DingerWorld: February 2014

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Phoenix Race Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 CLOROX® CHEVROLET SS
JTG DAUGHERTY RACING QUOTEBOOK

Track: Phoenix International Raceway
Event: The Profit on CNBC 500, Presented by Small Business Fueling America
Date: Sunday, March 2
Coverage Begins/Race Start: 2:30 PM/3 PM
TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SIRIUSXM

TEAM QUOTES:

Phoenix International Raceway: “I look forward to racing at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) because it’s a fun track for me and it is a technical track,” AJ Allmendinger

said. “I have just always enjoyed it. Hopefully, we can go there and get some momentum going. I finished 11^th there in the No. 51 car last year. Richard Childress Racing (RCR) had a good test there and hopefully we can go to PIR and feed off them.”

Clean start: "We have a clean start this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway after a brake issue at Daytona International Speedway and we have the perfect brand on the hood to play that up with Clorox Fraganzia," AJ Allmendinger said. "Clorox Fraganzia is a multi-purpose cleaner that comes in three great scents - Spring, Forest Dew and Lavender. I use it at my house and it leaves the whole place smelling great."

Technical alliance advantage: “We feel like we will be at an advantage at Phoenix,” crew chief Brian Burns said. “The RCR camp has tested at that track. So, we have a notebook to look at now going in with the new rules package. They have already done some work and it gives us a head start as opposed to some teams going there not having that luxury.

“There’s also the new qualifying format, which is obviously new for everybody,” continued Burns. “We feel like we’ve got a good plan going into it and feel like it’s not going to blindside us.”

Welcoming change: “To have for the fans a constant 30 minutes of cars running there’s going to be so much strategy,” AJ Allmendinger said about the new qualifying format. “You will probably see some tempers flare because you will see some blocking at the end to make sure either they advance to the next group or get the pole. I think as a driver for qualifying, say you don’t get that perfect lap the first round, but it’s just good enough to get into the next group. You really have a shot at the pole.

“Those format changes are going to be a lot of fun,” continued Allmendinger. “The Chase format doesn’t change how I drive. Every weekend you’re out there trying to win the race anyways. If you can’t win the race you are trying to get the best finish possible.

The Chase format: “With the Chase format, you can be having a terrible year and all the sudden you win a race and the next thing you know that can light up your season and you’re in The Chase,” Allmendinger said. “Then you gain some momentum, you’re right there and you have a shot at the championship. I think that’s what makes the new format fun. It’s cool to see what NASCAR is doing whether it’s The Chase or qualifying format. It leads to so many more varieties of things that can happen. For us, I think it gives us a good chance. It is just such a long season. It is all about pacing yourself and taking everything as it comes. Each year that I have done this, the more I have learned and the better I have gotten at that. That is what makes the best guys so good at it. They can take a couple bad weekends in a row and forget about it and move on to the next week and almost start over.

"Like I said, if it comes down to you having that bad season, and even with the old format you could win a couple races, but you had to be top 20 in points,” Allmendinger continued. “If you really struggled at the beginning of the year, it was hard to get out of that hole. Now, you can have 12 bad weeks in a row and be 30^th in points and next thing you know, you go and win the 13^th race. You are in the Chase and you have a shot at it. It really lends itself to making every week like Richmond (International Raceway) to a certain degree for the fans, TV and teams. It will be fun.”

FAST FACTS:

AJ Allmendinger has nine starts at Phoenix International Raceway and two top-10 finishes. His average start is 12.444 and his average finish is 15.667. He has led 17 laps. Allmendinger’s best finish at Phoenix is sixth-place (11/13/11).

Career Starts: 192
Top-fives:     5
Top-10s:      30
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

CLOROX Fraganzia

Introducing Clorox Fragnazia, a Multi-Purpose Cleaner that comes in three sensational scents: Spring, Forest Dew & Lavender and is offered in two sizes: 28oz & 40oz

Clorox Fraganzia delivers the finishing touch to leave your bathroom, kitchen and floors smelling Armoalicious!

Find it in a store near you or online! Click here for details.

FAN OF THE WEEK:

Enter NOW for a chance to ride along with AJ Allmendinger during a race this season!

Each week, the JTG Daugherty Racing "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" will have their photo featured on AJ's car.

Every Tuesday this season, we will post the "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" theme, with instructions on how you can enter. The best fan photo submitted to us VIA Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram will be chosen the following Monday and will be featured on the #47 car the following weekend.

IT’S TIME TO GET OUT & GRILL!
We had some great entries last week, who wants to be the next #47FanOfTheWeek ?

It's time to Fire Up The Grill with Kingsford Charcoal and break out your cameras because we are looking for some great GrillMaster photos!

Whether you tailgate at the track or grill out with friends and family in the backyard, we know that many of you are masters of the grill. So, send us those photos, and if we pick you as the #47FanOfTheWeek we'll put your image on AJ Allmendinger's car and you can be his co-pilot at the race in Las Vegas next week... ENTER NOW!

DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE THIS HASHTAG - #47FanOfTheWeek and send your picture to us on Twitter: @NASCAR47 or Facebook: JTGDaughertyRacing

GOOD LUCK!

AJ'S WHEREABOUTS:

Thursday, Feb. 27th

5 to 6 PM Walmart Autograph Session
at 13055 W Rancho Santa Fe Boulevard, Avondale, AZ

Sunday, March 2nd

9:40 AM to 10 AM Sprint Stage Q&A at Phoenix International Raceway

Credit - Info & photos courtesy of JTG Daugherty Racing

Monday, February 24, 2014

Daytona 500 Post-Race Report

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/USO CHEVROLET SS
JTG DAUGHERTY RACING DAYTONA 500 POST RACE REPORT

Date: Sunday, February 23, 2014
Track: Daytona International Speedway
Event: Daytona 500
Start: 15th
Finish: 26th

TEAM NOTES AND QUOTES:

AJ Allmendinger was leading the Daytona 500 at Lap 83 when he discovered coming to pit road that he had no brakes to stop his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet SS.

A cracked right-rear caliper forced Allmendinger to spend lengthy amounts of time on pit road that led to a 26th-place finish after completing 194 of 200 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the season opener that had 42 lead changes among 18 drivers and seven caution flags for 39 laps.

“I don’t know, but something happened with the right-rear caliper - - it broke,” AJ Allmendinger said. “I had no brakes. After that, all I could do is just ride around. The guys did a good job of assessing the problem and fixing it. We got at least a little bit lucky with all the teams that wrecked to get some decent points. We’ll talk it over, address it and it is stuff we’ve got to fix.

“The bright side is that the car was fast - - the motor was fast,” Allmendinger continued. “I really look forward to our next race, which is Phoenix (International Raceway). I think we will have a good package for there. I like Phoenix. So, hopefully we can go there and get some momentum going."

“It looks like we had a brake failure in the right rear - - the caliper broke,” crew chief Brian Burns said. “It’s unfortunate. We will figure out what happened there. We tried to make the best of the night after that happened and we were able to salvage a 26^th-place finish. We could have ended up 40^th. We did our best to fight back and tried to make the best out of a bad day.”

FAST FACTS:

Career Starts: 192
Top-fives:     5
Top-10s:      30
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

KROGER:

The Kroger Co. Partners with the USO again this season:

Kroger, one of the world’s largest retailers, employs 343,000 associates who serve customers in 2,414 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s.

Honoring Our Heroes, Kroger’s partnership with the USO, will continue in 2014. The Kroger Co. Family of Stores has donated $8.4 million to the USO since 2010 to help the USO carry out its mission - to lift the spirits of America’s troops and their families around the world. For nearly 75 years, the USO is the only organization that serves the U.S. military throughout their service, from the moment they join, through their deployments and as they transition back to their communities.

For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com. To learn how you can help the USO please visit HonoringOurHeroes.com.

FAN OF THE WEEK:

Enter NOW for a chance to ride along with AJ Allmendinger during a race this season!

Each week, the JTG Daugherty Racing "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" will have their photo featured on AJ's #47 car.

Congratulations to Matt Treske, Amanda LaCount, Matt Sawinski!

We are excited to announce our first #47FanOfTheWeek winners are Matt Treske, Amanda LaCount and Matt Sawinski. Their winning entry came to us via Twitter: ‏@Sawsi17 : @NASCAR47 @AJDinger - rain delay, no problem we @mattturok cleaned some shirts up with @Clorox bleach #47fanoftheweek pic.twitter.com/wSEkNynHJr

Using their creativity, the trio made custom #47FanOfTheWeek AJ Allmendinger t-shirts and sent us some photos of the process, the images can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/GEnh5

As a reward for their winning entry, we are placing their #47FanOfTheWeek photo on AJ Allmendinger's #47 Clorox car for the race in Phoenix this weekend. Prior to the race we'll take a snapshot of AJ with the winning photo and have AJ autograph a few copies for them. Great job!

We had several terrific entries during our first week of competition and we will announce next week's #47FanOfTheWeek challenge tomorrow afternoon! Thank You to everyone who participated in our first challenge, we look forward to seeing what you all come up with next!

Credit - Photos & Information courtesy of JTG Daugherty Racing.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Daytona Duel Post-Race Report

Date: Thursday, February 20, 2014
Track: Daytona International Speedway
Event: Budweiser Duel 1
Start: 14th
Finish: 7th (Finishing update: No. 4 Penalty - Time Disallowed)
Starting position for the Daytona 500: 15th
***Daytona 500 is Sunday, February 23 on FOX, MRN and SIRIUSXM at 1 PM ET.
TEAM NOTES AND QUOTES:

AJ Allmendinger locked in his No. 47 Kroger/USO Chevrolet SS into the Daytona 500 by crossing the finish line in eighth-place during the Budweiser Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night. Matt Kenseth won the 60-lap event followed by Denny Hamlin winning the second Duel. Allmendinger will start 15th in the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon.

"The Kroger/USO Chevrolet was pretty good in the first Duel," AJ Allmendinger said. "When I didn’t have somebody behind me, it felt like I needed a little help. I don’t know if that’s the same for everybody or not. There are a couple of really strong cars out there. Our car drove great all night. You were kind of waiting for everybody to make a move. I gave up a couple spots right there at the end. I did not know if I should go to the bottom and if somebody would go with me. The big positive here tonight is that we’re in the big show. We have got to fix the right front a little bit. Other than that we’ve got something to race with in the Daytona 500."

"The car was handling really well out there," Allmendinger said. "I felt like it was a little better on the top of the track speed-wise. It looked like there were only a few cars that could make the bottom go. We learned some stuff and we will be ready to go Sunday."

"The 47 guys have done so much to get us to where we are today," Allmendinger said. "We're in a good place with the new alliance with RCR (Richard Childress Racing) and having sponsors like Kroger on the car and all the great partners this season like BUSH’S Beans, Charter to name a few. I’m learning all the brands still. So, I’m going to go through as many of them as I can. Like Kingsford for instance, we’ve got them too if you want to grill out. Clorox, we’ve got that one too. There's so many and we are so fortunate. Overall, it was a good night. I’m always mad when I give up a couple spots at the end. I didn’t go to the bottom. I didn’t know if I should. The biggest thing was that we had to get ourselves in the show."

"With the old school rules like the top-15 going straight from the Duel, it's like we were right on the cusp," Allmendinger said. "We qualified 27^th and were 31^st in points. You think you’re in, but some crazy things can happen. We were smart there. I could have been more aggressive, but had to be smart."

"I love this group of guys at JTG Daugherty Racing," Allmendinger said. "It’s a big family already. Tad Geschickter, his wife Jodi and Brad Daugherty and everybody on this team make it a fun group to walk in the hauler every weekend. We’re going to do some great things this year."

"We're really pleased with how the Kroger/USO Chevrolet ran tonight," crew chief Brian Burns said. "We were in a little bit of conservative mode just to make the top-15 to make the big race on Sunday. It was just a technicality to get through today. We feel fortunate to have very minor damage on the race car. We have a good car that we know can move around easily and will be good for the 500."

"I believe it was the 98 that came down on AJ and got into the fender a little bit there and had a little tire rub," Burns said. "It could have been a lot worse, but AJ did a good job at avoiding something that could have been a big deal."

FAST FACTS:

AJ Allmendinger has nine starts at Daytona International Speedway, one top-five and two top-10 finishes. His average start is 19.000 and his average finish is 24.444. He has led 15 laps. Allmendinger’s best finish at Daytona is third (2/15/09).

Career Starts: 192
Top-fives:     5
Top-10s:      30
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

KROGER:

The Kroger Co. Partners with the USO again this season:

FAN OF THE WEEK:

Enter NOW for a chance to ride along with AJ Allmendinger during a race this season!

Each week, the JTG Daugherty Racing "#47 FAN OF THE WEEK" will have their photo featured on AJ's #47 car.

How do you use the Power of Bleach?

Submit a photo of yourself or your family demonstrating the Power of Bleach and share with us a Clorox clean-up success story in 100 characters or less and include the #47FANOFTHEWEEK hashtag!

The best fan photo submitted to us VIA Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram will be chosen the following Monday and will be featured on the #47 car the following weekend!

Send it to @NASCAR47 on Twitter and Instagram or JTGDaughertyRacing on Facebook

AJ'S WHEREABOUTS:

Saturday, February 22

9 AM to 9:20 AM CHEVY DISPLAY APPEARANCE Q&A FOR THE FANS

6 to 9 PM KROGER DINNER

Sunday, February 23

9:30 AM to 9:50 AM KROGER BRUNCH (BILL FRANCE SUITE IN DAYTONA USA)

10 AM to 10:20 AM FREIGHTLINER APPEARANCE (INSIDE TRACK)

10:30 AM JTG DAUGHERTY RACING MEET AND GREETS AT HAULER


Credit to JTG Daugherty Racing for info & photos

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Daytona Pre-Race Report

Track: Daytona International Speedway
Event: Daytona 500
Date: Sunday, February 23, 2014
Coverage Begins/Race Start: 12 PM/1 PM ET
TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SIRIUSXM
*Sprint Unlimited is scheduled February 15 at 8 PM on FOX Sports 1, MRN and SIRIUSXM.
Daytona 500 qualifying is Sunday, February 16 on FOX, MRN and SIRIUSXM at 1 PM ET.
The Duels coverage begins on Thursday, February 20 on FOX Sports 1 at 6:30 PM and airs on MRN and SIRIUSXM.

TEAM QUOTES:

Dream big: “Daytona, you say the name and people know what it is,” AJ Allmendinger said. “Our fans or not even a fan, you can say I won at Daytona and they understand the meaning. I won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and it was so cool to roll into Victory Lane because of all the history and what it means to be in Victory Lane no matter what car you are driving. To win the Daytona 500 - if we are fortunate enough - means so many things with this group of guys I’m driving for at JTG Daugherty Racing. I don’t think any one of them has been to Victory Lane. Well, maybe one now that I think about it. It just would be very special. If you win Daytona, with the new rules, you are automatically in The Chase and that sets the tone for the year. If we would be lucky enough to win the Daytona 500, it would be a dream come true. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I go to bed thinking about rolling into Victory Lane with the No. 47 Kroger/USO Chevrolet SS. I can’t explain the emotions until it happens and what it would mean to the team and sponsors.”

Branding: "It's so cool to see the Kroger Co. partnering with the USO again this season to Honor Our Heroes," Allmendinger said. "It's a nice way to recognize America’s troops and their families. I believe this is the fifth season Kroger has been a partner of JTG Daugherty Racing. We're hoping to bring home a great finish for everyone. To find out more about USO's mission to lift spirits, please visit HonoringOurHeroes.com."

Confidence: “We have the confidence in ourselves that if we get everything right, we can compete with the best of the best,” Allmendinger said. “I truly believe that.”

Preparation: “It’s been a tough off season as we switched over,” said crew chief Brian Burns. “It’s not much different because all off seasons are fairly tough when you are scrambling to do updates for new rules. Additionally, this time around we were receiving new equipment with all the things coming into the shop from RCR (Richard Childress Racing) and putting cars together.”

Keep an eye on 47: “Winning the Daytona 500 would be huge for us,” Burns said. “AJ is trying to break through to his first win and we are as a team. We have been given everything we need this year by the owners (Brad Daugherty and Tad and Jodi Geschickter) to win races. The ball is in our court because we have the tools. It is all on us.”

New faces: “We have a lot of different faces on the team and in the shop,” Burns said. "We are working with a new group of guys and so far everyone is bonding well and it was evident at a test we did recently at Nashville Superspeedway.”

This is the year: “This is the best time to get a driver like AJ at this point in his career,” Burns said. “He is the most mature and aggressive driver and has something to prove. We have the ingredients to win races this year.”

Alliance: “RCR has welcomed us with open arms,” Burns said. “When we ask questions, they treat us as one of their teams. It is going to be a big deal and this year we are not on a desert island. We will get to be a part of their practice meetings before we hit the track and post happy hour meetings and post race meetings. The post happy hour meeting will be where we walk into the room and all the engineers and drivers will be debriefing. Also, we will go to a meeting at RCR each Monday to recap the weekend. Basically, we are invited to all meetings and we even have an engineer (Joey Cohen) camped out at their shop in Welcome, N.C. Additionally, there is a database that is shared with all the teams and we are connected to their network and we can see changes they make. They have been great to work with and we are looking forward to things to come this season.”

Making things a reality: “I am happy to be back full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series,” Allmendinger said. “I feel lucky; very fortunate to be back full-time and with the JTG Daugherty Racing team. In a short amount of time, Tad Geschickter has become a close friend of mine. He is a great guy. He has made me feel a part of their family and made me feel like I have some sort of ownership with this team. I can talk about anything with him. To me, I like that friendship and knowing we are all working in the same direction. With our RCR alliance, we know our equipment will be better. We have a good relationship with RCR and are looking forward to finally beginning the season at Daytona International Speedway. We know we have to manage our expectations early on. We have potential to do great things, but we cannot look at the big picture. We have to look at the small picture. To win a race or a championship for that matter, we have to take baby steps to get there. We cannot go from 30th to fifth in the first couple of weeks. We can be a really solid race team and one of those teams that cannot be overlooked. We need to go from being a 20th-place team to being inside the top-15 and then the top-10. I am just ready to start and these guys really make it fun. The energy in the shop has started to be so good and you can see the potential. We now have to make it a reality.”

All about attitude: "With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, you try to keep an even attitude,” Allmendinger said. “You can quickly get yourself too confident after a great finish and if it starts going bad, the season is so long especially during the summer months. You can easily dig yourself in a hole. It’s really hard to do, but you really have to take one race at a time because every weekend is new.”

The Chase format: “Now with the Chase format, you can be having a terrible year and all the sudden you win a race and the next thing you know that can light your season up and you’re in The Chase,” Allmendinger said. “Then you gain some momentum, you’re right there and you have a shot at the championship. I think that’s what makes the new format fun. It’s cool to see what NASCAR is doing whether it’s the Chase or qualifying format. It leads to so many more variety of things that can happen. For us, I think it gives us a good chance. It is just such a long season. It is all about pacing yourself and taking everything as it comes. Each year that I have done this, the more I have learned and the better I have gotten at that. That is what makes the best guys so good at it. They can take a couple bad weekends in a row and forget about it and move on to the next week and almost start over.”

Starting over: “I learned there were a lot of things I needed to change in my life,” Allmendinger said. “That racing itself didn’t just make me happy. Being away from racing, that wasn’t making me happy. There were just a lot of things that I needed to work on personally and mentally. It was kind of like almost starting all over again. We can’t hide from problems, they won’t just go away. It gave me a chance to step back, look at myself and say I need to start over and figure out the areas I need to work on and find true happiness."

"When you're struggling, it's hard,” Allmendinger continued. “You feel like you don't want to be there, or think, 'Maybe I'm over this.' When it gets taken away from you, you really have to look at if you want to be there. Quickly, I realized as I watched races on TV, I wanted to be back. Honestly, I didn’t know if I would have the opportunity. Today is almost like starting over. I truly believe now that things are meant to happen for a reason. God had a plan and there are so many things that happened last year that I’m so fortunate about. I’m in a great place now.”

The team: “They do not make me feel just like a driver, they make me feel a part of their family,” Allmendinger said. “I’m a key component to the race team and building it and not just driving the car. For all those reasons, I’m happy about the partnership. Through everything I have been through and all the different teams I have been lucky enough to race for, I thought this was the right place to be. I really felt like JTG Daugherty Racing was the right choice for me and a good place where I could be for hopefully a long time.”

2014 goals: "Of course, the goal is to bring that first trophy into the shop, but you can't jump from 30th to first right away,” Allmendinger said. “If we do everything to our maximum ability and what we're capable of, people will look at us and say, 'We can't sleep on them. They're contending every weekend.'"

Prediction for the final four: “Me and three others guys,” Allmendinger said. “It’s no secret that Jimmie Johnson has a pretty good shot at it. If you take off from last year’s stats, I think Matt (Kenseth) has a pretty good shot at it, too. But, it’s a brand new year. We don’t know. We will see what happens.”

Great things: “I think me being back full-time, that's the most exciting thing,” Allmendinger said. “Also, I love the qualifying format that we will have this year. Single-car qualifying to me is the most boring thing on the planet – not just in NASCAR, but they tried it in F1 and IndyCar. The new format leads to so many different things that can happen on Friday. If Jimmie Johnson has the fastest car in practice and we’re in a place where it’s one lap on the tires and someone gets in his way, and he doesn’t make the next round, that makes it exciting. For the fans and on TV, you don’t know who is going to be on the pole until the last second of that final qualifying session. That is one of the most fun things you can do.”

KROGER:

The Kroger Co. Partners with the USO again this season:

Kroger, one of the world’s largest retailers, employs 343,000 associates who serve customers in 2,414 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s.

Honoring Our Heroes, Kroger’s partnership with the USO, will continue in 2014. The Kroger Co. Family of Stores has donated $8.4 million to the USO since 2010 to help the USO carry out its mission - to lift the spirits of America’s troops and their families around the world. For nearly 75 years, the USO is the only organization that serves the U.S. military throughout their service, from the moment they join, through their deployments and as they transition back to their communities.

For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com. To learn how you can help the USO please visit HonoringOurHeroes.com.

FAN OF THE WEEK: