Michigan: RPM Qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Stanley Dodge Charger)
Qualified 6th
"I'm proud of everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports. Everyone is working hard and they really gave me a good race car today. We haven't had the recent results, but we're getting better. Just a little bit loose all day."

***

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Qualified 8th
"Not a bad lap for our Budweiser Dodge. I just didn't get back to the throttle quick enough and it cost us some time. The car seems balanced. It seems awful fast in race trim. Corner entry is really important here and I like how our car works corner-in-and-out. We definitely have something to work from for tomorrow's practice."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Best Buy Dodge Charger)
Qualified 25th
"We were really good in race trim. We just missed it in qualifying trim. I was really happy in race trim. Our Best Buy Dodge drove well; it was in the track really good. When we converted over to qualifying trim, we just lost something and couldn't get it back."

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Reynolds Wrap Dodge Charger)
Qualified 28th
"We were OK in qualifying. It's still pretty warm out and the track is really slick. The Reynolds Wrap Dodge was good in race trim earlier today. Qualifying was decent. I had a decent lap, just got too loose coming off of (turn) three and scrubbed off too much time."


Credit: Dodge Motorsports

Michigan: Starting Lineup

AJ and the #44 Stanley Tools team had a very successful qualifying session this afternoon! They parlayed a 16th place finish in first practice into a 6th place run when it really counted.

The team will work on the overall balance of the car during Saturday’s practices at Michigan International Speedway, and hope to get the car ready for the long runs we usually see here. This top 10 starting spot is the tenth of AJ’s Sprint Cup career, and his third for the season. Great lap, AJ!

LifeLock 400 Starting Lineup
1. Brian Vickers
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. David Reutimann
5. Kurt Busch
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. Juan Pablo Montoya
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Clint Bowyer
10. John Andretti
11. Tony Stewart
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Robby Gordon
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Bill Elliott
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Bobby Labonte
18. Ryan Newman
19. Martin Truex, Jr.
20. Greg Biffle
21. Scott Speed
22. Jeff Burton
23. David Ragan
24. Joey Logano
25. Elliott Sadler
26. David Stremme
27. Jeff Gordon
28. Reed Sorenson
29. Carl Edwards
30. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
31. Jamie McMurray
32. Mark Martin
33. Marcos Ambrose
34. Sam Hornish, Jr.
35. David Gilliland
36. Michael Waltrip
37. Casey Mears
38. Paul Menard
39. Dave Blaney
40. Joe Nemechek
41. Tony Raines
42. Sterling Marlin
43. Max Papis
DNQ Mike Skinner

Michigan: Practice 1 Results

First practice is over, and the Richard Petty Motorsports drivers are scattered throughout the leaderboard. With a hot and slippery race track, all the cars were looking for some grip before getting ready to qualify. AJ goes out 13th on the grid for qualifying this afternoon, and it looks like he hit on something late in practice. Hopefully that will give him a top 20 starting spot for Sunday’s race.

Richard Petty Motorsports Results
AJ Allmendinger
16th
Laps Run – 16
Fast Lap – 186.008
Average Speed – 179.935

Kasey Kahne
17th
Laps Run – 20
Fast Lap – 185.994
Average Speed – 180.793

Reed Sorenson
26th
Laps Run – 20
Fast Lap – 185.543
Average Speed – 181.145

Elliott Sadler
34th
Laps Run – 19
Fast Lap – 184.412
Average Speed – 180.536



Practice 1 Results
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Brian Vickers
3. Kurt Busch
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. Clint Bowyer
6. David Stremme
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Greg Biffle
9. Ryan Newman
10. Mark Martin
11. Sam Hornish, Jr.
12. Joey Logano
13. Martin Truex, Jr.
14. Bobby Labonte
15. Jeff Burton
16. AJ Allmendinger
17. Kasey Kahne
18. Tony Stewart
19. Bill Elliott
20. David Reutimann
21. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
22. Kyle Busch
23. Marcos Ambrose
24. Jamie McMurray
25. Scott Speed
26. Reed Sorenson
27. Robby Gordon
28. David Ragan
29. Carl Edwards
30. Matt Kenseth
31. Paul Menard
32. Kevin Harvick
33. Michael Waltrip
34. Elliott Sadler
35. Joe Nemechek
36. David Gilliland
37. Jeff Gordon
38. Tony Raines
39. Dave Blaney
40. Max Papis
41. Casey Mears
42. Sterling Marlin
43. John Andretti
44. Mike Skinner

Michigan Statistics

AJ Allmendinger hopes to improve on his average starting position of 38th - and more importantly, his average finish of 26th - in Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. The track has been a frustrating one for AJ, with several good runs going bad in the closing laps, and finishes that didn’t really tell the whole story of where he raced.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the pattern lately for the 27 year old California native. There seems to be a dark cloud hanging over the heads of the #44 Richard Petty Motorsports team. Lady Luck has not been kind to them for the last month, but hopefully things will turn around in the heart of the Irish Hills of Michigan.


Michigan Statistics

June 2007
Started 43rd, Finished 31st

August 2007
Did Not Qualify

June 2008
Started 39th, Finished 19th

August 2008
Started 33rd, Finished 28th

Michigan Preview

If luck evens out in life, then AJ Allmendinger might be the next in line to win the Michigan lottery. He's certainly due some good luck.

The 27-year-old Richard Petty Motorsports driver saw a top-10 finish turn into a 30th-place finish at Pocono Sunday when his Stanley Dodge ran out of gas two turns from the finish. The week before a debris caution seconds after making a pit stop cost him two laps at Dover.

Despite the poor luck, Allmendinger takes solace in the performance shown by his No. 44 Stanley Dodge at Pocono running as high as sixth place in the race after starting 30th. He hopes for a similar run at Michigan International Speedway this weekend.

AJ ALLMENDINGER:
POCONO--"We had 199 great laps at Pocono. The last one stunk."

LUCK -- "If it weren't for bad luck I don't know what luck we would have. What can you do. You just keep on racing as well as you can knowing its going to turn sooner or later."

PERFORMANCE-- "My guys are working hard. There's still a lot of racing ahead and if we can run like we did Sunday then sooner or later we will turn that into a good finish. The car was fast Sunday. I think everyone at Pocono or watching on television saw that."


* Allmendinger will sign autographs at his merchandise hauler at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday in Michigan.

* Allmendinger will drive chassis 281 at Pocono.

* Sunday's race will be Allmendinger's 59th start in Sprint Cup.


Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Pocono Report Card

A+
Tony Stewart – Another perfect grade for Mr. Stewart. Do you suppose he ever got those in school?
Carl Edwards – He had a great run going and led the most laps, but the Office Depot team beat the Aflac guys on pit road. You know that Carl only has one thing on his mind though – championship!

A
David Reutimann – After a tough race in Dover, the Coke 600 winner was back in Chase contending form.
Ryan Newman – Is this guy on a roll or what?
Others – Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Jimmie Johnson

A-
Sam Hornish, Jr. – The former open-wheeler is showing that he has what it takes on ovals, and even on rovals.
Kasey Kahne – Should have finished 10th, but a spin on the last straightaway relegated him to 15th.
Others – Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer

B+
Casey Mears – Another strong top 15 run
Michael Waltrip – Made a nice recovery after his unique pit road entrance earlier in the race.
Others – Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex, Jr.

B
Brian Vickers – Not sure what has happened with the lead Red Bull driver lately, but he needs to pick it back up to stay in the Chase hunt.
AJ Allmendinger – His finish didn’t show it, but he had a bad fast car all day long.
Others – Mark Martin, Reed Sorenson, Kyle Busch

B-
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – Is Lance McGrew feeling pressure now? Oh yeah, you can guarantee it.
Kevin Harvick – I wonder how long until Kevin starts asking for Todd back as crew chief.
Others – Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler, David Ragan

C+
Robby Gordon – Personally, I’m just amazed he was able to race 500 miles at Pocono after winning the Baja 500 on Saturday. Wonder how many energy drinks he downed in that two day period.
Scott Speed – As a rookie, he is still struggling to figure these cars out.
Others – Bobby Labonte, Paul Menard, Regan Smith

C
Dexter Bean – Despite coming into pit road too fast and getting a penalty for taking out the commitment cone, I was impressed with his first ever Sprint Cup start.
Kurt Busch – He had a strong car until mechanical problems ruined his day
Others – David Stremme, John Andretti, Denny Hamlin

C-
Patrick Carpentier – I was glad to see the Canadian open wheeler back in a car, but sad to see him park it a short time into the race.
Other start and parks – Sterling Marlin, Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, David Gilliland

Tuesday Ramble - Pocono Edition

Pocono Raceway was not good to AJ this weekend, but it didn’t have anything to do with poor performance and everything to do with bad luck. I have to admit that I yanked my headphones out of the computer and threw them down when AJ radioed in that he was out of gas on the final lap. I also said some choice cuss words that I can’t repeat on here without putting up some kind of content warning.

The fact that I was sitting next to both of my parents during this outburst didn’t even faze me. I was so mad – no, I was furious! How could this happen? I just didn’t understand it. AJ had topped off before coming to the green, and cars that didn’t top off made it to the checkered flag. And I knew that AJ was saving fuel – I could see the throttle and brake telemetry right on my computer screen.

I was so angry in the beginning that I cursed crew chief Sammy Johns until I was blue in the face. Then I calmed down and realized that if he hadn’t made that gamble, that AJ probably would have finished somewhere between 15th and 20th anyway, instead of the 10th place or better that he would get if he could make it. So I forgave Sammy and instead fumed about the Dodges, which always seem to get horrible mileage, and wished to high heaven that AJ had been driving something else instead. I guess maybe I should be careful what I wish for after Monday’s news tidbits, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

I was so heartbroken after the race, and just sick to my stomach for AJ’s sake. He needed this good run so badly, and he had the car to finally get the finish that he deserved. And then it all slipped away in half a lap. This isn’t just about finishing order or points position, either. Don’t forget that he still is not secure in a ride for the last ten races of the season. Not to mention that Richard Petty Motorsports could really use the share of 10th place prize money that they would get. That fact was brought home just a day after AJ’s disappointing finish at Pocono when news came out about layoffs and salary reductions at RPM.

With Chrysler in the middle of Chapter 11 restructuring, the Dodge teams that receive factory support seem to be experiencing a cash flow problem. According to an article on NASCAR.com, Richard Petty says that they have been affected by the bankruptcy proceedings. At the moment, the Dodge teams apparently have to file paperwork for reimbursement from Chrysler for engineering, technical services, and factory provided parts. The paperwork then has to go through legal proceedings before the team can be reimbursed.

With RPM already struggling to support four teams with limited sponsorship, it makes me wonder how long they can continue to do so now that they have to wait for factory support from Dodge. The hope was that as soon as Chrysler came out of the bankruptcy proceedings that things would get back to normal. But Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg threw a kink into the works when she granted a stay on the sale of assets to Italian automaker Fiat on Monday. This leaves only a week until the government mandated deadline of June 15th for the sale. After that date, Fiat can walk away from the purchase.

So what does this mean to the NASCAR teams? It means that the Chapter 11 restructuring is going to take even longer than expected. Apparently the higher ups at RPM are concerned about how long it will take for Dodge to pay the bills they are submitting. With the race team already strapped for cash, news came yesterday from Associated Press writer Jenna Fryer about nine workers being laid off and salary cuts for the remaining employees.

With Richard Petty Motorsports seemingly in flux due to the bankruptcy proceedings, rumors have already started flying about a move to Toyota in 2010. And adding fuel to the fire was another announcement on Monday regarding the Nationwide series. RPM has not fielded a car in that series for 2009, but they have now partnered with Braun Racing for five races. And Braun Racing is one of the top Toyota teams in the Nationwide series, and currently fields two full time entries – the #38 of Jason Leffler and the #32 car, which is shared by Brian Vickers and Burney Lamar – along with a part-time ride for David Reutimann in the #10.

No official word has come out on whether Braun Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports will run a Dodge or a Toyota for the five scheduled races to be shared by drivers Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler. But having RPM enter into a partnership with a known Toyota team certainly increases the speculation that the team will make a manufacturer change when their contract ends with Dodge in 2009.

Unfortunately, all of this uncertainty makes it hard for RPM to be competitive for the remainder of this year. They are working on the new R6 engine right now, but don’t have enough built to even run one at every race. And the question becomes – how much of their resources should they commit to that engine when they may not be running it next year? Yet if they don’t work on improving their team and getting better finishes, will there be any sponsors interested in them for next year?

The biggest thing that RPM has going for them right now is that they have a good lineup of drivers. Kasey Kahne is not only extremely talented, but he is one of the most popular drivers in the sport right now. Elliott Sadler is a charismatic person with a large media presence, and sponsors love him. Reed Sorenson has the youth factor on his side and is a great long term investment if they choose to keep him. And AJ is a driver whose star is on the rise. His fan base is growing at an amazing rate, as is the respect of his peers.

Yet even with all of that going for them, I am concerned for the future of Richard Petty Motorsports – and more importantly, the future of my driver. I think that the RPM executives are going to have to make several tough decisions in the near future. Do they commit to improving the Dodge equipment that they have, or do they save their resources and make a change for 2010? If they do spend the money on improving the teams, how long can they field four entries? And if they do have to shut a team down, which one do they choose?

In a way, this last decision is similar to what Roush Fenway is facing this year by having to cut down to four drivers for next season. Only in Roush’s case, they aren’t really cutting a driver. There is no doubt that they will simply move one of their drivers to Yates Racing and supply them with what is basically Roush equipment. Richard Petty Motorsports doesn’t have that option, and if they do have to close one of the teams, there will be a driver looking for work. I can guarantee it won’t be Kasey Kahne, so who will it be – Sadler, Sorenson, or Allmendinger? I guess only time will tell.

Pocono Race Recap

It pains me to write AJ’s race recap this week, and I considered not even doing it. But I figure there are people out there who don’t know all the circumstances behind his finish. He started in 30th place due to rained out qualifying, and ended in 30th place when all was said and done. That doesn’t tell the whole story of how he ran though, so I am going to walk you through AJ’s race, as difficult as it is for me.


Pocono Race Recap

With all on-track activities rained out on Friday, the Stanley Tools Dodge Charger was relegated to a 30th place starting spot when the field was lined up by the NASCAR rule book. The 44 team worked hard during both practices on Saturday to get the car tuned in for the race on Sunday, and AJ finished up Happy Hour 9th on the board and pleased with his car.

When the green flag fell on Sunday, AJ was still happy with the handling of his Stanley machine. By the end of the first lap, he had already moved up four spots. A few cars pitted under the early caution brought out by the #11 car of Denny Hamlin, and by lap 10 AJ had the #44 Dodge Charger up to 20th place. At that point the car was a little bit free entering the corners, but he needed the most help with some grip coming off the corner.

The 44 team had a chance to make some adjustments when the yellow flag came out on lap 13, and AJ pitted from the 19th position to get four tires and an air pressure adjustment. He restarted the race in 22nd place after a few cars behind him took just right side tires. He quickly made that ground back up though, and was in 18th position by lap 23.

AJ radioed in on lap 26 that the car was getting looser as the run went on, but that it looked like everyone was battling the same problem as they were all sideways coming off the corners. He eventually tried some different lines through turn 1 especially to help the loose condition, and then made a green flag pit stop on lap 45 for four tires and a track bar adjustment. The 44 team did an excellent job on pit road, and when green flag stops cycled through, AJ was sitting in the 11th position.

Despite running top 10 lap times, AJ called in on lap 64 and said that he didn’t like the feel of the car and to not play with the air pressure in the tires anymore. Sammy called for another track bar adjustment, and AJ again came to pit road for a green flag pit stop on lap 76. He came back out on the track and cycled back through to 11th place again.

This time the car started out the run a little bit tighter, but by lap 83 AJ radioed in saying that it was “so loose” and by lap 92 he said there was “no right rear grip” and that he was “just hanging on.” Despite the free condition, AJ made up a couple more spots and was in 9th place when the caution came out on lap 103. This time Sammy came back up half a round on the track bar and made a small air pressure change.

The green flag flew on lap 109 with AJ in 9th place, and was followed by a quick caution on lap 113. AJ said that the car was better, and Sammy opted to keep him on the track under the caution, moving the #44 Stanley Tools Dodge up to 6th place for the restart. The double file format led to some exciting laps when the green flew, and there were a couple of white knuckle three wide incidents through the corners until AJ finally got settled into line.

AJ was running 9th at lap 131 when he called in that the engine temperature was climbing on his Dodge Charger, and that he thought he must have picked up some debris on the grill. His gauge was reading 230 degrees, which was high but not terminal. Thankfully it was almost time for a green flag pit stop, and AJ came in just 6 laps later for four tires and no changes. The crew also got the grill cleaned off and the temperatures dropped back down to a normal level.

A little ways into this run, AJ complained that the rear end was out of the track again. Apparently even small adjustments, or a bad set of tires could cause the car to handle badly. Cloud cover also changed the track conditions which caused the 44 car to lose a little ground. When the yellow flag came out on lap 157 for debris, AJ pitted out of 12th place to get four fresh tires and a wedge adjustment.

Rain started coming down on the track during the yellow flag, but the track crew kept the cars running throughout the caution laps to help in track drying efforts. As it got closer to restarting, Sammy made the decision to bring AJ into the pits to top off the gas when the field got the one to go signal. With 35 laps left in the race and knowing that he needed to conserve fuel, AJ sat in 23rd position when the green flag fell.

As cars that had not pitted under caution and couldn’t make it to the end started to come in for gas, AJ found himself up in 10th place, even though he was saving RPM’s in every corner to keep the 44 car on track until the end. It looked like the strategy call was going to get AJ the top 10 finish that he deserved as the white flag flew, but things fell apart as AJ came down the Long Pond straightaway between turns 1 and 2. He radioed in that he was out of gas, and despite trying to wiggle the car and get some fuel to the pick up and get it re-fired, AJ could do nothing but coast as he watched car after car go around him.

The #44 Stanley Dodge Charger never did make it back across the finish line for the checkered flag, but came to rest in the final straightaway. AJ was credited as the first car one lap down, and was relegated to a disappointing and heart breaking 30th place finish. The only good that came out of the finish was that David Stremme’s was worse, and AJ picked up one spot in the points standings.

All in all, it was both a good day and a bad day. AJ had a top 10 to 15 place car all race long, and was running lap times as good as the leaders at several points in the race. Now if only he could buy himself some good fortune to go along with a fast race car. If anyone has any luck to spare, send it AJ’s way. He could use some.

Pocono: RPM Post Race Quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 15th - 14th in points
"We had a really good Budweiser Dodge today. To start up front, have a throttle cable issue early in the race, fall back to 41st and race our way all the way up to third (place) was awesome. I can't tell you how great of a job that Kenny (Francis, Crew-Chief) and the Budweiser guys did in the pits all day. We knew that everybody was chasing fuel mileage late in the race and so were we, unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it."

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Valvoline Engine Guar. Dodge Charger)
Finished 20th - 24th in points
"We had a great car about 50 percent of the time. We had a car that could race hard, but late in the race we started to experience an electrical issue. We fell back some positions due to the issue, but raced hard until the end and brought home a top-20 finish for our Valvoline Guarantee Dodge."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Best Buy Dodge Charger)
Finished 25th - 27th in points
"We struggled a little bit early on with our Best Buy Dodge before we started to hit our stride late. The car was tight in the center and loose off most of the day, but the track started to come to us late in the race. We had a lot of green flag racing today and the field spread out quite a bit which made it hard to make up track position. The Petty team had good cars today - probably some of the best we've had all year, but unfortunately our results don't show the progress we've made"

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Stanley Dodge Charger)
Finished 30th - 29th in points
"What a frustrating day. We had a really fast Stanley Dodge and raced all the way from 30th to sixth. I thought for sure that we had a top-10 finish at the end, but we pushed our luck on fuel and ran out (of gas) on the last lap. That was devastating knowing we had a top-10 car and finished 30th. I know our cars are getting a lot more competitive, but we just haven't had any luck fall our way at the end."


Credit - Dodge Motorsports

Pocono 500 Results

As much as I would like to kid myself into thinking that the last lap of this race never happened, and that AJ finished 10th in the Pocono 497.5, this is how it actually shook out on Sunday:

Pocono 500 Results
1. Tony Stewart
2. Carl Edwards
3. David Reutimann
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Ryan Newman
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Juan Pablo Montoya
9. Jeff Burton
10. Sam Hornish, Jr.
11. Greg Biffle
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Jamie McMurray
14. Casey Mears
15. Kasey Kahne
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Michael Waltrip
18. Martin Truex, Jr.
19. Mark Martin
20. Reed Sorenson
21. Brian Vickers
22. Kyle Busch
23. Joey Logano
24. Kevin Harvick
25. Elliott Sadler
26. David Ragan
27. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
28. Bobby Labonte
29. Paul Menard
30. AJ Allmendinger
31. Robby Gordon
32. Scott Speed
33. Regan Smith
34. David Stremme
35. John Andretti
36. Dexter Bean
37. Kurt Busch
38. Denny Hamlin
39. Sterling marlin
40. Dave Blaney
41. Joe Nemechek
42. David Gilliland
43. Patrick Carpentier