Photo Credit: Justin McFarland
A.J. Allemendinger, driver of the No. 47 Kingsford/Dillons Chevrolet, was involved in a bad wreck last weekend during the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. He took a hard hit but went to the infield care center and was cleared and released to drive this weekend. Even with the hit and being out of the race, but because the wreck he was involved in happened so late in the race, a lot of other drivers were already out so he was able to still finish in the top 15 and move up a position in the standings.
“I’m fine,” Allmendinger said. ” I was just a little bit sore the next couple of days nothing that I haven’t experienced before after Talladega. It wasn’t a big deal. It was a tough race. We got something out of it at least, finished 14th, moved up a couple of spots in points so it could have been a lot worse. The guys did such a great job last week to repair the car twice really to keep it going. As we saw through the race a lot of people had the same issues. Getting here? No, no issue. You just shut it off. You know the risks when you get into a race car. NASCAR does a great job with all the safety aspects. We saw a lot of big hits last week and fortunately all the drivers were out and okay. Obviously, it’s not a lot of fun when you have to go through it, but we know the safety is there and NASCAR continually tries to keep working on it and making it better. Come here to Kansas and you forget all about it and see how fast your race car is.”
Now Allmendinger turns his attention to this weekend, hoping for a strong run. He hasn’t done well at the 1.5-mile oval recently, posting his last top-10 there in 2010. However, the drivers are running a new low downforce package this season, which could play into his favor. The new package has created a slew of fun races, with more passing than previous seasons, but Allmendinger notes some teams have regained the downforce they originally lost.
“Well, what is great about the race teams is they always have rules made and they will always find ways to try to make those rules and use them to their advantage,” Allmendinger said. “I wouldn’t say that all the downforce is back. We definitely slide around. I see Kansas tomorrow night being the same. A lot of it is kind of based on what tire Goodyear brings and does it fall off, does it not wear out much, but in the end it’s definitely slicker this year, definitely sliding around a lot more. You are seeing that, look at a team like Gibbs, the organization they have probably figured it out the best so far, but it always goes in stages.
“You are always going to go out there and do everything that you can to get the most downforce, the most grip out of the race car. All of our teams are trying to do that, but it’s definitely a bit different than the past couple of years for sure. You are working in the race car a lot more this year. It makes it a lot of fun. I think it’s put on great racing. I see Kansas tomorrow night being the same.”
Allmendinger will start the GoBowling 400 at Kansas Speedway in the 29th position.
