For California’s A.J. Allmendinger, the road to success in NASCAR’s top division has been a long, crooked, and difficult road, much like the one he drove on Sunday. But after a challenging last few years – to say the least – Allmendinger finally got to enjoy a major triumph on Sunday afternoon with his first career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
“I don’t even know what to say to that,” an elated Allmendinger said in victory lane. “That just means more than anything to me.”
The breakthrough victory became a huge stepping stone for Allmendinger and his NASCAR career after nearly losing his first true shot at success after failing a drug test in 2012.
Born in Los Gatos, Calif., Allmendinger was destined to race. He began his career racing go-karts and won two International Kart Federation Grand National championships in his early youth. After moving to the higher levels of open-wheel racing in the early millennia, Allmendinger won the Barber Dodge Pro Series championship in 2002 and the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2003.
Allmendinger gained mainstream fame in 2004 after entering the Champ Car World Series with the RuSport team owned by Carl Russo. In 2004, Allmendinger scored six top-6 finishes to close the season and won the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year award.
After another solid 2005 campaign, RuSport announced on June 6, 2006 that Allmendinger would be replaced by 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta.
Just a few days later, Forsythe Championship Racing announced Allmendinger as their new driver. In his first race with Forsythe, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Portland and became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at The Milwaukee Mile in 2004. This began a three-race winning streak for Allmendinger that included wins at the Grand Prix of Cleveland and the Grand Prix of Toronto. Allmendinger would later record his fourth and fifth wins of the season at Denver and Road America.
Allmendinger first turned to NASCAR after a lucrative offer in 2006 from the now-defunct Team Red Bull. After a few experimental races in 2006 in NASCAR’s top three series, Team Red Bull announced that Allmendinger would join Brian Vickers in 2007 as their two main drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.
Unlike his start in Champ Car, his transition to NASCAR was rough. Allmendinger failed to make the 2007 Daytona 500 and three subsequent races to start his rookie campaign. He made his first start of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in NASCAR’s unveiling of the COT platform known as “The Car of Tomorrow” – Allmendinger would finish 40th in the race. In an effort to develop as a NASCAR driver, Allmendinger drove additional Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series races throughout 2007.
When 2008 came around, Allmendinger failed to qualify once again for the Daytona 500 and was replaced by veteran Mike Skinner on a temporary basis. Although he won the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 17 and then scored a career-best ninth at Kansas Speedway in the fall, Allmendinger was released from the team just days later.
Allmendinger eventually found a stable home for Petty Motorsports in 2010 while driving the iconic No.43. He improved drastically from his first two full seasons, scoring one pole position, two top fives and eight top 10s and finishing 19th in the point standings.
Allmendinger only got better the following season. He scored 10 top 10s in the year and contended for a Chase spot in the final regular season races. Allmendinger would finish a career-best 15th in points.
After Kurt Busch and Roger Penske agreed to part ways at the end of the 2011 season, the opportunity was set for Allmendinger to fill the empty seat of the No.22 Pennzoil Dodge.
Finally in great equipment, Allmendinger began the 2012 campaign as a possible favorite to make The Chase.
Allmendinger got off to slow start in the first five races of the season. This changed when Allmendinger racked up a career-best second place finish at Martinsville Speedway in April. Back-to-back top 10s at Sonoma and Kentucky in June gave the appearance that Allmendinger was turning his season around.
That all changed on July 7 when Allmendinger was suspended prior to the start of the Coke Zero 400 after failing a random drug test. After failing a second drug test (at his request) on July 24, NASCAR suspended Allmendinger indefinitely. Allmendinger entered NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program a few days later and was then released by Roger Penske on August 1. He would be reinstated by NASCAR on September 18 after completing the program.
With his career possibly over and his enjoyment of racing a distant memory, Allmendinger used 2013 to regather himself. He drove part time in the Sprint Cup Series for Phoenix Racing and had some solid finishes along the way.
But his comeback in the sport really began last summer with help from his former owner and close friend, Roger Penske.
On June 1, 2013, Penske announced that Allmendinger would drive for his team at Road America and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In his first race of the season, the Johnsonville Sausage 200 on June 22, Allmendinger led 29 laps from pole position and won in dominating fashion – his first win in one of NASCAR’s three major touring series. Later at Mid-Ohio in August, Allmendinger dominated once again and saved fuel through a green-white-checkered finish to win and sweep the year’s Nationwide Series road-course races for Penske Racing.
Shortly after renewing self-confidence and success, it was announced that Allmendinger would be the full-time driver for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2014.
When 2014 started, Allmendinger and his No.47 team showed early promise with finishes of eighth, sixth and fifth at Auto Club Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively. The early success had Allmendinger in the top 15 in points and in position to contend for a Chase playoff spot.
But an early summer slump and a missed opportunity at NASCAR’s first road course in Sonoma, Calif. saw Allmendinger and his team focus on one race, one final bullet to turn their season around – 90 laps at Watkins Glen International.
Known for his prowess on road courses, Allmendinger and team knew that this was, realistically, their last shot to win a race and make NASCAR’s playoffs.
With everything aimed at winning at the New York road course, execution had to be flawless by both driver and crew. After starting sixth on Sunday, Allmendinger ran in the top 5 for most of the race’s first half. But after pitting with 42 laps to go and putting himself outside a fuel window, many people including part-owner and ESPN analyst, Brad Daugherty, doubted whether Allmendinger could rebound in time to win the race.
The pendulum swung in Allmendinger’s favor with 34 laps to when caution came out after a vicious crash occurred involving Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell. With the caution, Allmendinger was able to pit with the rest of the field and get the necessary fuel to make it to the finish.
After restarting in fourth with 31 laps to go, Allmendinger took the lead from Carl Edwards in one lap and established himself as the favorite to hang on for the win.
However, the vice tighten once again when a caution came out with about 10 laps to go. While the caution did help Allmendinger save enough fuel to make it to the finish, he would now have to fight off one of the best road course racers in NASCAR and in the world, Marcos Ambrose.
Like Allmendinger, Ambrose also knew that his best chance win and make The Chase was at Watkins Glen.
And with two winless, road courses aces at the front of the field, a spectacle unfolded in the final laps. Both drivers grinded tooth and nail through the course’s esses, slid through the grass in the bus stop and traded sheet metal in turn 1, all while battling for the win and a playoff berth.
In the end, a total of three restarts were needed in the final 10 laps to complete the race. The most exciting of which was the last in which both drivers touched in turn 1, bumped in turn 5 and banged in turn 6 until Allmendinger finally cleared Ambrose and ran away to his first career victory on the final lap.
“I just knew if he could get to me, he’d move me out of the way, like I’d do to him,” Allmendinger said about racing with Ambrose. “It wasn’t rough, he didn’t try to wreck me. He just moved me. So I just leaned on him in the next corner. I knew if I could get a gap, with them racing behind me, it was game over.”
It took 213 starts in NASCAR’s premier level for Allmendinger to finally get a break that he deserved. And instead of thinking about himself or his moment, Allmendinger first thought of those who gave him a second chance.
“For this race team (co-owners) Tad and Jodi Geschickter, everybody at this No. 47 team, (co-owner) Brad Daugherty, to win our first Cup race together that means the world to me,” Allmendinger said after the race.
On a day where all of motorsports raced with heavy hearts after the loss of 20-year-old dirt track racer Kevin Ward, Jr. a bit of joy was felt at the end of the day when one of NASCAR’s Cinderella teams got their first Sprint Cup Series victory.
And one of NASCAR’s most liked stars finally got redemption.
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