Bristol Race Recap

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger started on the outside pole in today’s Food City 500 here at Bristol Motor Speedway and showed plenty of strength in the early going. But, after leading 54 laps during the first quarter of the race, the handling on Dinger’s Dodge went awry and he had to persevere to bring it home in the 17th finishing position.

“The car was very good early, but then it got real loose,” Allmendinger said. “We lost track position. We never got it really handling well the rest of the race. Not the finish we wanted to have after starting out so strong. Those first couple runs my Shell-Pennzoil Dodge was really fast. Then after we put on that next set of tires, something just wasn't right -- felt like I had rocks under me.

"I thought maybe it was the tires and after awhile started to think something broke,” Dinger added. “Todd (Gordon, crew chief) and the guys did all they could to make it better again and the last couple adjustments started to help. We just weren't able to get the car where it needed to be to get back to the front. I'm happy for Mr. Penske, Brad and the whole Penske Racing organization. Just wish we could have stayed up there with 'em today.”

Pole-winner Greg Biffle chose to start on the outside of the front row for the start of today’s race and jumped out to a big lead. Jeff Gordon moved into second with Dinger third and Ryan Newman fourth. AJ passed Gordon for second on Lap 11 and was turning the fastest laps on the track.

A multi-car crash on Lap 23 brought out the first caution of the race. Marcos Ambrose, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Regan Smith sustained major damage, while several other drivers had to make minor repairs during the yellow. The lengthy caution period saw NASCAR officials wave the scheduled Lap 50 competition yellow, opting to use this period instead.

Crew chief Gordon made the call to stay out and Dinger inherited the lead on Lap 41. The top seven cars had all stayed out when the racing finally resumed on Lap 47. The “Double-Deuce” Dodge set sail and was lapping cars by Lap 80. Dinger had led 54 laps when Brian Vickers was able to maneuver by for the lead as they were working the lapped traffic.

When Kenny Schrader blew a tire and hit the wall in Turn 3, the race went back to yellow on Lap 115. Dinger and all the leaders hit pit road, with the No. 22 team going for four tires, fuel and a half-pound air pressure change in the lefts.

Allmendinger was second for the Lap 122 restart, but his potential great run began to unfold from there. “Lost all grip,” he radioed on Lap 136 as he fell to fourth. “We’re in real trouble…feels like I’m on rocks with the rears chattering…” he said when he fell to eighth on Lap 160.

The condition worsened as the laps continued and Dinger felt he needed to hit pit road before he crashed. Gordon and spotter Chris Osborne coached him on through Lap 235, when he pitted just after being put a lap down by the leader. The team went with four tires & fuel, a reversal on the air pressure and two full rounds.

The other cars started hitting pit road under the green 10 laps later. When the stops cycled around, Dinger was 22nd in the running order and still on the lead lap. He fell a lap down again on Lap 288 and contended for the “lucky dog” spot until David Stremme hit the frontstretch wall on Lap 339 to bring out the third caution flag. Ryan Newman was running just in front and received the free pass.

Such would be the case for the remainder of the race. Adjustments made to the car made it better, but with only five cautions during the race, Dinger never could get back on the lead lap and challenge for a top-10 finish.

Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski made it two consecutive wins here at BMS as he battled nip and tuck with veteran Matt Kenseth and held him off for a 0.714-second victory here today. The Miller Lite Dodge driver led a race-high four times for a total of 232 laps. Martin Truex Jr. finished third, with Clint Bowyer fourth and Brian Vickers fifth.

Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard rounded out today’s top-10 finishers. Kevin Harvick, Newman, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the top-15 and were the cars running on the lead lap at the finish. Joey Logano, Dinger, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin completed today’s top-20 finishers.

“We’ll take this car back to the shop a look everything over,” team leader Gordon said. “As strong as it was at the first of the race and to have the problems we did, we need to check it all out, especially the rear suspension.”

After four races have been put in the 2012 record book, Allmendinger is 26th in the point standings. With 72 points, he trails leader Biffle by 85 points. He is 65 points behind fifth-place Denny Hamlin and 51 behind 10th-place Menard. Teammate Keselowski is 13th in the standings with 113 points.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup tour now heads out to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., for next Sunday’s Auto Club 400. The action gets under way with Friday’s practice from 12:00 noon until 1:30 p.m. Coors Light Pole Award qualifying to establish the starting grid for Sunday’s battle is set for Friday at 4:10 p.m. local (live on SPEED-TV). Saturday’s action begins with morning practice from 9:30 a.m. till 10:20 a.m. The final “happy hour” practice session is scheduled from 12:50 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) has a scheduled 12:00 noon PDT starting time (3:00 p.m. EDT). FOX-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage of all the action.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Bristol Qualifying Quotes

AJ Allmendinger (No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)
Qualified 2nd
YOU MISSED THE POLE BY ONE-ONE THOUSTANDTH OF A SECOND. “We’ve had such a tough start to the season. Everybody has been working so hard, the whole Penske organization and Dodge. You know, we’ve had some fast race cars. We just haven’t been able to complete ‘em, just stuff that’s been out of our own control. Fuel pump issues last week they’ve (team) worked hard to fix. We came here and Todd Gordon (Crew Chief) gave me a good race car. Man, so close. I would have loved to have got the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge up front on the pole, but overall it was such a good day. I’m trying to relax a little bit. I’m not doing very well at it. We’ve got a good group of guys here and we’ll gel together. Hopefully this is the beginning.”

COMMENT ON YOUR LAP.“Just a little free. It turned so good. The Shell/Pennzoil Dodge has been really fast. Todd Gordon and everybody on this race team has done a good job to come here to a place that I’m not really fantastic at and make me feel really comfortable. Obviously, I’d love to have the pole and barely missed it. We’ve had such a tough start to the season. We’ve had fast race cars. We’ve just had stuff that’s been out of our own control, some of the stuff that we need to control that we need to fix. Cars are fast and hopefully these three weeks are out of the way and we can start at a place I’m not very good at and maybe go win this thing.”

IN THE NEXT THREE WEEKS YOU HAVE BRISTOL, FONTANA AND MARTINSVILLE. WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF THAT STRETCH? “There’s nothing that’s overly hard about it. It’s the way NASCAR is and what makes the Sprint Cup Series so much fun, the diversity in racetracks that we have to go run. Fontana has been a place that has confused me a little bit over the last couple of years, but the same can be said about Bristol and said about other places. I’m with a brand new race team and everything is new. I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully, we can have a good run and kind of get back in the flow. The points are so close still. We’re 31st now and you put three or four good runs together, you can be back in this thing.”

ARE YOU HAPPY WHERE THE ENGINE PROGRAM IS RIGHT NOW? “Actually, it was really good last week at Vegas. We had really, really good horsepower. The motor was running really strong. At Fontana, it’s about horsepower. It’s about getting the car off the corner and you’ve got to get some good handling. I feel good about everything. We’ve just got to gel together. Obviously, I’d love to have it immediately when we started at Daytona, but it takes time. We’ll get there.

“The Shell/Pennzoil Dodge is really good. It’s such a tough start to the year and I feel like we’ve had fast race cars. Everybody in the Penske organization has been doing a great job, just need some luck on our side. We’ve had three races that have been out of our control for the most part. Last week, stuff we had to fix internally that they’ve done a good job, too. Ultimately, this has never been a great racetrack of mine. Todd Gordon and everybody give me such a good race car since we unloaded and it’s been such a smooth day. Hopefully, that’s stuff that we can build on. I’d love for it to have gelled at Daytona and everything is perfect and we go out and win, but that’s what makes the Sprint Cup series so hard. That’s not going to happen. Hopefully, this is a good start, have a good 500 laps and get some flow back into this season.”

A LOT OF CARS WERE SIDEWAYS DURING QUALIFYING. WHAT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR DODGE CHARGER? “The car was just a bit free. It’s been free all day, but I think Cole Trickle said loose is fast, right? The car has been turning really good, which I think during the race is what you’re really going to need once this place rubbers up. We’ll keep working on the rear tomorrow. You always want the car perfect, so we can keep working on it. One-thousandth of a second; I’m probably not going to sleep. I’m happy about the day, but probably not going to sleep over that. But overall, from what we’ve had over the last three weeks, we’re building and we’re getting better together and that’s all that matters.”

***

ALLMENDINGER MEDIA CENTER INTERVIEW
“It’s been a good day overall. This have never really been a place I was good at, so ultimately to come here, Todd Gordon and everybody at the Penske Organization gave me a great setup from the start. We tested this week and learned some things and came here and was able to put ‘em on the racecar. Really, just had a solid day overall from race trim to qualifying. We’ve had a tough start to the season. Definitely not the way we imagined it when we signed this, but you know it’s still early on and Todd Gordon and I are gelling. It’s been a lot of bad luck on our side. Hopefully, this is just a good day to kick us off and really kind of start a stretch of the season where we can kind of get in a rhythm, get in a flow and get some momentum built up.”

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE TO YOUR SLOW START? HOW DIRE IS THE SITUATION NOT JUST FOR YOU BUT ALSO FOR BRAD? “Yeah, I mean I think it’s a little bit of everything. It takes time to gel, but a lot of it’s been bad luck. You know, Daytona, when we got in that wreck on pit road there when Ryan (Newman) lost the tire, I got into the back of him and broke a radiator. You know, I think Phoenix was something that’s more myself and Todd gelling. We had a decent car, we weren’t great in practice, but we kept making it better throughout practice. Going in the race and the first run, we were good. Todd just over-adjusted for what he thought I was saying and that’s just communication that we’ve got to build up. And last week, kind of self-induced by all of us. I made a mistake on pit road by over-shooting our pit box when we were running fifth in the race. After that, the car was still fast and we started having fuel pump problems about halfway through the race. Ultimately, from there on, we were kind of in trouble. A lot of it has been bad luck and gelling together. Obviously these race cars are fast and what’s good about this race team is with Shell/Pennzoil and with all the sponsors and Mr. Penske himself, everybody is patient. They’re not jumping off the end of the ship and saying that if we don’t win this week we’re in trouble. It takes time and we’ve shown speed. That’s the stuff that we’ve got to build on. Maybe it’s just say like today where it’s not a big deal, but go qualify on the front row, have a solid day. Hopefully we have a solid day tomorrow, and run 500 laps that are strong. It takes one race to build momentum. Hopefully, that’s what we can do.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE SOLVED THE FUEL PICK-UP PROBLEMS? “I hope so. That’s another great thing about this race team. They jumped right into it. As soon as we got back on Monday morning, they were working hard on it. I felt like they have figured out the problem. They went to Nashville over two days with Parker Kligerman and ran miles after miles making sure that we didn’t have any problems with it and brought that here to Bristol. I guess we’ll find out after Sunday if it’s completely solved, but I confidence that it is. They ran at Nashville without any problems, run a lot of tests on it, felt like they had a good idea of what it was. It’s what’s good about this team. They work hard to fix the problems.”

HAS THERE BEEN A TRACK WHERE YOU FEEL LIKE THE PENSKE RACING DODGES FIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE? “It’s funny, we went to Phoenix and obviously, I’ve always been pretty good at Phoenix, we struggled a little bit. With the way that schedule was setup with two practices on Friday and qualifying and not having anything on Saturday, I felt like that really hurt us to where it was like after you calm down and kind of figure out the whole weekend, you realize stuff that you wish you could go back right then and redo. We went to Vegas, which was a track that I’d never been that good at, and we were really fast. Even here, I feel like the cars have speed and that’s never been a problem. Brad, last week before the fuel pump problem, was in position to have a chance to win and we were up there early and just needed track position to be up front. I feel like the cars are fast. On our end, the 22 side of it, it’s just about gelling together. You know for Todd, some of these track are the first time he’s seen ‘em and definitely the first time he’s seen ‘em in a Cup car. Myself, I’m just trying to work together with Todd. But what’s fun about it is that we get along really well. We can talk after the race and figure out the problems, talk during the week. And I feel like every track we go to, we’re going to have fast race cars. It’s just a matter of getting some luck and fixing some small problems.”

WITH SO FEW POLE WINNERS WINNING RACES HERE LATELY, IS THERE A BENEFIT TO BEING SECOND AND NOT IN THE SPOTLIGHT? “No, I always want to win the pole (smiles). I guess the benefit is that I get this press conference over earlier. That’s the only benefit (laughter). It’s tough to win these races and track position is so key, anything can happen. Early yellow where some guys pit and everybody else stays out, it just mixes up the track position and that’s what makes it tough. Any place we go, if you can start up front it at least starts the day off easier. Whether it finishes it off easier, that’s something to be said, but it makes the day a lot easier to start off with and usually shows that you have a fast race car. I’m happy with the day. Obviously, I’d be a lot happier if it was two thousandths quicker. Ultimately, I’ll take it. We’ll have clean air when we start. Not to say that (Greg) Biffle still won’t lead the first lap, so we’ll see.”

Credit - Dodge Racing

Bristol Race Preview

Dale Earnhardt did “it” in 1979 and Rusty Wallace did “it” in 1986. Ernie Irvan did “it” in 1990 and Elliott Sadler did “it” in 2001. Kurt Busch was the most recent driver to do “it” in 2002. Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger would love to be the next driver to do “it” in Sunday’s Food City 500.

“It” in this case is scoring their first career NASCAR Sprint Cup career wins in races on the high-banked oval at Bristol Motor Speedway. There certainly is a notable group of first-time series winners at BMS and Allmendinger would cherish being able to add his name to that illustrious list.

“Sure, it’d be a dream come true if we could win our first race this weekend at Bristol; that would be the coolest thing ever for my career,” said Allmendinger, who’ll be making his 10th career start at BMS this weekend. “It’s the track where I started my first Cup race back in 2007, so I think that would make a win even more special.

“But we have to be realistic heading in there this weekend,” said Dinger, currently 29th in the Sprint Cup point standings. “The way our first three races have gone this season, I’d look at a solid top-10 run there on Sunday as being a win for us. We’ve run well and had strong race cars so far, but we haven’t been able to put an entire race together yet. We need to get through Sunday’s race without having the incredible bad luck we’ve had so far. It’s like we’ve already had enough setbacks for half a season in just the first three races.

“I’ve said from the start of the season that you’ve got to hit the singles before you can knock the home runs,” said Dinger, who has a 14.7 average start and 29.7 average finish thus far this season. “That’s certainly the situation going into Bristol. We need to hit a single. We need to have a race where we can run strong all day and not have the problems bite us.”

In Dinger’s nine career starts at BMS entering this weekend, he is still chasing his first top-10 finish. He has an average start of 24.2 and an average start of 28.1. Dinger has completed 94.1 percent (4,240 of 4,507) of possible laps and has been running at the finish in all nine races.

Just as he has done throughout his Sprint Cup career, Dinger has shown steady progress at Bristol. His first career start back in April 2007 reflects a 43rd-place start and a 40th-place finish. He was running at the finish, but was 91 laps down. In the series’ most recent visit last August, Dinger started 18th and finished 12th, his best BMS finish to date.

“We got caught up in one of the big crashes that are typical for Bristol in the spring race last year and just had to ride it out,” Dinger recalled. “But we came back and had our strongest run yet there last August. It was a situation of being able to stay out of trouble and make some pretty good adjustments overall throughout the race. I remember we went with right-sides only once and that was the wrong thing to do.

“Hopefully, we can come back to Bristol and have another solid run like that this time around,” Dinger added. “I know how hard my team has worked this season in preparing us great race cars and strong engines to run in these races. We just need to shake off the last races we’ve had and get it all headed back in the right direction.”

“We just need to put a whole race together,” echoed crew chief Todd Gordon. “It’s not like we haven’t been running well in the races so far; that’s not the case at all. We’ve just been hit by adversity in every race and been forced to try to make bad days into mediocre days. I’ve learned that life deals you difficult hands and success is determined by how you deal with it. Winners are always the ones who handle the tough times better.

“AJ really likes the high-banked concrete tracks and he’s quick to let you know that. Tracks like Bristol and Dover just seem to suit his style. With the 2 car (teammate Brad Keselowski) winning there last fall and AJ coming on really strong there last year, we’ll have a good notebook to work off of heading into Bristol this weekend.”

Allmendinger, Gordon and the Penske Racing No. 22 Team will be racing their “PRS-815” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s Food City 500 action at Bristol Motor Speedway. This is a brand new car and Friday’s opening practice will be the first time it has been on a race track. The “PRS-807” is the backup Dodge Charger for the “Double-Deuce” team. It was in the transporter serving as the backup at Phoenix, but has never seen any track time.

The action at Bristol Motor Speedway kicks off on Friday with practice set from 12:00 noon until 1:30 p.m. Friday’s single round of qualifying at 3:40 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV) will set the entire 43-car starting field. Saturday’s schedule features practices from 9:30 a.m. till 10:25 a.m. and from 12:00 noon till 1:00 p.m. Sunday’s Food City 500 (500 laps, 266.5 miles) has a 1:00 p.m. ET start and features live coverage by FOX-TV, PRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Pre-Bristol Notes of Interest

--AJ Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led Penske Racing No. 22 Team will be racing their “PRS-815” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s Food City 500 action at Bristol Motor Speedway. This is a brand new car and Friday’s opening practice will be the first time it has been on a race track. The “PRS-807” is the backup Dodge Charger for the “Double-Deuce” team. It was in the transporter serving as the backup at Phoenix, but has never seen any track time.

--Las Vegas issue update: “The problem our cars had was related to the fuel pump,” said Shell-Pennzoil Dodge crew chief Todd Gordon on Monday night. “We brought back all the components we could on the team plane on Sunday night, so that our guys could get going on resolving the issue as soon as possible. I am confident they will have it figured out and we won’t have it happen again.”

--Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing team tested today (Tuesday) at “Little Rock,” the 0.526-mile short track behind the backstretch at Rockingham Speedway. They tested with their “PRS-806” Dodge Charger, the same car used in testing at Disney last month. “Just doing a little testing in preparation for Martinsville,” crew chief Gordon said of the upcoming Goody’s Fast Relief 500 on April 1.

--Several of the racing greats have done “it” at Bristol Motor Speedway through the years and certainly Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger would love to add his name to that list. But Dinger is quick to point out that his team is entering this weekend’s Food City 500 with realistic goals and expectations. (Please see much more on this subject in this week’s advance).

--Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger on Bristol Motor Speedway: “It’s one of my favorite places. It was the first race I ever made in the Sprint Cup Series, so it has some meaning for me. Once you get to Bristol, for me at least, you kind of see where your short track program is at. It’s a tough place to learn. It’s a tough place to race. I loved the place when I showed up to it. I still do and I’m always excited to come to Bristol.

“We’ve had times where we were really fast here and something goes wrong, and I think that’s probably the most difficult thing is you can have a great race car all day, you can do all the right things and just one bad move by you or one bad move by somebody else completely takes you out. There’s not a lot of room for error, where you can save a race car, or, if you get turned, you’re not gonna get wrecked. It’s a tough place and when they re-did it, both corners look the same, but there is just a little bit different ends on both sides. One and two kind of gets tighter in the center, but it seems like on the exit it seems like it opens up just a little bit more for whatever reason. Three and four doesn’t seem as tight right at the center, but right off of four it gets really narrow.

“Getting a good balance is so important at Bristol. It’s very temperature sensitive. Although it’s concrete, it seems like just the way the rubber builds up on the race track is real critical, so it’s a tough place to set up for and you continually have to adjust throughout the race.”

--In Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger’’s nine career starts at BMS entering this weekend, he is still chasing his first top-10 finish. He has an average start of 24.2 and an average start of 28.1. Dinger has completed 94.1 percent (4,240 of 4,507) of possible laps and has been running at the finish in all nine races.

Just as he has done throughout his Sprint Cup career, Dinger has shown steady progress at Bristol. His first career start back in April 2007 reflects a 43rd-place start and a 40th-place finish. He was running at the finish, but was 91 laps down. In the series’ most recent visit last August, Dinger started 18th and finished 12th, his best BMS finish to date.

“Every time I race at Bristol, I learn a little bit more about how I need to drive it and what I need to make the car better to drive it right,” Dinger offered. “It’s just a good overall balance. You need to be maybe just a tick tight, but you can’t be too tight. You definitely need the back end in the race track through the center and up off the corner.”

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Las Vegas Race Recap

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge, had a strong car in today’s Kobalt Tools 400 here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but never had the opportunity to show its full potential. After starting 14th and advancing up into the top-five early in the race, he was actually credited with leading a lap before fueling system issues forced him behind the wall twice. Dinger wound up spending 29 laps in the garage area for repairs and finished 37th here today.

"Man this is not the start to the season any of us were expecting,” said Dinger. “I'm struggling to figure out what to say because I'm feeling so many things right now.

“Our 22 Pennzoil Dodge was really good. I knew we had a top-five car after we got into the race. I overshot the pit box on my first stop. I've never done that like that. I got lost behind the 56. Embarrassing, but the Captain (Roger Penske) got on the radio and said he knew we could get it back; hearing that helped me get refocused and back in the race. We had worked back up to 14th with a lot of race left. Just when I knew we could make something solid, we started having fuel pressure issues. It was sporadic. Then it just went away.

“We came into the garage and changed some things and went back out, but the same thing happened. My guys busted their butts changing everything related to fuel pressure we could and went back out to salvage what was left. We're not sure yet what the cause was, but you know the guys back at the Penske shop will figure it out"

Allmendinger started 14th and, with two cars in front of him having to drop to the rear for the green flag, he was up to seventh after the first lap. He reported his Dodge was a little tight, but made progress, several times turning in the fastest laps on the track. He had climbed to fifth on Lap 19.

The tight condition saw Dinger fall to seventh on Lap 37, just before the first caution flag of the race flew for Timmy Hill’s crash in Turn 2. The leaders pitted on Lap 46 and that’s when Dinger overshot his pits. He fell to 21st for the Lap 49 restart.

Dinger was back up to 17th on Lap 60 and went with a two-tire on Lap 77 under the second caution period of the race. The handling conditions deteriorated after the restart, with the front end way on top of the track and the rear end too loose.

A four-tire stop was the call under the green on Lap 125, only a lap before Travis Kvapil blew an engine to bring out the third caution of the race. Dinger pitted for four tires and fuel and pitted again after feeling something awkward with the tires.

The “Double-Deuce” Dodge was 20th on the Lap 133 restart and was moving back toward the front when Dinger reported he was losing fuel pressure on Lap 145. Only four laps later, the gauges were back to normal and he continued to go forward.

Another round of green flag stops were in order beginning on Lap 172. Crew chief Todd Gordon purposefully kept Dinger out to lead Lap 177 for the bonus point before pitting again on Lap 178. After getting four tires and fuel, the No. 22 car was 19th on the Lap 180 restart.

The same problem resurfaced 10 laps later and Dinger’s Dodge lost all fuel pressure. The team went to the garage to diagnose the problem, changed fuel pumps and headed back out, running 10 laps down. After only a few circuits with no improvement, Dinger returned to the garage for a complete fuel cell replacement.

When he returned to the action, he was 29 laps down and forced just to ride it out till the end. Teammate Brad Keselowski was running second with only 18 laps remaining when similar circumstances struck and sent him to the garage for repairs.

“It’s evident that we had what looks like similar issues that took both AJ and Brad out here today,” said Gordon. “Both of our Dodges showed strength during the race. There seems to be a distinct problem there and we’ll certainly get it figured out before we head to Bristol for next weekend’s race.”

Tony Stewart emerged as the winner here this afternoon, coming home the victor by 0.461 seconds over Jimmie Johnson. Greg Biffle finished third, with Ryan Newman fourth and Carl Edwards fifth. Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, Trevor Bayne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out today’s top-10 finishers.

Allmendinger finished 37th, completing 238 of the 267 laps. Teammate Keselowski was credited with a 32nd-place finish after completing 259 of the laps.

Biffle’s three third-place finishes to open the season sees him leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings with 125 points. He currently enjoys a 10-point advantage over second-place Kevin Harvick.

After three races during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Allmendinger is 29th in the standings. With 44 points, he is 81 points out of the lead, 53 out of 10th (#55) and 22 out of 20th (#36). Keselowski is currently 21st in the standings with 65 points.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup tour now kicks off the short-track part of the 2012 schedule by visiting the high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway for next weekend’s annual running of the Food City 500. The action at BMS kicks off on Friday with practice set from 12:00 noon until 1:30 p.m. Friday’s single round of qualifying at 3:40 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV) will set the entire 43-car starting field. Saturday’s schedule features practices from 9:30 a.m. till 10:25 a.m. and from 12:00 noon till 1:00 p.m. Sunday’s Food City 500 (500 laps, 266.5 miles) has a 1:00 p.m. ET start and features live coverage by FOX-TV, PRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Las Vegas Qualifying Report

AJ Allmendinger (No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)
Qualified 14th

HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “I thought it was a good lap for the Pennzoil Dodge. I’m a little lost because the lap felt faster than the speed showed. Our car is fast. I’m not quite sure what happened.”

HOW DID YOU CAR HANDLE THE BUMPS IN BETWEEN TURNS 1 AND 2? “The car is really good over the bumps. It doesn’t feel like I’m scrubbing any speed off the car at all. The car is good. I’m just not sure why it wasn’t faster.”

HOW IS YOUR CAR IN RACE TRIM? “We have a little bit of work to do but the car is stable. It feels good around here. We’re just going to rub on it a little bit for tomorrow’s practice session and see if we can find some more speed in race trim.”

WHERE DO YOU FIND SPEED HERE? AERO? MECHANICAL? “Track position. You have to be up front because the track is so fast that you have to be aero good. You’re so much faster up front than in traffic here. The track isn’t that wide so you really want track position.”

***
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)
Qualified 20th
“I was hoping to pick up two-tenths. I think the field probably averaged three and I didn’t quite pick up two. Need to pick up a little more than that and I’ll go back to the drawing board and work on it.”

DID YOU THINK GOING OUT LATE IN THE SESSION WAS AN ADVANTAGE? “Oh yeah, you know it’s going to help you and the team is going to make the car better. And it did, just needed a little more.”

Credit - Dodge Racing PR

Las Vegas Race Preview

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge, points to Las Vegas Motor Speedway as one of his most difficult tracks. But in an uncanny way, his record on the demanding 1.5-mile “intermediate” track is a true reflection of the consistent progress Dinger has made during his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.

After failing to make the starting field in his first two visits to LVMS, Dinger finished 33rd in his first career start there in 2009. He came back to finish 25th in 2010 and upped his best career finish there to 19th in last year’s edition of the Kobalt Tools 400.

“Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been a struggle for me in the past, but we’re coming in there optimistic that we can improve,” said Dinger, who finished 18th last Sunday at Phoenix and climbed to 25th in the current point standings. “I look to get better on the track and our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team can continue to get stronger overall.

“Penske Racing has historically had a really strong program for the intermediate mile-and-a-half tracks,” Dinger said. “We’ll definitely be tapping into that experience to help out at Vegas. I think you’ll see both Penske Dodge teams working really closely together this weekend and to maximize all the practice time we have on the schedule.

“We look at this as really only our second race together as driver and crew chief,” said Dinger. “We’re learning pretty quickly about how we communicate with each other. Phoenix was the first time for us to work through handling situations and figure out what adjustments to make. Todd (Gordon, crew chief) is learning what I mean when I talk about handling characteristics on the radio. When I say the car is tight, he needs to know just how far to go on the adjustments he makes.

“That is an area where we will get stronger and stronger the more races that we can work together,” said Dinger. “We struggled last Friday and got behind. With nothing but qualifying Saturday and no additional track time, we didn’t have an opportunity to really get stuff sorted out. It’s good to know that this weekend at Vegas, we’ll be back to the regular schedule. We practice and qualify on Friday, then have more practice on Saturday to get our car dialed in for Sunday’s race.

“We just haven’t been able to catch a break so far this season in the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge,” said Dinger. “We had the situation at Daytona on pit road with the 39 car losing the tire and stopping right in front of us. Then last Sunday at Phoenix the 27 car just hooked us and we had the whole rear deck torn off.

“We just had to make the best of bad situations during the first two races of the season. It’ll be great to see how strong our team can be when we can get a solid race under our belt. Hopefully that will come this weekend at Vegas when we can finish without having to fight back from all the crazy stuff happening to us.”

In his three career starts at LVMS, Dinger is still looking for his first top-10 finish. His seventh-place start and 19th-place finish in last year’s Vegas visit rate as his best qualifying and finishing performances to date entering this week’s return to “Sin City.” In his three career Vegas races, he has a 22.0 average start and 25.7 average finish. He has completed 813 of 819 possible laps (99.3%).

Allmendinger, Gordon and the No. 22 Penske Racing Team will be racing their “PRS-812” Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s action at Las Vegas. This is a brand new addition to the “Double Deuce” fleet. The “PRS-814” is the backup Dodge Charger for this weekend. It is a new car, also.

The action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway kicks off on Friday with practice set from 12:00 noon until 1:30 p.m. Friday’s single round of qualifying at 3:40 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV) will set the entire 43-car starting field. Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles) has a 12:00 noon local (3:00 p.m. ET) start and features live coverage by FOX-TV, PRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Phoenix Race Recap

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led Penske Racing No. 22 Team started 15th in today’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 here at Phoenix International Raceway. After running from 10th to 15th for the first third of the race, Dinger got innocently wrapped up in an altercation with Paul Menard on Lap 133 that essentially tore the rear deck lid off all the way back to the fenders. Somehow, Dinger, Gordon and crew were able to persevere to finish 18th.

“Honestly, it was a bit of a frustrating weekend especially on the heels of Daytona,” Allmendinger said. “I've always run well here, so I came in with my goal being a top-5 or top-10 at least. We just couldn't get the car dialed in from the start. Todd and our team sat down Friday evening and really worked on it. I felt we made some good gains for qualifying and heading into the race with the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. But the way the schedule is this weekend without a practice after qualifying, those changes are still a bit of a gamble. We just didn’t seem to be able to get the car into the track. It just kept getting tighter and tighter. It was a handful, but we were holding on.

“The 27 got into me and I bounced between him and the wall,” Dinger explained of the incident with Menard. “That popped the rear deck lid. Man, the whole 22 Penske crew worked their butts off to repair the car and keep us in the race. After that, we actually were running the fastest laps with the Dodge Charger, but we just couldn’t gain any track position. So really, we spent the last runs trying to dig in and get what we could. I’m glad Brad was able to bring home a solid finish for Penske Racing. Like Todd said, this was our first real race together and there's still some learning of each other we have to do. So we'll take that on to Vegas and keep moving forward.”

After the Lap 133 incident which saw the “Double-Deuce” team pit lap after lap under caution to make necessary repairs, Dinger fell to 27th. He eventually went a lap down after pitting under green on Lap 200. But after taking the wave-around under the fifth yellow on Lap 228, he returned to the lead lap. Dinger was able to remain on the lead lap until he moved out of eventual winner Denny Hamlin’s path with three laps remaining.

Hamlin crossed the finish line 7.315 seconds ahead of runner-up Kevin Harvick, who had fuel pickup issues in the final laps. Greg Biffle finished third, with Jimmie Johnson fourth and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski fifth. Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out today’s top-10 finishers (see results below).

“You’ve got to take what you’ve got and keep digging with it,” crew chief Gordon offered after the race. “It’s a communication thing, just learning what AJ’s talking about when he’s talking about tight or loose and the amount that it is. That’s probably the biggest challenge we’ve got right now, quantifying what his statements are. We were a little tight to start with and had a lot of rear grip. We just over-adjusted on it and got him a little loose and kind of paid the penalty there with damage to the rear.

“I thought the guys did a good job getting it fixed and getting us back where we could race,” Gordon said. “We were a couple of tenths off the leaders once we got it fixed. We survived and turned a bad day into a mediocre day. That’s what you’ve got to do. You got to accumulate all the points you can. It’s about survival. Obviously, not what we were looking for coming into here, but I think we’ve learned more about our communication and where we’re at. I’ve learned more about how I need to react to AJ’s comments. It’s part of the learning curve of a new driver and new crew chief to a new team.”

After two races have been put into the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series record book, Allmendinger is up to 25th in the point standings. With 36 points, he trails leader Hamlin by 53 points and is 16 points behind teammate Keselowski, who holds down the 12th spot (see top-30 points below).

The NASCAR Sprint Cup tour now heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s running of the Kobalt Tools 400. The action at LVMS kicks off on Friday with practice set from 12:00 noon until 1:30 p.m. Friday’s single round of qualifying at 3:40 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV) will set the entire 43-car starting field. Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles) has a 12:00 noon local (3:00 p.m. ET) start and features live coverage by FOX-TV, PRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Phoenix Qualifying Report

AJ Allmendinger brought some big expectations out West as the NASCAR Sprint Cup moved to Phoenix International Raceway. With three front row starts on the tricky one mile desert oval, there is good reason to expect to see AJ up front. But a very slick track saw him not post the times he was looking for in Friday's practice.

But the weekend outlook improved after qualifying, with AJ recovering from a blown first qualifying lap to muster everything he could for the second lap, chrging through the timers at 26.10 with the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge for Penske Racing.

A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)
Qualified 15th
“It was okay. You know I messed the first lap up pretty bad and at that point the second lap was just survival. I mean, the track is so sick out there. We struggled a bit yesterday so not sure where that’s going to put us. It could have been a lot worse after that first lap. It’s okay. We’ve got some work to do. First real race with the team definitely got some work to do but the guys are doing a good job. Tomorrow is going to be about survival so we’ll see where we end up and hopefully we get a good run tomorrow.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW MUCH SLICKER THE TRACK HAS GOTTEN DURING THE WEEKEND? “It did it last year, too, so I think it just catches you off guard just truly how slick it is in general. You’re like how slick can it be and then you watch everybody and you’re like no, it’s really slick for everybody. It’s just part of the way this track is.”

IS IT GOOD TO HAVE SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPENED ON THE HEELS OF A FRUSTRATING NIGHT AT DAYTONA? “Yeah, we’ve got to have a good race tomorrow. It’s tough to not put the pressure on yourself that if you go out there and have a bad run that you’re done. We’ve got to have a solid run. We can’t put ourselves in too big of a hole.”

DO YOU NEED TO AVOID THE OUTSIDE LINE TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE HERE ON SUNDAY? “It’s weird because last year the outside lane actually came in and I feel like third row on back you were better to be on the outside so you didn’t get pinned down. I don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We’ll see.”

DO YOU THINK THE TRACK IS GOING TO CHANGE A LOT DURING THE RACE TOMMOROW? “No. I think it’s going to start off real slick. I don’t think it will be as slick by the end of the race because it’ll be cooler and that’s kind of the way it worked out last year but it’s definitely going to be slick overall.”

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO HAVING A GOOD FINISH IN THE RACE? “Just making no mistakes. There’s going to be plenty of opportunity to make mistakes so you’ve just got to go out there and just make a minimum amount of mistakes.”

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Phoenix Race Preview

Allmendinger Ready for “Real Season” to Begin at Phoenix
AJ Allmendinger says anything less than a top-10 finish in this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway will be a disappointment. After posting solid top-10 finishes in both NASCAR Sprint Cup races there last season, the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver is looking to even better that level of competitiveness this time around.

“Phoenix International Raceway has been a really good track for us and I really think we’re going to run well there,” said Allmendinger, who will be making his eighth career start at Phoenix this weekend. “Even with the reconfiguration they did before last November’s race, we adapted quickly and recorded our best overall performance there in that race. We qualified outside pole, ran up toward the front all race long and finished sixth.

“I really like racing there and I think we’ll continue to make progress,” said Dinger, who claimed the Coors Light Pole Award for the 2010 edition of this race. “The Penske Dodges have run very strong at Phoenix. The 22 team looked to have last November’s race won there before they ran out of fuel. It’s a situation of the driver having a history of liking the track and running well there and the team having a strong competitive record there. I’m going back into Phoenix this weekend thinking that anything less than a top-10 finish will be a disappointment.

“With all the plate racing and craziness associated with Daytona Speed Weeks behind us now, it’s like the real season kicks in at Phoenix,” said Dinger. “It’s back-to-back weeks from Phoenix to Vegas, then to Bristol and Fontana. We look to get settled in and start clicking off some solid runs and getting some great finishes.”

Allmendinger started 15th and finished ninth in last February’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. “We were really strong in practice,” Dinger recalled. “It was one of the first races that we practiced on Friday and did nothing but qualify on Saturday. We brushed the wall and qualified 15th. We were loose early in the race and fell back, but made some adjustments and got the car pretty good. We did a two-tire stop under the yellow and jumped up to just outside the top-10. We got some minor damage when some guys got together, but hung on to stay in the lead lap. We went from tight to loose, but adjustments made the car the best it was all day with 50 laps to go. We’d climbed to 10th with a few laps to go and climbed to ninth before the end. We were the highest-finishing blue oval car.”

Between last year’s February and November races at PIR, track crews went to work reconfiguring the track where the late Alan Kulwicki claimed the first big league victory on Nov. 6, 1988. After 30 races were held on the old layout, construction workers made tweaks to the track’s banking and a major adjustment to the “dogleg” on the backstretch. Progressive banking was added to the turns. Turns 1 and 2, which previously had 11 degrees of banking, now have 10 degrees on the bottom and 11 on the top. Turns 3 and 4, which previously had nine degrees of banking, now have eight degrees on the bottom and nine at the top. The backstretch “dogleg” that was more of a flat “jut” than an actual turn was transformed into more of a distinct turn with the same 10 to 11 degrees of progressive banking as is in Turns 1 and 2. The frontstretch was widened by 10 feet.

Allmendinger had no problem adapting to the “new PIR” when the Sprint Cup tour returned to the “Desert Mile” for last November’s Kobalt Tools 500. “After testing there, so many drivers criticized the track, calling it a wild card race and predicting all kinds of problems,” Allmendinger said. “There was already a groove-and-a-half that built up by the end of the test. I thought the layout was a lot of fun. There was a lot more room and a lot more grip off Turn 2.

“We had one of our most solid weekends out there last November,” Dinger said of the Nov. 13 Kobalt Tools 500 weekend. “We were good in practice – quick in qualifying trim and ran like 100 laps in the final practice. We qualified second (lap of 26.384 seconds/136.446 mph compared to pole-winner Matt Kenseth’s 26.258 second/137.101 mph lap). We had the fastest car on the track for quite a bit of the race. The track got slick and we were tight for a lot of the laps. We fell to seventh after a slow stop under the yellow, but had a car strong enough to charge back up to second. We kept on losing so much ground every time we pitted. The car got loose toward the end of the race, but we made good adjustments. The slow stops were such a problem that we wound up using the 6 crew (David Ragan’s team). That really helped and we were able to get a sixth out of it.

“I am really looking forward to getting out to Phoenix,” Dinger said. “I like racing there and always have. I enjoy going to the West Coast because I’m close to home, my family and friends. I’ve been fast there in the past, so I’m looking for good things this weekend.”

Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing Team will be racing their “PRS-808” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s action at Phoenix. This is a brand new addition to the “Double Deuce” fleet. The “PRS-807” is the backup Dodge Charger. It is a new car, also.

In his seven career starts at PIR, Dinger is still looking for his first win and first top-five finish. He has recorded two top-10 finishes and has won one pole position. His sixth-place finish last November is his best finish to date. Dinger’s average start at PIR is 10.6 and his average finish is 16.0. He has an amazing 99.9 percent lap completion average (2,248 of 2,251) and has led a total of 17 laps.

The action at Phoenix International Raceway kicks off on Friday with practice sessions set from 12:30 p.m. till 2:00 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. Saturday’s single round of qualifying at 12:35 p.m. will set the entire 43-car starting field. Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 (500 kilometers/312 laps) has a 1:00 p.m. local (3:00 p.m. ET) start and features live coverage by FOX-TV, MRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90.

Credit - Penske Racing PR