After a long and strange winter, Allmendinger eventually landed in the fourth Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Charger, but his No. 44 car only has confirmed sponsorship for the first eight races of 2009
Last week, Allmendinger came out of nowhere to finish third behind Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick in the Daytona 500.
(Photo: LAT Photographic)
If adversity truly breeds character, AJ Allmendinger already ought to be the toughest driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage.
The 27-year-old Los Gatos, Calif., native suffered through a dreadful 2007 season with the then-start-up Red Bull team, qualifying for just 17 of 36 races. Last year started nearly as badly, with three consecutive DNQs to start the season, after which Allmendinger was yanked from his ride for five races in favor of Mike Skinner.
Allmendinger fared considerably better once he got back behind the wheel of the No. 84 Toyota, only to be cut loose in favor of Scott Speed. He ended the year on a happier note with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, where he finished in the top 20 four times in the final five races.
After a long and strange winter, Allmendinger eventually landed in the fourth Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Charger, but his No. 44 car only has confirmed sponsorship for the first eight races of 2009. And since it’s outside the top 35 in 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner points, Allmendinger has to race his way into the field in each of the first five races this season. So tenuous is his status that Allmendinger isn’t even listed as one of the Sprint Cup drivers in NASCAR’s official 2009 media guy.
And yet, Allmendinger is one of the few open-wheel expatriates to move over to NASCAR in the last three years and stick. Allmendinger is still driving Sprint Cup cars. Jacques Villeneuve isn’t, nor are Dario Franchitti or Patrick Carpentier, among others.
Last week, Allmendinger came out of nowhere to finish third behind Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick in the Daytona 500, earning some well-deserved praise from Harvick, not a man prone to hyperbole. “I think everybody forgets how many people have been run out of this sport from the open-wheel side that hadn't had any success whatsoever,” Harvick said of Allmendinger after the Daytona 500. “He's been pretty successful in a short amount of time.”
Allmendinger’s good fortune continue at Auto Club Speedway late Friday afternoon, as he raced his way into Sunday’s Auto Club 500, qualifying eighth in his RPM Dodge, another stellar performance that was the best of the 13 drivers trying to qualify on speed.
