Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Martinsville Post-Race Report

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH'S® BEANS CHEVROLET SS
JTG DAUGHERTY RACING MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY POST RACE REPORT

Track:  Martinsville Speedway
Event: STP 500
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2014
Started:   15th
Finished:  11th

TEAM QUOTES:

AJ Allmendinger, who led the STP 500 in the No. 47 BUSH'S Beans Chevrolet at lap 237, was so close to delivering another top-10 finish for JTG Daugherty Racing as he took the checkered flag in 11th-place at Martinsville Speedway. The finish advanced Allmendinger six positions to 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. He is only 75 points out of first place held by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There were 33 lead changes among 12 drivers (a new track record) with Kurt Busch pulling off the victory in the sixth race of the season. There have now been six different winners in the first six races of the season.

“All and all, it was a good weekend for us,” JTG Daugherty Racing crew chief Brian Burns said. “The little bit of testing we did here definitely paid off. Coming here we felt like we had our head around the setup a lot better. It paid off in the race. AJ fought back hard every time we lost positions. He got us right back up there. We were hoping for a top-10, but that was pretty close. The pit stops were great by the guys today. We were just fighting that the engine-mapping, it was a little off and it was costing us positions on pit road. I know how good ECR is and they will work on that and when we come back we won’t have to worry about that next time.”

“It was a really good race and I was really proud of all my guys,” AJ Allmendinger said. “At times on the long runs, we maybe were the fastest car out there. It was fun. I had to be careful not to burn the tires off early on, which made me defensive and then we would get rolling and the No. 47 BUSH’S Beans Chevrolet SS was pretty good. Then it was just trying to keep up with the track with the sun coming out and things like that.  I thought we did a good job overall. I used the car up there at the end so I didn’t have much left. The pit stops by my guys were pretty solid. We’ve just got to work on the mapping on pit road. We struggled badly with that. When you are bucking all the way through pit road and you can’t tell if you were at pit road speed or five below it was killing us. An 11th-place is a little disappointing, but to bring the car home in one piece and have another decent points day is not a bad day for us.”

“I think the more you run up front the more you learn,” JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter said. “We had really solid pit stops all day. We averaged 12.50 seconds and I will take that all day long. That one time we tried to stay out on tires, the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) that won the race, had the exact same strategy we did. We just got up there in the marbles and got some junk on our tires and that was unfortunate. It kind of changed the complexion of our day. AJ drove a heck of a race and fought his way up to 11th. I couldn’t be any prouder of him and the team getting there.”
 

FAST FACTS:

Career Starts: 197
Top-fives:     5
Top-10s:      31
Pole Awards: 2
First Start:  3/25/2007  Bristol
First Pole:   4/10/2010  Phoenix
Last Pole:    4/22/2012  Kansas
Best Start:   1 - 4/10/2010 Phoenix
Best Finish:  2 - 4/1/2012  Martinsville
Driver DOB:  12/16/1981      
Hometown:   San Jose, Calif.
Crew Chief:   Brian Burns

 

GET OUT & GRILL:


Fire up your grill, and your taste buds, with our Hot & Spicy Pork Chops. Seasoned with a rub of brown sugar and cayenne pepper, they pair perfectly with BUSH’S® Southern Pit Barbecue Grillin’ Beans®.

CLICK HERE for this and other great recipes from BUSH'S
® Beans.
 


FAN OF THE WEEK:
Enter NOW for a chance to ride along with AJ Allmendinger during a race this season! 

Throughout the season our JTG Daugherty Racing "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" will have their photo featured on AJ's car.

Each week we post the "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" theme, with instructions on how you can enter. The best fan submission to us via the JTG Daugherty Racing social media pages will be chosen the following Monday and will be featured on AJ Allmendinger's #47 car during the next race.

 
This week's #47FanOfTheWeek contest was almost as simple as guessing how many jelly beans are in a glass jar. All fans had to do was look at the attached image and send us their best guess with how many BUSH'S® Grillin' Beans are in the BUSH'S® Grillin' Beans can that JTG Daugherty Racing team member Zach Case is holding. To give themselves a better chance at winning, we suggested they run out to their local grocery store and buy a can or three of BUSH'S® Grillin' Beans and count each delicious bean for themselves then send us their guess. The particular can in the image is "BOURBON AND BROWN SUGAR" flavored.

Well, the guesses were all over the board but the winning guess came within 11 BUSH'S® Grillin' Beans
of the correct answer. Jason Nance from Greensboro, NC made the BOLD guess of 670 beans and our can had 681 BOURBON AND BROWN SUGAR flavored beans.

Congratulations Jason! You will be riding along with AJ next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway!

Look for our next contest to be announced in a few days, you might be our next #47FanOfTheWeek!
 

AJS WHEREABOUTS:

Sunday, March 23rd

10 AM to 10:15 AM  Sprint Experience Q&A in Midway

10:30 AM JTG Daugherty Racing Meet and Greets at 47 Hauler







Credit - Photos & info courtesy of JTG Daugherty Racing

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