Tag: Los Gatos

A.J. Allmendinger believes he is close to getting the first win of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career. Every week he leaves the track a little more confident. A.J. recently explained that Dover is a track he believes is made for him. He spoke to Dave Rodman from NASCAR.COM, who wrote a great article titled “Allmendinger seeks breakthrough win at Dover”.

A.J. Allmendinger spent most of Friday’s first Sprint Cup Series practice session at Dover International Speedway near or at the top of the speed chart — and when the session was over, he’d only just been bumped to second by six-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson.

During Happy Hour, Johnson and Allmendinger were again almost inextricably tied — though in 23rd and 24th position. But after his 2010 performance here, especially in the fall race when he led more than a third of the 400-lap race, Allmendinger feels like he might be the series’ next first-time winner on Sunday. Read more..

A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos, CA will have a new sponsor on the hood of his car this weekend. Nautica, an apparel company will be the primary sponsor for this weekend’s race at Richmond International Raceway. Best Buy is the main sponsor for most of the other races.

“We feel good that an organization as well known as Nautica has decided to showcase its brand on the No. 43 Ford,” said team owner Richard Petty. “We welcome them to the RPM family and look forward to showing them everything the sport has to offer this weekend in Richmond.”

The following is a press release from Ford Racing about A.J and his successful start to the 2011 Sprint Cup season.

AJ Allmendinger is off his best start as a Sprint Cup driver, currently residing 15th in the latest points standings heading into Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Raceway. Allmendinger took a few moments to talk about his season to date, what the 43 team still needs to improve on and look ahead to what he thinks of Richmond and the characteristics of the driver that will win Saturday night.

AJ ALLMENDINGER, driver No. 43 Ford Fusion – YOU ARE QUIETLY HAVING A REALLY STRONG SEASON, WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY FOR YOU TO BE 15TH IN THE POINTS RIGHT NOW? “We have been fortunate enough to not make any huge mistakes to take ourselves out of races. We have just kind of been there. It is a little up and down. I feel like certain places we struggled at last year we have gotten better and other places we haven’t gotten better. Ultimately if we want to be a real Chase contending team we need to get better in certain areas. The mile-and-a-half tracks are our weakness right now. We have been fast at times in those races, like Vegas and Texas, but we faded. That is the kind of stuff that happened last year at those places. The good thing is that a lot of Ford cars are fast there and have won those races. We have things we can look at to improve on. We as a race team with the 43 have to get better there. That is between Mike Shiplett and me. I feel like we can and have the potential to be better there. That is the thing that sticks out in my mind because we have to be better on those tracks because they make up the majority of the schedule. To be an elite team and contend for the Chase we have to be strong on those. At the same point we have been strong on the short tracks. I am looking forward to Richmond this weekend. The Dover tire test went really well so I am really looking forward to Dover as well. We just have to keep getting better. If we do that then we can be there. We are just on the cusp right now. We are right on the outside. We are a 12th to 15th place team that needs to improve in certain areas. If we do that and keep the strengths we have then we have the potential to be a good team throughout the year.”

YOU SAY YOU ARE ON THE CUSP, WHICH IS REMINISCENT OF THE ROUSH FENWAY GUYS LAST YEAR AND WHAT THEY WERE SAYING. DO YOU LOOK AT THEIR SUCCESS THIS SEASON AS A GOOD OMEN FOR YOU? “I look at the Roush guys but more than anything I look at Marcos (Ambrose). Although we are in the same Ford family when it comes to everything you still have to look at your own race team personally. Marcos has finished like fourth and sixth or seventh at those places. He has been really fast. It is not like we haven’t been fast at those race tracks, we have been. We have qualified up front and ran up front but we faded as the race went on and the track changed. We can get there. Everybody looks at the Chase and that is the ultimate goal and winning races, but for me it is still baby steps. We are not quite there yet. Would I love to say that we are there and we are going to be a top-ten team or we are? Yeah, I would love to say that. We are just not quite there yet at certain race tracks. To me, other race tracks we are. We have some tracks coming up where I think we can be. Teams that are like that are good every weekend and we are good at times and then we are average. We are never really bad which is something that is good because even on our worst days when I think we are terrible we are inside the top-20 which is hard to do in this series. We just have to be good all the time and that is something we are working on.”

YOU HEAD TO RICHMOND THIS WEEKEND, WHAT MAKES THAT TRACK DIFFICULT FOR YOU? “I enjoy it there. We have had our ups and down there for sure. Last year in the second race there we were really good. It is a really tough place because it gets really slick and you tend to start to get some long runs in there and if you are just a little bit off with these cars lately you can get one or two guys that get dialed in and they can lap the field real quick. You really have to have a good qualifying run and then you really have to be good from the start. From there on it is just the track getting slick and when you get in the long runs you have to conserve your rear tires. It is a tough race track. It is one of those places where we have been good and faded and last year we were pretty good all race. We finished eighth and we were even better than that. It is a tough place but a fun place to drive for sure. I am looking forward to it because I feel like our short track program has really improved and we have a chance to be really good there. It is definitely a tough race, especially when it is hot out. As the sun goes down it makes for a cool Saturday night short track race. I am really looking forward to it.”

IS THERE A POINT IN THE SEASON YOU LOOK TO AS A MAKE OR BREAK TIME FOR MAKING THE CHASE? “I think for me I go in a couple of stages. My first goal was to get to Charlotte and the All-Star break. We have three races before that, two tracks I think we can be good at and one that is a question mark in Darlington. I look at that as the beginning of the season and say that we need to get to Charlotte and see where we are legitimately. If we can have three good weeks we might be able to get inside the top-10 in points or right on the cusp and have a legitimate chance at it. Then after that there is a tough stretch with tough tracks for us that can make or break our season. There is a big stretch there that starts with the 600 and then goes to Kansas and Michigan where we have never really been great at. We should be okay at Pocono and Sonoma, but that stretch before the Daytona July race is tough. Once you get to mid July that is when you make your stretch run at the Chase. I go in stages though and it starts with these next three races to get to that first stage.”

WHEN THE RACE IS OVER SATURDAY NIGHT, THE GUY STANDING IN VICTORY LANE WILL BE THERE BECAUSE OF WHAT? – “Because they are patient all night and probably have the best forward drive off the corners because that is what it comes down to. You have to get your car to turn through the center and have great forward drive off to not burn the tires up. The guy that does that and is patient all night will probably be the winner.”

– PCGCampbell for Ford Racing, Press Release

After a long and difficult race, A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos, CA and the #43 Best Buy Ford team made one last adjustment on the final pit stop on lap 186 of the 200 lap race, to really get the car right. He proceeded to gain one position on every lap till the end to finish in the 14th spot. They turned a potentially bad day into a good day, moving up one spot in the points standings. A.J. is now in the 15th position, only 21 points out of the top 12 and definitely deserves to be in the All Star Race. Vote Here!

A.J. had this to say after the race: “That was quite a weekend! I’ll admit, I was pretty frustrated with our pace through most of the weekend. No matter what we tried, we just didn’t get the car as quick as we needed to. But I’m proud of how we just kept fighting and to come out of here with a top fifteen is not bad. It’s not what we wanted out of the weekend but if we have an off weekend and still score those kinds of points, that will be huge in the long run.”

Also, by coming in 14th, he finished ahead of Casey Mears from Bakersfield who was 29th, to win the Sprint Bragging Rights Challenge. The winner received $5,000 for their charity. A.J. chose the Paralyzed Veterans of America. A.J. said: “I’m also really happy to get the chance to help the Paralyzed Veterans out with this award–they were on board with us at the Rolex 24 and we are looking forward to having them with us on the 43 again at Daytona this summer so it was great to win the Bragging Rights and it was another positive thing to come out of a weekend that didn’t start the way we were hoping. Richard Petty has got some good cars for the short track package and I’m already looking forward to next weekend.”

Help us get another NorCal driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star Race on May 21, 2011 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jeff Gordon from Vallejo, CA is already in the race. You can vote for A.J. here: http://www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/2011/