store and buying their products. Thank you to all the fans who helped out last year and I hope I can count on you pushing just as hard or harder this year.
Ok Friends, RPM needs our help
There's just about 1/4 of the season remaining and the people at Best Buy need to hear from us again. We have to let them know we want them to return to RPM and the famed 43 not only for next year, but also beyond 2012. Last year's late decision was nerve wracking; however, late sponsorship renewals affect and delay the planning and arrival of new retail marketing items, budgets, and team cohesiveness at all levels for the next season.
Best Buy and Petty are two iconic brands that equal fan loyalty, and while we have been loyal to both we would appreciate Best Buy's early renewal announcement for 2012 and beyond. In these less than positive economic hard times, even if they return and cut back one or two races, that's better than zero; however, adding more races to the sponsorship package benefits everyone.
This is the best year Best Buy has experienced since entering NASCAR with HAAS (#66). Gillett-Evernham (#19), and now with our famed RPM (#43) and when AJ wins it will be their first time as primary sponsor in Victory Lane. They had a little taste of victory already as sponsor associate with Marcos at Watkins Glen.
Please contact the following at Best Buy Executive Management, just like last year, showing them your support of their continued relationship with RPM, AJ, and our famed #43. The sooner they commit and announce, the more focused RPM can be with expansion. Contact them once a month or whatever it takes.
Brian Dunn - Chief Executive Officer; E-mail: brian.dunn@bestbuy.com
Shari Ballard - President of the Americas; E-mail: shari.ballard@bestbuy.com
Barry Judge - Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice-President; E-mail: barry.judge@bestbuy.com
Drew Panayiotou - Senior Vice-President of Marketing; E-mail: drew.panayiotou@bestbuy.com
Ok Friends, RPM needs our help
There's just about 1/4 of the season remaining and the people at Best Buy need to hear from us again. We have to let them know we want them to return to RPM and the famed 43 not only for next year, but also beyond 2012. Last year's late decision was nerve wracking; however, late sponsorship renewals affect and delay the planning and arrival of new retail marketing items, budgets, and team cohesiveness at all levels for the next season.
Best Buy and Petty are two iconic brands that equal fan loyalty, and while we have been loyal to both we would appreciate Best Buy's early renewal announcement for 2012 and beyond. In these less than positive economic hard times, even if they return and cut back one or two races, that's better than zero; however, adding more races to the sponsorship package benefits everyone.
This is the best year Best Buy has experienced since entering NASCAR with HAAS (#66). Gillett-Evernham (#19), and now with our famed RPM (#43) and when AJ wins it will be their first time as primary sponsor in Victory Lane. They had a little taste of victory already as sponsor associate with Marcos at Watkins Glen.
Please contact the following at Best Buy Executive Management, just like last year, showing them your support of their continued relationship with RPM, AJ, and our famed #43. The sooner they commit and announce, the more focused RPM can be with expansion. Contact them once a month or whatever it takes.
Brian Dunn - Chief Executive Officer; E-mail: brian.dunn@bestbuy.com
Shari Ballard - President of the Americas; E-mail: shari.ballard@bestbuy.com
Barry Judge - Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice-President; E-mail: barry.judge@bestbuy.com
Drew Panayiotou - Senior Vice-President of Marketing; E-mail: drew.panayiotou@bestbuy.com
Bristol II Post-Race Quotes
Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley Ford FusionFinished 10th
“We finished 10th and I am pretty proud of our efforts tonight. The car wasn’t perfect but we stayed on the lead lap and kept digging on the top groove. The tire was very challenging for the teams to set up for. It was pretty loose in and I am pleased with our results.”
***
AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford
Finished 12th
“Off of past results this was an awesome night. With like 200 to go we were running like sixth or seventh and we were just kind of going back and forth between being too loose and too tight and we got it too tight the rest of the night. Everybody just runs the top and especially when you are tight you can’t do anything. I feel like 12th place, I am pleased with it, not thrilled but pleased with it.”
Credit - Ford Racing
“We finished 10th and I am pretty proud of our efforts tonight. The car wasn’t perfect but we stayed on the lead lap and kept digging on the top groove. The tire was very challenging for the teams to set up for. It was pretty loose in and I am pleased with our results.”
***
AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford
Finished 12th
“Off of past results this was an awesome night. With like 200 to go we were running like sixth or seventh and we were just kind of going back and forth between being too loose and too tight and we got it too tight the rest of the night. Everybody just runs the top and especially when you are tight you can’t do anything. I feel like 12th place, I am pleased with it, not thrilled but pleased with it.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Friday, August 26, 2011
Bristol II Qualifying Quotes
Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 11th
“I tell you what the last few weeks have been great for our Stanley Dewalt team and everyone in the program. We have really turned our stuff around. Todd Parrott has had done a great job on the box and Mark my everyday engineer and everyone are working hard at it and thinking about it and doing our own thing. We aren’t copying other people and it is certainly working out.”
***
AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford
Qualified 18th
“You always want pole. It was a decent lap. You can break it down and figure out where you lost a hundredth of a second. It was decent but I am not sure where that will end up. I wish we would have been on the bottom side of those 72’s but we will see.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR CAR IS FOR TOMORROW NIGHT? “I feel like we know. This has always been my worse race track so I feel like we put in a lot of laps and the crew guys did a great job of making a lot of changes. I was happy with the car and I think we are decent in race trim. We aren’t the fastest car but we are at least in the ballgame. We will just try to be smart for 500 laps.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Qualified 11th
“I tell you what the last few weeks have been great for our Stanley Dewalt team and everyone in the program. We have really turned our stuff around. Todd Parrott has had done a great job on the box and Mark my everyday engineer and everyone are working hard at it and thinking about it and doing our own thing. We aren’t copying other people and it is certainly working out.”
***
AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford
Qualified 18th
“You always want pole. It was a decent lap. You can break it down and figure out where you lost a hundredth of a second. It was decent but I am not sure where that will end up. I wish we would have been on the bottom side of those 72’s but we will see.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR CAR IS FOR TOMORROW NIGHT? “I feel like we know. This has always been my worse race track so I feel like we put in a lot of laps and the crew guys did a great job of making a lot of changes. I was happy with the car and I think we are decent in race trim. We aren’t the fastest car but we are at least in the ballgame. We will just try to be smart for 500 laps.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Bristol II Race Preview
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
• Allmendinger enters Bristol in 15th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best start (eighth) at the .533-mile oval came in the fall race in 2008
Allmendinger on Bristol Motor Speedway: “I love racing under the lights. Bristol is one of the coolest races of the year. The fans are just awesome and the atmosphere is crazy at night. A first win for our Best Buy Racing team coming in Bristol would be incredible. We need a win to keep our Chase hopes alive and I’m going to do my best to try and make that happen this weekend.
“Bristol is a tough track and it hasn’t been all that good to me the past few years. It’s not my favorite place to race because there are so many things that can happen that are completely out of our control. It’s like that every week, but it’s magnified at Bristol. If I can stay out of trouble in the pits and on the track, I know the 43 team will do its best to give me a car capable of winning.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Thoughts on Racing at Bristol: “Bristol is a typical short-track. Though it is banked, it’s still really hard to get the car to roll though the center of the corner well and still be able to drive up off the corner. We need to be able to get the car’s nose underneath somebody and not lose the back tires leaving the corner. We’ll spend at least two hours of our day Friday working on those issues.
“I’m excited we’re going to get to practice and race on the same tire this time. When we were at Bristol back in March, we qualified and practiced on one compound and we raced on a different tire compound, so all the teams were a little off setup wise, to say the least. We didn't really know how the car was going to drive in the spring race, but this race should be different having just one tire.
“By AJ’s own admission, Bristol isn’t one of his best tracks, but he has been in the shop this week watching film of past races to try and see how he can improve, so that’s a positive for the No. 43 Best Buy team. The night race is very exciting and Saturday turns into a long day for our guys since we are racing late into the night. It will be important to keep the crew guys focused and rested because pit stops will be key. You can make or break your night on pit road. It’s going to be a real test for the Best Buy pit crew to see if we can keep AJ out front with good pit stops.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team has prepared chassis No. 710 for this weekend’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway. This Best Buy Ford has been run previously this season at Bristol in March and Dover and Michigan in June.
Notes: Allmendinger has eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway and has completed 3,740 of 4,007 laps at the .533-mile concrete oval. Allmendinger enters Bristol in 15th place in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.
Fun Fact: Bristol Motor Speedway is known for its unique driver introductions. Each driver will be introduced to the crowd with a song of his choice playing in the background. Allmendinger has chosen the song “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed for his introduction.
Don’t miss your chance to meet “The King!” Richard Petty will be visiting the Ford display for a Q-and-A session on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
• Allmendinger enters Bristol in 15th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best start (eighth) at the .533-mile oval came in the fall race in 2008
Allmendinger on Bristol Motor Speedway: “I love racing under the lights. Bristol is one of the coolest races of the year. The fans are just awesome and the atmosphere is crazy at night. A first win for our Best Buy Racing team coming in Bristol would be incredible. We need a win to keep our Chase hopes alive and I’m going to do my best to try and make that happen this weekend.
“Bristol is a tough track and it hasn’t been all that good to me the past few years. It’s not my favorite place to race because there are so many things that can happen that are completely out of our control. It’s like that every week, but it’s magnified at Bristol. If I can stay out of trouble in the pits and on the track, I know the 43 team will do its best to give me a car capable of winning.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Thoughts on Racing at Bristol: “Bristol is a typical short-track. Though it is banked, it’s still really hard to get the car to roll though the center of the corner well and still be able to drive up off the corner. We need to be able to get the car’s nose underneath somebody and not lose the back tires leaving the corner. We’ll spend at least two hours of our day Friday working on those issues.
“I’m excited we’re going to get to practice and race on the same tire this time. When we were at Bristol back in March, we qualified and practiced on one compound and we raced on a different tire compound, so all the teams were a little off setup wise, to say the least. We didn't really know how the car was going to drive in the spring race, but this race should be different having just one tire.
“By AJ’s own admission, Bristol isn’t one of his best tracks, but he has been in the shop this week watching film of past races to try and see how he can improve, so that’s a positive for the No. 43 Best Buy team. The night race is very exciting and Saturday turns into a long day for our guys since we are racing late into the night. It will be important to keep the crew guys focused and rested because pit stops will be key. You can make or break your night on pit road. It’s going to be a real test for the Best Buy pit crew to see if we can keep AJ out front with good pit stops.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team has prepared chassis No. 710 for this weekend’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway. This Best Buy Ford has been run previously this season at Bristol in March and Dover and Michigan in June.
Notes: Allmendinger has eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway and has completed 3,740 of 4,007 laps at the .533-mile concrete oval. Allmendinger enters Bristol in 15th place in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.
Fun Fact: Bristol Motor Speedway is known for its unique driver introductions. Each driver will be introduced to the crowd with a song of his choice playing in the background. Allmendinger has chosen the song “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed for his introduction.
Don’t miss your chance to meet “The King!” Richard Petty will be visiting the Ford display for a Q-and-A session on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Dinger Fan Story #7
Here is one of my many stories about my friend Greg. I call it.... A Father's Dedication
As most of you know, AJ's dad is a retired floor covering installer. I worked with Greg in the trade for many years. AJ was running go-carts at the time. We were asked to install carpet one evening in an office building in Santa Clara. The evening started out as usual - we pulled out the old glued down carpet and we were going to put the new carpet in over pad. We spread out the tack strip and started to nail it down. To this day Greg says when I walked back in to the office from getting something out of the truck that I startled him. Anyway instead of Greg hitting the nail in the strip, Greg hit his thumb with the hammer. I mean you could not have hit it any better if you tried. It just exploded his left thumb - it was pretty bad if you know what I mean. I won't go into detail for some of you with a weak stomach. Since I was running the job I told Greg I will make a call and get someone else to come help me and that he should go home and take care of his thumb. This is the part that I will never forget. He looked me straight in my eyes and said, "My kid needs go-cart tires and I need this money to buy them." So we wrapped a piece of pad around his thumb, then wrapped some duct tape around it to keep the pad on it and Greg worked that way the rest of the night. I was just amazed that he could keep laying carpet that evening with his thumb in such bad shape. It just goes to show how much love and dedication Greg has for his son AJ. I hope all you AJ fans out there enjoyed this story. It is one evening that I will never forget.
Ron V
As most of you know, AJ's dad is a retired floor covering installer. I worked with Greg in the trade for many years. AJ was running go-carts at the time. We were asked to install carpet one evening in an office building in Santa Clara. The evening started out as usual - we pulled out the old glued down carpet and we were going to put the new carpet in over pad. We spread out the tack strip and started to nail it down. To this day Greg says when I walked back in to the office from getting something out of the truck that I startled him. Anyway instead of Greg hitting the nail in the strip, Greg hit his thumb with the hammer. I mean you could not have hit it any better if you tried. It just exploded his left thumb - it was pretty bad if you know what I mean. I won't go into detail for some of you with a weak stomach. Since I was running the job I told Greg I will make a call and get someone else to come help me and that he should go home and take care of his thumb. This is the part that I will never forget. He looked me straight in my eyes and said, "My kid needs go-cart tires and I need this money to buy them." So we wrapped a piece of pad around his thumb, then wrapped some duct tape around it to keep the pad on it and Greg worked that way the rest of the night. I was just amazed that he could keep laying carpet that evening with his thumb in such bad shape. It just goes to show how much love and dedication Greg has for his son AJ. I hope all you AJ fans out there enjoyed this story. It is one evening that I will never forget.
Ron V
San Jose, Ca
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Ford Racing: Allmendinger & Erwin
AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion, comes off an 11th place finish last weekend in Michigan which moved him into the top-15 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings. With just three races left before the Chase field is set, Allmendinger talked about what he needs to do down the stretch, how he will attack the Bristol short track and what things have been like with new crew chief Greg Erwin.
AJ ALLMENDINGER, driver No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION GONE TO YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF GREG ERWIN? “I think it has been pretty good. We’ve kind of had two out of four weeks that were really good and the others were a little bit of a struggle, but I think you are going to have that when you are working together for the first time. Honestly, I think it has been really good and I enjoy working with Greg. He has the experience and he has race wins under his belt and has confidence in himself and what we need to do with the race cars. It is helping me and I feel like, take last week for instance, we struggled all weekend really. We weren’t very good all weekend and we weren’t very good in the race. He made a good call at the end for four tires and we end up with an eleventh place finish. That is a something we probably shouldn’t have gotten. It is things like that. There is a lot of room on things we need to improve on, but I feel like as the weekend goes on we feel like we are making progress and at least changing the race car and doing things that we are learning from. Because of that it has been enjoyable. I really enjoy working with him and I really do look forward to the rest of the season to try to keep going and keep learning with him and hopefully keep getting stronger.”
FROM A DRIVERS PERSPECTIVE, ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE SOME CHANCES IN THESE FINAL THREE RACES TO TRY TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN AND GRAB A WIN FOR A WILD CARD CHANCE? “Not really. Obviously we are in position now where if we were to get a win I think we would be right in there or if not put ourselves in. At the same time though the way I look at it is that we just have to get better as a team. If we steal a win and get in the Chase and run 10 races and don’t run very well then there is really no point of being in the Chase, it is just a wasted spot. I look at it like we need to keep getting better every weekend and be a consistent top-10 race team, then a top-five and then have a chance at victories. Greg has the experience to know that if you put yourself in the position good things can happen. If there are 10 to go on a restart and you are inside the top three or four and there is a chance to get a win, then maybe we get more aggressive or take a chance on fuel mileage or strategy, but I don’t really look at that right now. I look at just trying to get better as a race team. We are 15th in points and even from the bad weekend we were able to make ground up on the people we were racing around. Our goal every weekend is to go out there and win, but I am also trying to take things step-by-step and get better as a race team and as a driver and be more consistent. I know when that happens, the wins will come. I don’t want to just be that guy that wins one race in his career. I want to be a multiple race winner and be a guy whose name is brought up every weekend when they talk about guys that can win. To do that we have to become more consistent and get our race cars a little better overall. That is the process I am going by.”
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO THIS WEEKEND AT BRISTOL IN ORDER TO RUN BETTER THAN YOU HAVE IN THE PAST AND MAYBE PUT YOURSELF IN POSITION TO TAKE A CHANCE? “I really do love theBristol night race. Honestly, I think it is the coolest race on the NASCAR calendar. You get everybody stacked in there with the crowd and it is a night race. It has that Saturday night short track feel except there are 150,000 people in the grandstands watching. To me it is a fun race to go to but our stats aren’t very good there in the past. It has been a place that over the last couple years I have lost some confidence in figuring out how to get around that place. I have watched a lot of in-car camera and talked to Greg a lot about what we need. I have studied how these guys that do well there get around there well and how they keep themselves in the ballgame all race. There is a lot of luck and patience that goes into it. I think I look at is as we are just trying to go out there and run all 500 laps. That is my goal. I want to go out there and be smart. Hopefully we can unload off the truck and be good from the start and run all 500 laps. I feel like if you do that, if you run all 500 laps, you can finish top-15 if not better. That is the mindset I am going with. I was just joking about it today. I think one time out of seven or eight times that I have raced there I have actually finished all the laps. So that is my first goal. As that goes on we will see how the rest of it goes, but that is definitely our first goal, to finish all the laps.”
DO YOU ANTICIPATE WHAT WAS ALREADY A PRETTY INTENSE RACE BEING EVEN MORESO THIS YEAR WITH ALL THE GUYS FIGHTING FOR CHASE CONTENTION? “I think so. I thinkBristol is always a place where you see a lot of paybacks from drivers that are mad at each other. You will see a lot of desperation. The way this new format is there, and the way the points have worked out this year with everyone being so tight, there are still a legitimatesix to eight guys that can make that wild card. There are also a lot of legitimate fast guys that can win a race in the next three.Bristol is a place that is a tight course and people are going to really start taking chances. Desperation is probably the best word. I think that will start to set in and people will be doing everything they can. That is the mindset that I have to try to get away from and take things as they come. I think that is the biggest thing that has happened to me over the years atBristol. I think I have forced the issue when our car wasn’t good. With people being desperate around us, I am going to have the mindset to just be patient and run our laps and hopefully that will put us in a good position.”
DID YOU PICK YOUR INTRO SONG YET FOR SATURDAY NIGHT? “Yeah, I went with some old school. I picked Disturbed’s ‘Down with the Sickness’.”
***
Greg Erwin, crew chief for the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion of AJ Allmendinger, made the move from Roush Fenway Racing to Richard Petty Motorsports prior to the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Now with four races under his belt calling shots for the iconic car, Erwin took time with Ford Racing to talk about the transition, what he expects this weekend in Bristol and how much of a gambling man he and the Dinger might be in the final three races before the Chase.
GREG ERWIN, Crew Chief, No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR YOU HEADING INTO BRISTOL AND WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSING ON FOR THE NIGHT RACE THIS WEEKEND? “The biggest challenge for me as crew chief with AJ is going to a place that he is not very comfortable at and he doesn’t have a real good feel for. Coming off about eight trips there with Biffle with fairly similar set-ups every time and some very good results, not having a real good idea what AJ is looking for in a feel. We are not going to force one driver’s set-up on AJ. We are going to let him kind of find his way around that race track and try to give him a feel that he is looking for because that place is a lot about the driver feel and trying to keep the car turning. What I want to make sure of is that I don’t put him in a box and make him run a set-up that is not to his liking necessarily or not the feel he is looking for. We are going to do some experimentation early Friday, us and the No. 9 guys are going to work on a couple things together as a company. Hopefully, we will look for a direction going into that final practice.”
MARCOS AMBROSE HAS DONE PRETTY WELL AT BRISTOL. HOW MUCH WILL YOU LEAN ON THAT TEAM AND HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK AJ MIGHT LEAN ON MARCOS TO GET SOME POINTERS? “Pointers are pretty important. I have some in car video of a few different drivers and I have some copies of in car videos, one of Greg’s (Biffle) and a couple others that I consider top-10 drivers there. I made some copies of those yesterday for AJ to take home and take a look at. Marcos has done very well there and he has been in good equipment there over the years. To be completely honest, I haven’t really gotten to look into any set-up information that he may have, but I know what he ran in the spring. Phil Surgeon and I are sitting here right now actually and are looking at the last two or three events worth of set-ups. I think the spring event is a little bit of an outlier in that the tire change they threw us toward the end of practice really threw everybody off. I think the results of the spring race were not necessarily indicative of what you will see this time around.”
TIRES HAVE BEEN A HOT BUTTON ISSUE. GUYS HAVE SAID THAT TIRE PACKAGES HAVE THROWN TEAMS FOR A LOOP THIS YEAR. AS A CREW CHIEF, WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED WITH THE TIRE PACKAGES THIS YEAR AND TO YOU AGREE WITH THOSE ASSESMENTS? “I agree 100-percent that it is a crap shoot. It feels like a crap shoot every week and more so this year than historically. We know that when we go to some of these race tracks for the second time in the season that they have weathered and aged and we know a lot of times it might be a little warmer or a little colder, depending on where we are. It almost feels like every time we show up to the race track if we brought exactly the same stuff we had in the race car three months of four months before that is feels like we are starting over every week.”
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES OR SUPRISES IN YOUR TRANSITION TO RPM AND THE 43 TEAM? “The biggest challenge is the names of all the guys on the 43 crew. I am over that now. It has been three or four weeks but for the first couple of weeks trying to remember all the guys in the shop and pit crew was a challenge. I have tried to adapt myself into a system that was already working and not wanting to come in and completely just turn everybody’s world upside down and cause a big distraction and set back at this point in the season. AJ is in line for a career best points finish and I think he has opened a lot of eyes this year. Certainly Mike Shiplett had gotten the thing as far as it was and that is a shout-out to him. One of the positives with AJ is that he has no preconceived notions of what things should do or how his car should necessarily drive. His effort in paying attention to what we are doing and really trying to give me as much feedback as he can give me, constructive feedback, has been tremendous. It has been every bit of all I could ask for. Probably the weakness with AJ right now is, again, he has no preconceived notions of what he should be feeling. Sometimes he struggles a little bit trying to tell me if we need to tighten the car up to go faster or if we need to free the car up to go faster. From a balance standpoint it kind of leaves it up to me to sort of take a look at the lap times and the way the car is driving and adjust from there. It is obvious that his strength is also his weakness right now. More experience, more time behind the wheel in competitive cars and not so much back there running 25th and 30th, but time around those guys that can run near the top-10 every week is going to be critical to his development. He is working really hard on the finer things in life we don’t all see from the television every week. Things like making time getting on pit road, getting the car in the box, getting the car stopped where the pit crew can get their job done in a competitive amount of time and then leaving the box a lot harder. All of that is going to show up in the way his car cycles out after green flag pit stops. He was a little weak at that but he is working really hard on that right now.”
WITH A COUPLE RACES LEFT BEFORE THE CHASE, ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE CHANCES TO TRY TO STEAL A WIN? DOES YOUR MINDSET CHANGE AT ALL THESE LAST THREE RACES? “AJ has to get a win to get into the Chase and I don’t necessarily know that it is going to take two. It depends on how it works with Brad Keselowski and the 2 car. To finish 15th in the points or 13th in the points or 14th in the points is irrelevant. If you can get a ‘W’ right now we know that is the only realistic way he has a shot at getting in. We would go for the win and roll the dice. The problem we have there would be if we were going to be a little short as far as stretching fuel mileage or anything like that. That would be difficult for us. If you are asking me if we are going to run these last three races before the Chase to win, then I am going to tell you absolutely."
Credit - Ford Racing
AJ ALLMENDINGER, driver No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION GONE TO YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF GREG ERWIN? “I think it has been pretty good. We’ve kind of had two out of four weeks that were really good and the others were a little bit of a struggle, but I think you are going to have that when you are working together for the first time. Honestly, I think it has been really good and I enjoy working with Greg. He has the experience and he has race wins under his belt and has confidence in himself and what we need to do with the race cars. It is helping me and I feel like, take last week for instance, we struggled all weekend really. We weren’t very good all weekend and we weren’t very good in the race. He made a good call at the end for four tires and we end up with an eleventh place finish. That is a something we probably shouldn’t have gotten. It is things like that. There is a lot of room on things we need to improve on, but I feel like as the weekend goes on we feel like we are making progress and at least changing the race car and doing things that we are learning from. Because of that it has been enjoyable. I really enjoy working with him and I really do look forward to the rest of the season to try to keep going and keep learning with him and hopefully keep getting stronger.”
FROM A DRIVERS PERSPECTIVE, ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE SOME CHANCES IN THESE FINAL THREE RACES TO TRY TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN AND GRAB A WIN FOR A WILD CARD CHANCE? “Not really. Obviously we are in position now where if we were to get a win I think we would be right in there or if not put ourselves in. At the same time though the way I look at it is that we just have to get better as a team. If we steal a win and get in the Chase and run 10 races and don’t run very well then there is really no point of being in the Chase, it is just a wasted spot. I look at it like we need to keep getting better every weekend and be a consistent top-10 race team, then a top-five and then have a chance at victories. Greg has the experience to know that if you put yourself in the position good things can happen. If there are 10 to go on a restart and you are inside the top three or four and there is a chance to get a win, then maybe we get more aggressive or take a chance on fuel mileage or strategy, but I don’t really look at that right now. I look at just trying to get better as a race team. We are 15th in points and even from the bad weekend we were able to make ground up on the people we were racing around. Our goal every weekend is to go out there and win, but I am also trying to take things step-by-step and get better as a race team and as a driver and be more consistent. I know when that happens, the wins will come. I don’t want to just be that guy that wins one race in his career. I want to be a multiple race winner and be a guy whose name is brought up every weekend when they talk about guys that can win. To do that we have to become more consistent and get our race cars a little better overall. That is the process I am going by.”
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO THIS WEEKEND AT BRISTOL IN ORDER TO RUN BETTER THAN YOU HAVE IN THE PAST AND MAYBE PUT YOURSELF IN POSITION TO TAKE A CHANCE? “I really do love theBristol night race. Honestly, I think it is the coolest race on the NASCAR calendar. You get everybody stacked in there with the crowd and it is a night race. It has that Saturday night short track feel except there are 150,000 people in the grandstands watching. To me it is a fun race to go to but our stats aren’t very good there in the past. It has been a place that over the last couple years I have lost some confidence in figuring out how to get around that place. I have watched a lot of in-car camera and talked to Greg a lot about what we need. I have studied how these guys that do well there get around there well and how they keep themselves in the ballgame all race. There is a lot of luck and patience that goes into it. I think I look at is as we are just trying to go out there and run all 500 laps. That is my goal. I want to go out there and be smart. Hopefully we can unload off the truck and be good from the start and run all 500 laps. I feel like if you do that, if you run all 500 laps, you can finish top-15 if not better. That is the mindset I am going with. I was just joking about it today. I think one time out of seven or eight times that I have raced there I have actually finished all the laps. So that is my first goal. As that goes on we will see how the rest of it goes, but that is definitely our first goal, to finish all the laps.”
DO YOU ANTICIPATE WHAT WAS ALREADY A PRETTY INTENSE RACE BEING EVEN MORESO THIS YEAR WITH ALL THE GUYS FIGHTING FOR CHASE CONTENTION? “I think so. I thinkBristol is always a place where you see a lot of paybacks from drivers that are mad at each other. You will see a lot of desperation. The way this new format is there, and the way the points have worked out this year with everyone being so tight, there are still a legitimatesix to eight guys that can make that wild card. There are also a lot of legitimate fast guys that can win a race in the next three.Bristol is a place that is a tight course and people are going to really start taking chances. Desperation is probably the best word. I think that will start to set in and people will be doing everything they can. That is the mindset that I have to try to get away from and take things as they come. I think that is the biggest thing that has happened to me over the years atBristol. I think I have forced the issue when our car wasn’t good. With people being desperate around us, I am going to have the mindset to just be patient and run our laps and hopefully that will put us in a good position.”
DID YOU PICK YOUR INTRO SONG YET FOR SATURDAY NIGHT? “Yeah, I went with some old school. I picked Disturbed’s ‘Down with the Sickness’.”
***
Greg Erwin, crew chief for the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion of AJ Allmendinger, made the move from Roush Fenway Racing to Richard Petty Motorsports prior to the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Now with four races under his belt calling shots for the iconic car, Erwin took time with Ford Racing to talk about the transition, what he expects this weekend in Bristol and how much of a gambling man he and the Dinger might be in the final three races before the Chase.
GREG ERWIN, Crew Chief, No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR YOU HEADING INTO BRISTOL AND WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSING ON FOR THE NIGHT RACE THIS WEEKEND? “The biggest challenge for me as crew chief with AJ is going to a place that he is not very comfortable at and he doesn’t have a real good feel for. Coming off about eight trips there with Biffle with fairly similar set-ups every time and some very good results, not having a real good idea what AJ is looking for in a feel. We are not going to force one driver’s set-up on AJ. We are going to let him kind of find his way around that race track and try to give him a feel that he is looking for because that place is a lot about the driver feel and trying to keep the car turning. What I want to make sure of is that I don’t put him in a box and make him run a set-up that is not to his liking necessarily or not the feel he is looking for. We are going to do some experimentation early Friday, us and the No. 9 guys are going to work on a couple things together as a company. Hopefully, we will look for a direction going into that final practice.”
MARCOS AMBROSE HAS DONE PRETTY WELL AT BRISTOL. HOW MUCH WILL YOU LEAN ON THAT TEAM AND HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK AJ MIGHT LEAN ON MARCOS TO GET SOME POINTERS? “Pointers are pretty important. I have some in car video of a few different drivers and I have some copies of in car videos, one of Greg’s (Biffle) and a couple others that I consider top-10 drivers there. I made some copies of those yesterday for AJ to take home and take a look at. Marcos has done very well there and he has been in good equipment there over the years. To be completely honest, I haven’t really gotten to look into any set-up information that he may have, but I know what he ran in the spring. Phil Surgeon and I are sitting here right now actually and are looking at the last two or three events worth of set-ups. I think the spring event is a little bit of an outlier in that the tire change they threw us toward the end of practice really threw everybody off. I think the results of the spring race were not necessarily indicative of what you will see this time around.”
TIRES HAVE BEEN A HOT BUTTON ISSUE. GUYS HAVE SAID THAT TIRE PACKAGES HAVE THROWN TEAMS FOR A LOOP THIS YEAR. AS A CREW CHIEF, WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED WITH THE TIRE PACKAGES THIS YEAR AND TO YOU AGREE WITH THOSE ASSESMENTS? “I agree 100-percent that it is a crap shoot. It feels like a crap shoot every week and more so this year than historically. We know that when we go to some of these race tracks for the second time in the season that they have weathered and aged and we know a lot of times it might be a little warmer or a little colder, depending on where we are. It almost feels like every time we show up to the race track if we brought exactly the same stuff we had in the race car three months of four months before that is feels like we are starting over every week.”
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES OR SUPRISES IN YOUR TRANSITION TO RPM AND THE 43 TEAM? “The biggest challenge is the names of all the guys on the 43 crew. I am over that now. It has been three or four weeks but for the first couple of weeks trying to remember all the guys in the shop and pit crew was a challenge. I have tried to adapt myself into a system that was already working and not wanting to come in and completely just turn everybody’s world upside down and cause a big distraction and set back at this point in the season. AJ is in line for a career best points finish and I think he has opened a lot of eyes this year. Certainly Mike Shiplett had gotten the thing as far as it was and that is a shout-out to him. One of the positives with AJ is that he has no preconceived notions of what things should do or how his car should necessarily drive. His effort in paying attention to what we are doing and really trying to give me as much feedback as he can give me, constructive feedback, has been tremendous. It has been every bit of all I could ask for. Probably the weakness with AJ right now is, again, he has no preconceived notions of what he should be feeling. Sometimes he struggles a little bit trying to tell me if we need to tighten the car up to go faster or if we need to free the car up to go faster. From a balance standpoint it kind of leaves it up to me to sort of take a look at the lap times and the way the car is driving and adjust from there. It is obvious that his strength is also his weakness right now. More experience, more time behind the wheel in competitive cars and not so much back there running 25th and 30th, but time around those guys that can run near the top-10 every week is going to be critical to his development. He is working really hard on the finer things in life we don’t all see from the television every week. Things like making time getting on pit road, getting the car in the box, getting the car stopped where the pit crew can get their job done in a competitive amount of time and then leaving the box a lot harder. All of that is going to show up in the way his car cycles out after green flag pit stops. He was a little weak at that but he is working really hard on that right now.”
WITH A COUPLE RACES LEFT BEFORE THE CHASE, ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE CHANCES TO TRY TO STEAL A WIN? DOES YOUR MINDSET CHANGE AT ALL THESE LAST THREE RACES? “AJ has to get a win to get into the Chase and I don’t necessarily know that it is going to take two. It depends on how it works with Brad Keselowski and the 2 car. To finish 15th in the points or 13th in the points or 14th in the points is irrelevant. If you can get a ‘W’ right now we know that is the only realistic way he has a shot at getting in. We would go for the win and roll the dice. The problem we have there would be if we were going to be a little short as far as stretching fuel mileage or anything like that. That would be difficult for us. If you are asking me if we are going to run these last three races before the Chase to win, then I am going to tell you absolutely."
Credit - Ford Racing
Monday, August 22, 2011
Michigan II Race Recap
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
■AJ Allmendinger started from the 29th spot at Michigan International Speedway
■Allmendinger wheeled his way to an 11th-place finishing position at the two-mile oval
■Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 15th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway in the 29th position and drove his way inside the top 25 by the time the first yellow flag of the day flew on Lap 30. Because his driver had been complaining of a tight handling car, Crew Chief Greg Erwin made plans for an air pressure adjustment on the first stop as well as four fresh tires and fuel.
Allmendinger lined up for the Lap 35 restart in the 22nd position. He communicated to Erwin throughout much of the race that the car felt like it didn’t have enough front or rear grip. Erwin made a myriad of changes during that time, but Allmendinger fought the handling of the car for much of the event.
An ill-timed caution flag at Lap 169 just after the Best Buy Racing crew had made a pit stop left them a lap down. The team opted for the wave around on the restart and was able to get solidly back on the lead lap when the caution flag flew once again with three laps remaining in the race. Erwin called his driver into the pits for four fresh tires, and when the green flag flew for the final time, Allmendinger lined up in 21st place, behind those cars that either opted to stay out on the track or pit for only two fresh tires.
Allmendinger showed his stuff in the remaining three laps, wheeling his Best Buy Ford Fusion through traffic like a man on a mission. Passing cars right and left, Allmendinger had picked up 10 spots by the time the checkered flag flew. He held down 11th place at the conclusion of the event.
Allmendinger picked up one position and now holds down the 15th spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings heading into next weekend’s event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
■AJ Allmendinger started from the 29th spot at Michigan International Speedway
■Allmendinger wheeled his way to an 11th-place finishing position at the two-mile oval
■Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 15th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway in the 29th position and drove his way inside the top 25 by the time the first yellow flag of the day flew on Lap 30. Because his driver had been complaining of a tight handling car, Crew Chief Greg Erwin made plans for an air pressure adjustment on the first stop as well as four fresh tires and fuel.
Allmendinger lined up for the Lap 35 restart in the 22nd position. He communicated to Erwin throughout much of the race that the car felt like it didn’t have enough front or rear grip. Erwin made a myriad of changes during that time, but Allmendinger fought the handling of the car for much of the event.
An ill-timed caution flag at Lap 169 just after the Best Buy Racing crew had made a pit stop left them a lap down. The team opted for the wave around on the restart and was able to get solidly back on the lead lap when the caution flag flew once again with three laps remaining in the race. Erwin called his driver into the pits for four fresh tires, and when the green flag flew for the final time, Allmendinger lined up in 21st place, behind those cars that either opted to stay out on the track or pit for only two fresh tires.
Allmendinger showed his stuff in the remaining three laps, wheeling his Best Buy Ford Fusion through traffic like a man on a mission. Passing cars right and left, Allmendinger had picked up 10 spots by the time the checkered flag flew. He held down 11th place at the conclusion of the event.
Allmendinger picked up one position and now holds down the 15th spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings heading into next weekend’s event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Michigan II Race Preview
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Michigan International Speedway
• Allmendinger enters the race in 16th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (11th) at the two-mile track came during the spring race in 2010
AJ Allmendinger on Michigan: “We’re excited to be headed to Michigan for the second time. Our Best Buy Ford was decent there when we were there a couple of months ago and I know that Greg Erwin has a lot of really good ideas on how to improve our performance there. It’s a great track to race on. It's big, fast and has a wide racing groove. We’ve got the horsepower we’ll need from our FR9 engine, but we’ll have to work around the fuel mileage part of it some. I’m looking forward to getting back there. Greg has brought a lot to this team in the short time he’s been here and I think we could really have a good weekend in our Best Buy Ford.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Keys to Getting Around Michigan: “The key to Michigan is not to get too caught up in what you did there a couple of months ago because that track tends to have a little different characteristic later in the summer than it did earlier in the year. You spend a lot of time trying to make the front end turn, while working to keep the rear tires on it. It’s a pretty aggressive, fairly abusive place on tires and you see a lot of tire fall off. We’re looking forward to getting back to a more standardized racetrack. If you exclude Indy and Pocono, this is a place a little more conventional that we run at. Looking at how well AJ was able to run there a couple of months ago, that has certainly helped his confidence some and he knows he can run in the top five or top six there and that’s what we need to shoot for. That track always seems to give you a little different flavor in the fall than it does in the earlier part of the summer.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 742 for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season on several occasions, including the races in Kentucky, Charlotte, N.C. and Fontana, Calif.
Notes: Allmendinger finished 13th in the June race on the two-mile, Brooklyn, Mich. oval.
The Sprint Summer Showdown has begun and $3 million is on the line for drivers, their charities and one lucky fan in a six-race competition. Any driver who wins between Indy and Bristol (the first five races) will become a finalist for the Labor Day weekend race in Atlanta (the sixth race). If one of those eligible drivers wins the Atlanta race, then the driver, the driver’s charity and one lucky race fan each collect $1,000,000. Allmendinger has selected Paralyzed Veterans of America as his charity of choice for the Sprint Summer Showdown.
Happy Birthday to Dale Inman, who celebrates his 66th birthday on Friday, August 19th. Inman was selected to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2012 and has eight championships in NASCAR’s premiere series serving as a crew chief.
Thanks to finishing last week’s race on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International ahead of the No. 48 team, the No. 43 team has moved onto the third round of the DIRECTV Head2Head Knockout Challenge and sits inside the Elite Eight. Allmendinger’s Best Buy Racing team will go up against the No. 17 team this weekend in an effort to make it to the final round. The driver winning the DIRECTV Head-2-Head Knockout competition will earn $400,000 for his or her charity of choice. Allmendinger’s charity of choice for this competition is Paralyzed Veterans of America. He will be carrying an on board camera this weekend and will be featured in the DIRECTV HOTPASS lineup.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Michigan International Speedway
• Allmendinger enters the race in 16th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (11th) at the two-mile track came during the spring race in 2010
AJ Allmendinger on Michigan: “We’re excited to be headed to Michigan for the second time. Our Best Buy Ford was decent there when we were there a couple of months ago and I know that Greg Erwin has a lot of really good ideas on how to improve our performance there. It’s a great track to race on. It's big, fast and has a wide racing groove. We’ve got the horsepower we’ll need from our FR9 engine, but we’ll have to work around the fuel mileage part of it some. I’m looking forward to getting back there. Greg has brought a lot to this team in the short time he’s been here and I think we could really have a good weekend in our Best Buy Ford.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Keys to Getting Around Michigan: “The key to Michigan is not to get too caught up in what you did there a couple of months ago because that track tends to have a little different characteristic later in the summer than it did earlier in the year. You spend a lot of time trying to make the front end turn, while working to keep the rear tires on it. It’s a pretty aggressive, fairly abusive place on tires and you see a lot of tire fall off. We’re looking forward to getting back to a more standardized racetrack. If you exclude Indy and Pocono, this is a place a little more conventional that we run at. Looking at how well AJ was able to run there a couple of months ago, that has certainly helped his confidence some and he knows he can run in the top five or top six there and that’s what we need to shoot for. That track always seems to give you a little different flavor in the fall than it does in the earlier part of the summer.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 742 for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season on several occasions, including the races in Kentucky, Charlotte, N.C. and Fontana, Calif.
Notes: Allmendinger finished 13th in the June race on the two-mile, Brooklyn, Mich. oval.
The Sprint Summer Showdown has begun and $3 million is on the line for drivers, their charities and one lucky fan in a six-race competition. Any driver who wins between Indy and Bristol (the first five races) will become a finalist for the Labor Day weekend race in Atlanta (the sixth race). If one of those eligible drivers wins the Atlanta race, then the driver, the driver’s charity and one lucky race fan each collect $1,000,000. Allmendinger has selected Paralyzed Veterans of America as his charity of choice for the Sprint Summer Showdown.
Happy Birthday to Dale Inman, who celebrates his 66th birthday on Friday, August 19th. Inman was selected to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2012 and has eight championships in NASCAR’s premiere series serving as a crew chief.
Thanks to finishing last week’s race on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International ahead of the No. 48 team, the No. 43 team has moved onto the third round of the DIRECTV Head2Head Knockout Challenge and sits inside the Elite Eight. Allmendinger’s Best Buy Racing team will go up against the No. 17 team this weekend in an effort to make it to the final round. The driver winning the DIRECTV Head-2-Head Knockout competition will earn $400,000 for his or her charity of choice. Allmendinger’s charity of choice for this competition is Paralyzed Veterans of America. He will be carrying an on board camera this weekend and will be featured in the DIRECTV HOTPASS lineup.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Watkins Glen Race Recap
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
*AJ Allmendinger started from the second position at Watkins Glen International
*Allmendinger wheeled his way to an eighth-place finishing position at the 2.45-mile road course
*Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 16th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Watkins Glen International from the front row. Starting from second, it wasn’t long before Allmendinger had overtaken the pole sitter and made his way into the top spot.
Allmendinger was still in the lead on Lap nine when he was struck from behind by the lapped car of Kurt Busch, which resulted in a trip through the grass. He was forced to pit the next lap when the engine temperature of the Best Buy Ford skyrocketed. A quick pit stop by the crew to clean off the grill enabled Allmendinger to remain on the lead lap, though he fell to 34th place.
A yellow flag on Lap 28 allowed Crew Chief Greg Erwin to call his driver into the pits once again. Allmendinger had previously relayed to Erwin that the car was good, but needed a little more rear grip, so the Best Buy team went to work to change all four tires and make a track bar adjustment while filling the gas tank with fuel. There were several different pit strategies in play and the No. 43 returned to the track for the restart in 17th place.
Allmendinger had made his way into the top 10 by the time the race reached halfway and was able to remain inside the top 15 for the remainder of the event. A late race accident resulted in a green/white/checkered flag finish and Allmendinger lined up in the 11th position for the final restart of the race at Lap 91. Fighting his way through traffic during the last laps, Allmendinger was able to bring the No. 43 Ford home in eighth place.
“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team,” said Allmendinger following the event. “I’m happy for those guys. I’m really proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. We had great pit stops. The car was fast. I love working with Greg, and I’m happy we got a win for the team.”
Allmendinger picked up one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings and now sits in 16th place heading back to Michigan International Speedway next weekend.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
*AJ Allmendinger started from the second position at Watkins Glen International
*Allmendinger wheeled his way to an eighth-place finishing position at the 2.45-mile road course
*Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 16th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Watkins Glen International from the front row. Starting from second, it wasn’t long before Allmendinger had overtaken the pole sitter and made his way into the top spot.
Allmendinger was still in the lead on Lap nine when he was struck from behind by the lapped car of Kurt Busch, which resulted in a trip through the grass. He was forced to pit the next lap when the engine temperature of the Best Buy Ford skyrocketed. A quick pit stop by the crew to clean off the grill enabled Allmendinger to remain on the lead lap, though he fell to 34th place.
A yellow flag on Lap 28 allowed Crew Chief Greg Erwin to call his driver into the pits once again. Allmendinger had previously relayed to Erwin that the car was good, but needed a little more rear grip, so the Best Buy team went to work to change all four tires and make a track bar adjustment while filling the gas tank with fuel. There were several different pit strategies in play and the No. 43 returned to the track for the restart in 17th place.
Allmendinger had made his way into the top 10 by the time the race reached halfway and was able to remain inside the top 15 for the remainder of the event. A late race accident resulted in a green/white/checkered flag finish and Allmendinger lined up in the 11th position for the final restart of the race at Lap 91. Fighting his way through traffic during the last laps, Allmendinger was able to bring the No. 43 Ford home in eighth place.
“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team,” said Allmendinger following the event. “I’m happy for those guys. I’m really proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. We had great pit stops. The car was fast. I love working with Greg, and I’m happy we got a win for the team.”
Allmendinger picked up one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings and now sits in 16th place heading back to Michigan International Speedway next weekend.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Monday, August 15, 2011
Watkins Glen Post-Race Quotes
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion
Finished 1st
TV VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “I’ve sacrificed so much to get here and to finally win and be here in Victory Lane in the Cup Series is a dream come true. I flew the kids home yesterday. It was the little one’s first day at school. I was desperate to be there for her and this kind of makes up for it. I’ve just got to thank the Richard Petty Motorsports team, Stanley, DeWalt, everybody involved. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. We wish her the best. This win is for her and the whole Petty family. Richard and everyone else who gave me the chance, thank you very much. Winning in the Cup Series for Stanley is just an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”
YOU QUALIFY FOR THE $3 MILLION SPRINT BONUS AT ATLANTA NOW. “I’ll win a million bucks for anyone. I don’t care. I just want to get to Victory Lane again. It just feels great right now. It’s just a dream come true. The fans out there who have supported Richard Petty and this whole team through the turmoil last year, I can’t thank them enough. We’re gonna go onward and upward from here. It’s a proud day. No one realizes how much everybody puts in to try to get to Victory Lane and when it actually happens it’s almost a surreal moment.”
RADIO VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “It’s a dream come true. For me to drive for Richard Petty in the first place is an unbelievable opportunity and to get into Victory Lane is just incredible. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. She’s having a tough time of it right now. This win is for her and the whole family. To Stanley, DeWalt, thank you so much for giving me the chance. They plucked me out of obscurity almost. I was just trying hard to win races and to get to Victory Lane with my Stanley boys behind me, what a dream come true.”
WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL RESTART. WHAT HAPPENED? “I was trying to pass the 18 before the caution came out and really used my stuff up, so I was happy when the caution came out. I didn’t want to start on the outside, so I actually gave up the start trying to get to the inside, but when I realized that wasn’t gonna work, I just turned up into turn one and tried to make something happen. I spoke to Brad Keselowski last night. We had a chat for about a half-hour just shooting the breeze and talking about how hard it is to get to Victory Lane and there I was racing him for the win. I’m pleased we did it clean, but I was gonna get to Victory Lane. I wasn’t gonna let that 2 beat me to the checkered flag.”
WHERE DID YOU HAVE THOSE GUYS BEAT? “We just had a really good combination of balance. We didn’t have any exceptional spots on the race track, we just had even balance across the whole circuit. I was able to look after the rear tires, but it’s tough out there, it really is. It’s a real fight to the death and I’m just so proud to be here in Victory Lane with my Stanley team. I’ve sacrificed so much to be here. My little daughter started school today, so I didn’t get to take her to school. I might be able to pick her up with a big check.”
***
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 8th
“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team. I’m happy for those guys.”
THE INCIDENT WITH KURT RUINED YOUR DAY DIDN’T IT?“Yeah. He was a lap down. I know what he’s trying to do, trying to get back on the lead lap, but I’m just proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. We had great pit stops. The car was fast. I love working with Greg, and I’m happy we got a win for the team.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Finished 1st
TV VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “I’ve sacrificed so much to get here and to finally win and be here in Victory Lane in the Cup Series is a dream come true. I flew the kids home yesterday. It was the little one’s first day at school. I was desperate to be there for her and this kind of makes up for it. I’ve just got to thank the Richard Petty Motorsports team, Stanley, DeWalt, everybody involved. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. We wish her the best. This win is for her and the whole Petty family. Richard and everyone else who gave me the chance, thank you very much. Winning in the Cup Series for Stanley is just an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”
YOU QUALIFY FOR THE $3 MILLION SPRINT BONUS AT ATLANTA NOW. “I’ll win a million bucks for anyone. I don’t care. I just want to get to Victory Lane again. It just feels great right now. It’s just a dream come true. The fans out there who have supported Richard Petty and this whole team through the turmoil last year, I can’t thank them enough. We’re gonna go onward and upward from here. It’s a proud day. No one realizes how much everybody puts in to try to get to Victory Lane and when it actually happens it’s almost a surreal moment.”
RADIO VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “It’s a dream come true. For me to drive for Richard Petty in the first place is an unbelievable opportunity and to get into Victory Lane is just incredible. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. She’s having a tough time of it right now. This win is for her and the whole family. To Stanley, DeWalt, thank you so much for giving me the chance. They plucked me out of obscurity almost. I was just trying hard to win races and to get to Victory Lane with my Stanley boys behind me, what a dream come true.”
WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL RESTART. WHAT HAPPENED? “I was trying to pass the 18 before the caution came out and really used my stuff up, so I was happy when the caution came out. I didn’t want to start on the outside, so I actually gave up the start trying to get to the inside, but when I realized that wasn’t gonna work, I just turned up into turn one and tried to make something happen. I spoke to Brad Keselowski last night. We had a chat for about a half-hour just shooting the breeze and talking about how hard it is to get to Victory Lane and there I was racing him for the win. I’m pleased we did it clean, but I was gonna get to Victory Lane. I wasn’t gonna let that 2 beat me to the checkered flag.”
WHERE DID YOU HAVE THOSE GUYS BEAT? “We just had a really good combination of balance. We didn’t have any exceptional spots on the race track, we just had even balance across the whole circuit. I was able to look after the rear tires, but it’s tough out there, it really is. It’s a real fight to the death and I’m just so proud to be here in Victory Lane with my Stanley team. I’ve sacrificed so much to be here. My little daughter started school today, so I didn’t get to take her to school. I might be able to pick her up with a big check.”
***
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 8th
“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team. I’m happy for those guys.”
THE INCIDENT WITH KURT RUINED YOUR DAY DIDN’T IT?“Yeah. He was a lap down. I know what he’s trying to do, trying to get back on the lead lap, but I’m just proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. We had great pit stops. The car was fast. I love working with Greg, and I’m happy we got a win for the team.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Watkins Glen Qualifying Quotes
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
Qualified 2nd
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It was pretty good. I felt like I got into one just a little bit deep and locked the right-front just a little bit, but felt like I carried good momentum through there. I was just a little tentative getting in the bus stop, sitting there in line when we sat there I could see the track was really dirty getting in there, so I was a little bit conservative getting in and tried to make it all up through the bus stop and got a little bit loose, so I lost a little bit of time there. I don’t know if that was enough time lost to Kyle, but I felt like overall the car was really good. It’s been solid ever since we unloaded. Greg Erwin and everybody on the Best Buy Ford just brought a good car and I feel like these last couple weeks, although the results may not show it, have been really good. We’ve been working well together and I think we’re making a lot of progress, so to go out there with what we’ve been building on is really good. To have a good lap today was really good.”
IS IT NICE TO GET THIS KIND OF RESULT? “Yeah. I’ve always liked Watkins Glen a little bit more than Sonoma. I feel like I’ve struggled at Sonoma. Watkins Glen is a race track that you’ve really got to be aggressive on and you can really kind of just hang the car out, and I feel I’ve always been pretty good here, so I look at this track – coming to it – if we can build some momentum and get a good finish tomorrow, we’re right there in points. Obviously, if we get a win that puts us with a chance for the Chase, but I’m not looking at that as make or break. I feel like if we can just keep getting better as the year goes on and have a good, strong finish to the end of the season that that’s gonna be what I’m gonna look at for our season and really build off of that, so this is a great place to start. We’ve always been fast here.”
WHAT IS ERWIN BRINGING TO THE TEAM? “It was built by Mike Shiplett. He really got our guys working well together and we were bringing good stuff to the race track and it was something that we were just lacking a little bit, so with the change Greg brings a lot of experience. Obviously, he’s a crew chief that has won a lot of race, been in the Chase and been in championship contention. I think that experience level has really been helping me in times where I maybe get a little bit lost because I forget that I’ve been in here for five years, but when it comes to everything that I’ve been through in this sport, I look at that I’ve really only had two really competitive seasons, so I’m still learning a lot. There are times where we kind of get lost and I think Greg can kind of keep the team on track and figure out whether we need a big change or a small change or race strategy – things like that – and just help make me a better race car driver. Inside the race car driver and out of the race car driver trying to figure out what we need with these race cars, so, like I said, the results don’t show it but Indy we were really fast all day. Pocono I felt like we were pretty good on Friday and on Sunday we lost a little bit, but it was still a solid weekend. Since we’ve unloaded, I feel like Marcos is the guy to beat, but we’re right there with everybody else and we have something for everybody else, so he’s just brought a lot of experience and that’s just in three weeks, so I think as the season goes on, hopefully we just keep building on that.”
***
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 3rd
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “I felt a little unfortunate really. We had a probably had the hardest part of the practice and I underdrove it just a little bit, but we’re proud of our efforts. It would have been great to be on the front row with AJ, but we’ll start third for the race. We’ve got a great package. I feel really confident and we’ll just see how the day unfolds. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it goes on fuel strategy and brake wear and all those factors that come into play on a road course. Hopefully we make the right judgment calls in getting the car ready for the race.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Qualified 2nd
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It was pretty good. I felt like I got into one just a little bit deep and locked the right-front just a little bit, but felt like I carried good momentum through there. I was just a little tentative getting in the bus stop, sitting there in line when we sat there I could see the track was really dirty getting in there, so I was a little bit conservative getting in and tried to make it all up through the bus stop and got a little bit loose, so I lost a little bit of time there. I don’t know if that was enough time lost to Kyle, but I felt like overall the car was really good. It’s been solid ever since we unloaded. Greg Erwin and everybody on the Best Buy Ford just brought a good car and I feel like these last couple weeks, although the results may not show it, have been really good. We’ve been working well together and I think we’re making a lot of progress, so to go out there with what we’ve been building on is really good. To have a good lap today was really good.”
IS IT NICE TO GET THIS KIND OF RESULT? “Yeah. I’ve always liked Watkins Glen a little bit more than Sonoma. I feel like I’ve struggled at Sonoma. Watkins Glen is a race track that you’ve really got to be aggressive on and you can really kind of just hang the car out, and I feel I’ve always been pretty good here, so I look at this track – coming to it – if we can build some momentum and get a good finish tomorrow, we’re right there in points. Obviously, if we get a win that puts us with a chance for the Chase, but I’m not looking at that as make or break. I feel like if we can just keep getting better as the year goes on and have a good, strong finish to the end of the season that that’s gonna be what I’m gonna look at for our season and really build off of that, so this is a great place to start. We’ve always been fast here.”
WHAT IS ERWIN BRINGING TO THE TEAM? “It was built by Mike Shiplett. He really got our guys working well together and we were bringing good stuff to the race track and it was something that we were just lacking a little bit, so with the change Greg brings a lot of experience. Obviously, he’s a crew chief that has won a lot of race, been in the Chase and been in championship contention. I think that experience level has really been helping me in times where I maybe get a little bit lost because I forget that I’ve been in here for five years, but when it comes to everything that I’ve been through in this sport, I look at that I’ve really only had two really competitive seasons, so I’m still learning a lot. There are times where we kind of get lost and I think Greg can kind of keep the team on track and figure out whether we need a big change or a small change or race strategy – things like that – and just help make me a better race car driver. Inside the race car driver and out of the race car driver trying to figure out what we need with these race cars, so, like I said, the results don’t show it but Indy we were really fast all day. Pocono I felt like we were pretty good on Friday and on Sunday we lost a little bit, but it was still a solid weekend. Since we’ve unloaded, I feel like Marcos is the guy to beat, but we’re right there with everybody else and we have something for everybody else, so he’s just brought a lot of experience and that’s just in three weeks, so I think as the season goes on, hopefully we just keep building on that.”
***
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 3rd
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “I felt a little unfortunate really. We had a probably had the hardest part of the practice and I underdrove it just a little bit, but we’re proud of our efforts. It would have been great to be on the front row with AJ, but we’ll start third for the race. We’ve got a great package. I feel really confident and we’ll just see how the day unfolds. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it goes on fuel strategy and brake wear and all those factors that come into play on a road course. Hopefully we make the right judgment calls in getting the car ready for the race.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Dinger Fan Story #6
In June I was fortunate to be part of the NASCAR experience at the SaveMart 350 in Sonoma, and I must say the highlight of the weekend was meeting A.J. Allemdinger for the first time. My business partner Gene and I sponsored a weekend for some die-hard A.J. fans and most definitely converted a few more throughout the weekend. Gene, who happens to be A.J.'s uncle, brother to his dad Greg, had done the impossible and converted me, a long time Jimmie Johnson fan, and I'm joining the Dinger bandwagon.
My experience from the weekend was most memorable and being able to have some of our Dinger Hill group meet him and win some cool prizes from the Best Buy team was awesome. His taking time out of what I'm sure is a busy schedule and meet with us made such an impression on all of us. I can sum that little get together up in two words "Dinger Fan-tastic". He was very down to earth and took time to answer a lot of questions from the group and signed autographs for everyone without hesitation, very classy guy.
We showed our appreciation by throwing on our A.J. gear and took our Dinger Hill gang to the crowds. We started behind the main grandstands and ruled the crowd during the NASCAR on SPEED segment, totally stopping the show with chants of "A.J. A.J." and "Dinger's bringing Sexy back to Nor Cal". We carried a sign, about 4'x5', made by Jensen and Milla Freeze, through the crowds, doing our A.J. chants and came up on the Sprint site and again stopped the whole ordeal, while the sprint girls took notice and snapped pics of the sign with their cell phones lol. It was pretty amazing. I believe I tweeted a pic of the sign during the NASCAR on SPEED segment. Then we headed to our spot on turn 7 where we parked our Kubodas and watched our favorite driver A.J. Allmendinger. At one point during the race we took our "Dinger's bringing Sexy back" sign to the turn 7 grand stands and had the whole crowd on their feet chanting "A.J.! A.J.! A.J.!!" It was awesome to see people in Gordon, Johnson and Bush gear chanting for Allmendinger, we definitely had the crowd.
What started out as a group of about 25 on Dinger Hill, which is the Cougar Mountain camping area, quickly turned into about 50 die-hard Dinger fans. Gene and a lot of this group have been doing this for about 4 years and it's going to become an annual event for he and I to sponsor for years to come. Next year we would love to have A.J. come to Dinger Hill and enjoy a game of horseshoes with us haha. Uncle Gene is pretty good!
It was one of the most memorable NASCAR weekends I've been part of! Thanks again to A.J. for the time he gave us, to Molly and Tara for their hospitality and to the Best Buy Team for the great prizes, even though Gene nor I won anything lol, the experience was awesome and our crew will never forget it.
Jimm
@bamasaints
My experience from the weekend was most memorable and being able to have some of our Dinger Hill group meet him and win some cool prizes from the Best Buy team was awesome. His taking time out of what I'm sure is a busy schedule and meet with us made such an impression on all of us. I can sum that little get together up in two words "Dinger Fan-tastic". He was very down to earth and took time to answer a lot of questions from the group and signed autographs for everyone without hesitation, very classy guy.
We showed our appreciation by throwing on our A.J. gear and took our Dinger Hill gang to the crowds. We started behind the main grandstands and ruled the crowd during the NASCAR on SPEED segment, totally stopping the show with chants of "A.J. A.J." and "Dinger's bringing Sexy back to Nor Cal". We carried a sign, about 4'x5', made by Jensen and Milla Freeze, through the crowds, doing our A.J. chants and came up on the Sprint site and again stopped the whole ordeal, while the sprint girls took notice and snapped pics of the sign with their cell phones lol. It was pretty amazing. I believe I tweeted a pic of the sign during the NASCAR on SPEED segment. Then we headed to our spot on turn 7 where we parked our Kubodas and watched our favorite driver A.J. Allmendinger. At one point during the race we took our "Dinger's bringing Sexy back" sign to the turn 7 grand stands and had the whole crowd on their feet chanting "A.J.! A.J.! A.J.!!" It was awesome to see people in Gordon, Johnson and Bush gear chanting for Allmendinger, we definitely had the crowd.
What started out as a group of about 25 on Dinger Hill, which is the Cougar Mountain camping area, quickly turned into about 50 die-hard Dinger fans. Gene and a lot of this group have been doing this for about 4 years and it's going to become an annual event for he and I to sponsor for years to come. Next year we would love to have A.J. come to Dinger Hill and enjoy a game of horseshoes with us haha. Uncle Gene is pretty good!
It was one of the most memorable NASCAR weekends I've been part of! Thanks again to A.J. for the time he gave us, to Molly and Tara for their hospitality and to the Best Buy Team for the great prizes, even though Gene nor I won anything lol, the experience was awesome and our crew will never forget it.
Jimm
@bamasaints
Watkins Glen Race Preview
AJ ALLMENDINGER No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made three starts at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
• Allmendinger enters the race in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (fourth) at the 2.45-mile road course came in last year’s race
AJ Allmendinger on Watkins Glen: “I’m coming off of two race tracks that I’m not a big fan of racing at, so I’m excited to be going to The Glen. I’ve had pretty good finishes there in the past, so I’m looking forward to going this weekend and having a legitimate shot at my first Cup Series win in my Best Buy Ford Fusion. Greg Erwin and I are starting to gel more and more each week and Watkins Glen is a great track for us to work on momentum with this new team dynamic.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Keys to Getting Around Watkins Glen: “The key to Watkins Glen historically has been being able to carry a lot of speed through the esses. We need to have a car that drives as close as we can make it equally left and right. Fuel mileage will be important at The Glen and generally two-stop strategies work well there.
“It will be interesting to see how the tire is going to react at Watkins Glen this weekend. We’ve been very solid and consistent with the Fords there in the past. This year Goodyear threw us a different tire at Sonoma (the only other road course on the Cup Series schedule) and everyone struggled with it. I’m hoping Goodyear has taken what was learned at Sonoma and the new tire at Watkins Glen will be closer to what it has been in the past. Our new Ford engine this year is also going to be key. We had the old Ford engine there last year, so this time around we should have a lot more power on the field.
There will also be a new style of chassis for the Fords this year, so that should help the performance of the car as well. I know AJ is excited to go to The Glen after coming off of two weeks of tough racetracks. He wants to go to Watkins Glen and show everybody what he’s got. It should be a good weekend for the Best Buy team and the whole RPM organization.”
Erwin on the Biggest Challenge at The Glen: “The biggest challenge historically has been fighting turn and getting the car to cut in the corners. The second biggest concern is yellow flag pit stops, because pit road can get really congested and we want to be able to get the Best Buy machine off of pit road with the fenders all in one piece. The next challenge will be getting through Turn 1 because that corner sends a lot of guys off of the racetrack and tends to end a lot of days pretty quick.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 760 for this weekend’s event at Watkins Glen International. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway.
Notes: Allmendinger’s best starting and finishing position at Watkins Glen (fourth) came in last year’s 90-lap event. Allmendinger enters this weekend in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. Allmendinger has completed 100 percent of laps attempted (270) at the 2.45-mile track and has an average finishing position of 9.3.
Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 and No. 9 teams will visit Victory Junction Gang Camp, Aug. 9, for NASCARnival Night, an evening full of fun and games with the campers. Allmendinger, along with his pit crew, will enjoy dinner, dancing and pit stop demonstrations as part of the event.
• Allmendinger has made three starts at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
• Allmendinger enters the race in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (fourth) at the 2.45-mile road course came in last year’s race
AJ Allmendinger on Watkins Glen: “I’m coming off of two race tracks that I’m not a big fan of racing at, so I’m excited to be going to The Glen. I’ve had pretty good finishes there in the past, so I’m looking forward to going this weekend and having a legitimate shot at my first Cup Series win in my Best Buy Ford Fusion. Greg Erwin and I are starting to gel more and more each week and Watkins Glen is a great track for us to work on momentum with this new team dynamic.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Keys to Getting Around Watkins Glen: “The key to Watkins Glen historically has been being able to carry a lot of speed through the esses. We need to have a car that drives as close as we can make it equally left and right. Fuel mileage will be important at The Glen and generally two-stop strategies work well there.
“It will be interesting to see how the tire is going to react at Watkins Glen this weekend. We’ve been very solid and consistent with the Fords there in the past. This year Goodyear threw us a different tire at Sonoma (the only other road course on the Cup Series schedule) and everyone struggled with it. I’m hoping Goodyear has taken what was learned at Sonoma and the new tire at Watkins Glen will be closer to what it has been in the past. Our new Ford engine this year is also going to be key. We had the old Ford engine there last year, so this time around we should have a lot more power on the field.
There will also be a new style of chassis for the Fords this year, so that should help the performance of the car as well. I know AJ is excited to go to The Glen after coming off of two weeks of tough racetracks. He wants to go to Watkins Glen and show everybody what he’s got. It should be a good weekend for the Best Buy team and the whole RPM organization.”
Erwin on the Biggest Challenge at The Glen: “The biggest challenge historically has been fighting turn and getting the car to cut in the corners. The second biggest concern is yellow flag pit stops, because pit road can get really congested and we want to be able to get the Best Buy machine off of pit road with the fenders all in one piece. The next challenge will be getting through Turn 1 because that corner sends a lot of guys off of the racetrack and tends to end a lot of days pretty quick.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 760 for this weekend’s event at Watkins Glen International. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway.
Notes: Allmendinger’s best starting and finishing position at Watkins Glen (fourth) came in last year’s 90-lap event. Allmendinger enters this weekend in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. Allmendinger has completed 100 percent of laps attempted (270) at the 2.45-mile track and has an average finishing position of 9.3.
Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 and No. 9 teams will visit Victory Junction Gang Camp, Aug. 9, for NASCARnival Night, an evening full of fun and games with the campers. Allmendinger, along with his pit crew, will enjoy dinner, dancing and pit stop demonstrations as part of the event.
NASCARnival at Victory Junction
The Richard Petty Motorsports teams visited Victory Junction Tuesday night for their annual NASCARnival celebration. Here are some videos from the event.
Pit stops aren't as easy when you're wearing boas.
The Bullseye Dance!
Team photo time
Pit stops aren't as easy when you're wearing boas.
The Bullseye Dance!
Team photo time
Monday, August 8, 2011
Pocono II Race Recap
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• AJ Allmendinger started from the 29th spot at Pocono Raceway
• Allmendinger wheeled his way to a 19th-place finishing position at the 2.5-mile tri-oval
• Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway in the 29th position. Once the green flag flew, he quickly assessed that he needed some help with the handling of the car in Turn 1. When the first caution flag waved on Lap 13, crew chief Greg Erwin called his driver into the pits for four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
After the restart, Allmendinger held down 21st place and communicated to the crew that his Best Buy Ford was a little better. The team chose to stay out during the next caution period, which came at Lap 20. Allmendinger struggled with the handling of the car for a while and the weather conditions, which alternated between sunny and cloudy for much of the race, didn’t help. A pit stop at Lap 41 enabled Erwin to make a track bar adjustment to the car while bolting on four new tires and fueling up the car. At the Lap 50 mark, the Best Buy Ford held down a spot just inside the top 25.
Allmendinger remained in the top 25 while fighting a tight handling racecar. The team continued to make changes to the car during pit stops and at the halfway point of the race, stood in 20th position. A rain shower on Lap 123 forced NASCAR officials to park the cars while they dried the track, resulting in a lengthy delay. When the track was dry and the cars hit the pavement once again, Allmendinger continued to fight a tight race car. As the run wore on, the handling of the Best Buy Ford improved, and Erwin continued to tweak the handling of the car during the remaining stops to make it better. Allmendinger remained in the top 25 for the next 65 laps until he broke into the top 20 with nine laps to go. When the checkered flag flew after a long day at Pocono Raceway, Allmendinger held down the19th spot.
Allmendinger stands in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings heading into the final road course event of the season next weekend.
Credit - Ford Racing
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• AJ Allmendinger started from the 29th spot at Pocono Raceway
• Allmendinger wheeled his way to a 19th-place finishing position at the 2.5-mile tri-oval
• Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up for the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway in the 29th position. Once the green flag flew, he quickly assessed that he needed some help with the handling of the car in Turn 1. When the first caution flag waved on Lap 13, crew chief Greg Erwin called his driver into the pits for four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
After the restart, Allmendinger held down 21st place and communicated to the crew that his Best Buy Ford was a little better. The team chose to stay out during the next caution period, which came at Lap 20. Allmendinger struggled with the handling of the car for a while and the weather conditions, which alternated between sunny and cloudy for much of the race, didn’t help. A pit stop at Lap 41 enabled Erwin to make a track bar adjustment to the car while bolting on four new tires and fueling up the car. At the Lap 50 mark, the Best Buy Ford held down a spot just inside the top 25.
Allmendinger remained in the top 25 while fighting a tight handling racecar. The team continued to make changes to the car during pit stops and at the halfway point of the race, stood in 20th position. A rain shower on Lap 123 forced NASCAR officials to park the cars while they dried the track, resulting in a lengthy delay. When the track was dry and the cars hit the pavement once again, Allmendinger continued to fight a tight race car. As the run wore on, the handling of the Best Buy Ford improved, and Erwin continued to tweak the handling of the car during the remaining stops to make it better. Allmendinger remained in the top 25 for the next 65 laps until he broke into the top 20 with nine laps to go. When the checkered flag flew after a long day at Pocono Raceway, Allmendinger held down the19th spot.
Allmendinger stands in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings heading into the final road course event of the season next weekend.
Credit - Ford Racing
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Pocono II Post-Race Quotes
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 19th
RED FLAG COMMENTS:“The Best Buy Ford has been a little bit tight all day. I feel like we’ve been making gains on it. In the long run, we’re actually pretty good. If you just pick our car up and place it inside the top 10, top five, on older tires we could run there, but we’re just struggling on restarts being too tight. A lot of people have that problem with being aero-tight.”
***
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion
Finished 20th
POST-RACE COMMENTS: “It was just a long day today, but we just fought and gouged all day. I’m really proud of my guys. I feel like I got the most out of myself and the guys really tried hard. It’s not the day we wanted, but we’re still proud of ourselves.”
DID THE BREAK HELP YOU GET THE CAR BETTER? “No. We just fought and gouged all day and then we got track position, but we’ll get ‘em next week.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Finished 19th
RED FLAG COMMENTS:“The Best Buy Ford has been a little bit tight all day. I feel like we’ve been making gains on it. In the long run, we’re actually pretty good. If you just pick our car up and place it inside the top 10, top five, on older tires we could run there, but we’re just struggling on restarts being too tight. A lot of people have that problem with being aero-tight.”
***
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion
Finished 20th
POST-RACE COMMENTS: “It was just a long day today, but we just fought and gouged all day. I’m really proud of my guys. I feel like I got the most out of myself and the guys really tried hard. It’s not the day we wanted, but we’re still proud of ourselves.”
DID THE BREAK HELP YOU GET THE CAR BETTER? “No. We just fought and gouged all day and then we got track position, but we’ll get ‘em next week.”
Credit - Ford Racing
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Pocono II Race Preview
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Pocono Raceway, located in Long Pond, Pa.
• Allmendinger enters the race in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) at the 2.5-mile track came in last year’s June race
AJ Allmendinger on Pocono: “Pocono is a strange track to race on. When we go back the second time it always seems like the track is a lot slicker than earlier in the year. Every year that I’ve been there, for whatever reason, in the eight weeks that it sits, it just gets so much slicker. Since the track conditions change so much, the setup is a little bit different this week than when we go there in June. For us we weren’t great there the first race, but we definitely figured out some things we can build off of and try to work out this weekend. With us shifting at Pocono now for the second time this season, it’s a lot different to drive on than it has been in past years. Those are some notes we can use this weekend from the June race.
“We learned a lot last week working with Greg Erwin for the first time and I think the next couple of weeks are going to be a transition period for the whole Best Buy team. We still have an outside shot of going out there and making the Chase, but more importantly, there are race tracks we can go to a second time and put ourselves up against what we have done earlier in the year. We just have to keep trying to get our Best Buy Ford better and better.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Thoughts on Pocono: “Pocono is probably the most difficult track for the driver and crew chief to be able to assemble good solid complete laps around the race track because it is so uniquely different on all three corners. One of the biggest problems we’ll fight in Pocono is the roughness of the race track entering Turn 1 at the end of the longest straightaway. That’s really what sets the car up for a good lap or not. Depending on how the Best Buy Ford gets through those bumps will depend on how good our lap is because if we lose speed it’s really difficult to get that speed back. The tunnel turn has some resemblance to Indy, but is a lot rougher. We may use some of our Indy notes if we are struggling getting through the tunnel turn. The patch in Turn 3 has a lot more grip now and a lot of drivers are going up there to get some speed. Turn 3 is a big, long, flat, sweeping corner and it is hard to get the car to drive off that corner while still having the front end turn well. It is a little bit of a tighter exit than the other two turns. Pocono is definitely one of the harder race tracks combined with the fact that we are going back for the second time being allowed to shift again. We saw a lot of wear and tear on our transmissions there earlier in the year. Shifting gives AJ another tool to try and get around Pocono, but he has to take care of it.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 729 for this weekend’s event at Pocono. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Phoenix International Raceway, Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and was utilized in the June race at Pocono Raceway.
Notes: Allmendinger has eight starts and two Top-15 finishes at Pocono. He enters the race this weekend in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) came in last year’s June race. He has completed 1,506 of 1,510 laps attempted at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
This week marks the start of DIRECTV’s Head2Head Knockout competition. The No. 43 team has been pitted up against the No. 4 team during this week’s race. The high-stakes competition will take place over the course of four races and DIRECTV, the exclusive provider of the NASCAR HotPass™ broadcast, will donate a total of $400,000 to driver charities during the event as drivers compete head-to-head each week with the winner moving on to the next bracket.
In addition, a participating fan who fills out a perfect bracket can win $1 million. Aside from a perfect bracket winner, the fan who accumulates the most points will win a brand new truck from the manufacturer of the winning driver. Fans can get more information by visiting www.directv.com/nascar and can enter their brackets until Aug. 7 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made eight starts at Pocono Raceway, located in Long Pond, Pa.
• Allmendinger enters the race in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) at the 2.5-mile track came in last year’s June race
AJ Allmendinger on Pocono: “Pocono is a strange track to race on. When we go back the second time it always seems like the track is a lot slicker than earlier in the year. Every year that I’ve been there, for whatever reason, in the eight weeks that it sits, it just gets so much slicker. Since the track conditions change so much, the setup is a little bit different this week than when we go there in June. For us we weren’t great there the first race, but we definitely figured out some things we can build off of and try to work out this weekend. With us shifting at Pocono now for the second time this season, it’s a lot different to drive on than it has been in past years. Those are some notes we can use this weekend from the June race.
“We learned a lot last week working with Greg Erwin for the first time and I think the next couple of weeks are going to be a transition period for the whole Best Buy team. We still have an outside shot of going out there and making the Chase, but more importantly, there are race tracks we can go to a second time and put ourselves up against what we have done earlier in the year. We just have to keep trying to get our Best Buy Ford better and better.”
Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Thoughts on Pocono: “Pocono is probably the most difficult track for the driver and crew chief to be able to assemble good solid complete laps around the race track because it is so uniquely different on all three corners. One of the biggest problems we’ll fight in Pocono is the roughness of the race track entering Turn 1 at the end of the longest straightaway. That’s really what sets the car up for a good lap or not. Depending on how the Best Buy Ford gets through those bumps will depend on how good our lap is because if we lose speed it’s really difficult to get that speed back. The tunnel turn has some resemblance to Indy, but is a lot rougher. We may use some of our Indy notes if we are struggling getting through the tunnel turn. The patch in Turn 3 has a lot more grip now and a lot of drivers are going up there to get some speed. Turn 3 is a big, long, flat, sweeping corner and it is hard to get the car to drive off that corner while still having the front end turn well. It is a little bit of a tighter exit than the other two turns. Pocono is definitely one of the harder race tracks combined with the fact that we are going back for the second time being allowed to shift again. We saw a lot of wear and tear on our transmissions there earlier in the year. Shifting gives AJ another tool to try and get around Pocono, but he has to take care of it.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 729 for this weekend’s event at Pocono. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Phoenix International Raceway, Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and was utilized in the June race at Pocono Raceway.
Notes: Allmendinger has eight starts and two Top-15 finishes at Pocono. He enters the race this weekend in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. Allmendinger’s best finish (10th) came in last year’s June race. He has completed 1,506 of 1,510 laps attempted at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
This week marks the start of DIRECTV’s Head2Head Knockout competition. The No. 43 team has been pitted up against the No. 4 team during this week’s race. The high-stakes competition will take place over the course of four races and DIRECTV, the exclusive provider of the NASCAR HotPass™ broadcast, will donate a total of $400,000 to driver charities during the event as drivers compete head-to-head each week with the winner moving on to the next bracket.
In addition, a participating fan who fills out a perfect bracket can win $1 million. Aside from a perfect bracket winner, the fan who accumulates the most points will win a brand new truck from the manufacturer of the winning driver. Fans can get more information by visiting www.directv.com/nascar and can enter their brackets until Aug. 7 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
TRIMFIT JOINS RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS PARTNER LINEUP
TRIMFIT JOINS RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS PARTNER LINEUPPatented New Weight Loss Water Will Have Presence on No. 43 Ford
CONCORD, N.C. (August 2, 2011) – Roger J. Catarino, President and CEO of First Fruits Beverage Company, LLC, and Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) officials have announced a partnership centered around the new patented weight loss water beverage TrimFit. The associate sponsorship will showcase the brand on uniforms as well as on the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford.
“We’re happy to have TrimFit on board,” stated team Co-Owner Richard Petty. “TrimFit is an innovative and exciting new beverage and we’re looking forward to introducing it to the legions of faithful NASCAR fans. This is a great opportunity to introduce a new product to our sport and we’re looking forward to working together with the folks from TrimFit to showcase their great, new product.”
TrimFit will have a presence with both of the RPM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams for the remainder of the 2011 season. In addition to a logo on the sleeve of the firesuit of Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, the company will be featured on the deck lid of the No. 43 Ford machine.
Roger Catarino added, “RPM represents the highest quality image in integrity and reputation and we are delighted to be partnering with them and to have Richard “The King” Petty as our spokesperson. He and his team provide the perfect vehicle for our product to be introduced to the consumer and receive instant credibility because of his unprecedented accomplishments and reputation. TrimFit is a patented weight loss water and has created a new beverage category for functional beverages. Check www.TrimFitWater.com to find a TrimFit retailer closest to you”
About TrimFit:
Lose Weight, Lower Body Fat, Reduce Your Waistline, and Stay Hydrated with TrimFit ™ All Natural Weight Loss Water! While results may vary, TrimFit, with a balanced diet and exercise program can help you achieve and maintain healthy weight levels and a toned body shape. TrimFit’s patented ingredient, Trisynex®, targets reduction of body fat helping you achieve a healthy lifestyle by balancing the key hormones Leptin and Adiponectin. Ten years of university research and development, including an eight-week clinical study, substantiate that TrimFit works. Each eight-ounce serving is all natural, has 0 grams of sugar, five calories, and provides hydration. TrimFit comes in three great tasting flavors – Pink Lemonade, Mixed Berry, and Lemon Lime.
TrimFit is produced exclusively by First Fruits Beverage Company in Marion, VA. The state-of-the-art facility is organic certified, kosher approved, and is dedicated to “green” initiatives. For more information about TrimFit, please visit our website at www.TrimFitWater.com.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
CONCORD, N.C. (August 2, 2011) – Roger J. Catarino, President and CEO of First Fruits Beverage Company, LLC, and Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) officials have announced a partnership centered around the new patented weight loss water beverage TrimFit. The associate sponsorship will showcase the brand on uniforms as well as on the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford.
“We’re happy to have TrimFit on board,” stated team Co-Owner Richard Petty. “TrimFit is an innovative and exciting new beverage and we’re looking forward to introducing it to the legions of faithful NASCAR fans. This is a great opportunity to introduce a new product to our sport and we’re looking forward to working together with the folks from TrimFit to showcase their great, new product.”
TrimFit will have a presence with both of the RPM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams for the remainder of the 2011 season. In addition to a logo on the sleeve of the firesuit of Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, the company will be featured on the deck lid of the No. 43 Ford machine.
Roger Catarino added, “RPM represents the highest quality image in integrity and reputation and we are delighted to be partnering with them and to have Richard “The King” Petty as our spokesperson. He and his team provide the perfect vehicle for our product to be introduced to the consumer and receive instant credibility because of his unprecedented accomplishments and reputation. TrimFit is a patented weight loss water and has created a new beverage category for functional beverages. Check www.TrimFitWater.com to find a TrimFit retailer closest to you”
About TrimFit:
Lose Weight, Lower Body Fat, Reduce Your Waistline, and Stay Hydrated with TrimFit ™ All Natural Weight Loss Water! While results may vary, TrimFit, with a balanced diet and exercise program can help you achieve and maintain healthy weight levels and a toned body shape. TrimFit’s patented ingredient, Trisynex®, targets reduction of body fat helping you achieve a healthy lifestyle by balancing the key hormones Leptin and Adiponectin. Ten years of university research and development, including an eight-week clinical study, substantiate that TrimFit works. Each eight-ounce serving is all natural, has 0 grams of sugar, five calories, and provides hydration. TrimFit comes in three great tasting flavors – Pink Lemonade, Mixed Berry, and Lemon Lime.
TrimFit is produced exclusively by First Fruits Beverage Company in Marion, VA. The state-of-the-art facility is organic certified, kosher approved, and is dedicated to “green” initiatives. For more information about TrimFit, please visit our website at www.TrimFitWater.com.
Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR
Monday, August 1, 2011
Indianapolis Race Recap
AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
* AJ Allmendinger started in the sixth position Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
* Allmendinger finished the 400-mile event at the 2.5-mile quad-oval in the 22nd position
* Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up in the sixth spot for the start of the 400-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Quickly making his way toward the front of the field, Allmendinger was running in the third position on Lap 3.
A routine green flag pit stop on Lap 25 allowed Allmendinger to communicate to Crew Chief, Greg Erwin, who made his debut at the track with the team this weekend, that he was happy with how the Best Buy Ford was running overall, but the car was just a tick loose on entry and exit in the corners and tight through the center. Erwin called for a trackbar adjustment, four tires and fuel during the first pit stop of the day.
The change made to the Best Buy machine on the previous pit stop seemed to help the car’s handling during the early stages of the race, but as the laps wore on, Allmendinger began struggling more and more with how the car was driving. By Lap 105, Allmendinger was still running inside the top 10, but had fallen back to the ninth position.
With just under 60 Laps to go, Allmendinger again began to fight with the handling of the Best Buy Ford and couldn’t seem to get it to turn through the center of the corners. Erwin and the Richard Petty Motorsports crew made various chassis adjustments to the car during the remaining pit stops and when the checkered flag flew at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Allmendinger held down 22nd place.
Sunday’s finish resulted in Allmendinger falling one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He now holds down 17th place heading to Pocono Raceway next weekend.
Credit - Ford Racing
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
* AJ Allmendinger started in the sixth position Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
* Allmendinger finished the 400-mile event at the 2.5-mile quad-oval in the 22nd position
* Unofficially, Allmendinger sits in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger lined up in the sixth spot for the start of the 400-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Quickly making his way toward the front of the field, Allmendinger was running in the third position on Lap 3.
A routine green flag pit stop on Lap 25 allowed Allmendinger to communicate to Crew Chief, Greg Erwin, who made his debut at the track with the team this weekend, that he was happy with how the Best Buy Ford was running overall, but the car was just a tick loose on entry and exit in the corners and tight through the center. Erwin called for a trackbar adjustment, four tires and fuel during the first pit stop of the day.
The change made to the Best Buy machine on the previous pit stop seemed to help the car’s handling during the early stages of the race, but as the laps wore on, Allmendinger began struggling more and more with how the car was driving. By Lap 105, Allmendinger was still running inside the top 10, but had fallen back to the ninth position.
With just under 60 Laps to go, Allmendinger again began to fight with the handling of the Best Buy Ford and couldn’t seem to get it to turn through the center of the corners. Erwin and the Richard Petty Motorsports crew made various chassis adjustments to the car during the remaining pit stops and when the checkered flag flew at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Allmendinger held down 22nd place.
Sunday’s finish resulted in Allmendinger falling one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He now holds down 17th place heading to Pocono Raceway next weekend.
Credit - Ford Racing
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)