Talladega II Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
• Allmendinger has made six starts at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
• Allmendinger enters the race in 14th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
• Allmendinger’s best finish (11th) at the track came in this year’s event at the 2.66-mile track in August

Allmendinger on Talladega Superspeedway: “Talladega isn’t one of my favorite places to race. I had a big wreck there last year and flipped, so it doesn’t bring back good memories. We’ve never really had good results there until this year’s event in August when we finished in 11th place. We had a fast car at Talladega earlier this year, so I’m feeling good about this weekend’s race. It will be interesting to see how the new rules package affects my Best Buy Ford’s drafting abilities. Hopefully it will help the two-car draft. It’s all about survival this weekend. If we can miss “The Big One” we should be in good shape Sunday.”

Crew Chief Greg Erwin’s Keys to Getting Around Talladega: “At Talladega it will be key to find a good drafting partner. It will have to be someone that can push the Best Buy Ford really fast and someone that can pull us fast, all while being smart. Based on what we saw at Daytona and Talladega earlier this year with the tandem drafting, we’ll probably have to find a partner that will stick with us, unless the new rules NASCAR has implemented this weekend change that. We will just have to wait and see how things work out once we unload for practice on Friday.

“We need to make sure we have a fast car with a lot of horsepower and that AJ and the Best Buy crew don’t make any mistakes during pit stops. There will likely be some stops under green flag conditions during the middle part of the race, so we need to make sure we are in sync with our drafting partner when pitting so we don’t lose the draft.”

Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 722 for this weekend’s event at Talladega Superspeedway. This Best Buy Ford has been run previously this season at Daytona and Talladega’s first event of the season.

Notes: Allmendinger has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway. Allmendinger’s best starting position (fourth) came in 2008 at the 2.66-mile track. His best finishing position (11th) came in this year’s August event at the superspeedway. He has completed 1,115 of 1,143 laps attempted at the quad-oval, leading six of them. Allmendinger enters Talladega in 14th spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings.

NASCAR will implement two rule changes for this week’s running of the Good Sam Clubs 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The size of the restrictor plate that teams will use to prepare and practice for the race will increase by 1/64 inch and is now going to be 57/64 inch diameter. This will provide the teams with an additional 7-10 horsepower. Additionally, the pressure relief valve on the cars’ cooling system will be recalibrated to reduce the pressure by approximately eight pounds per square inch from last April’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega.

Don’t miss out on your chance to meet AJ. Allmendinger. The driver of the No. 43 Ford will be visiting Woody Anderson Ford in Huntsville, Ala. (25 Jordan Lane, Huntsville, Ala., 35816) on Thursday from 2-3:30 p.m. CT for an autograph session and meet and greet with the employees. The autograph session will be open to the public.

Check out the Richard Petty Motorsports website at www.richardpettymotorsports.com for up-to-date news and information on Allmendinger, Ambrose and the rest of the RPM crew. The Dinger also has a website of his own. Visit www.ajallmendinger.com for everything AJ.

Credit - Ford Racing