A.J. Allmendinger has a reputation as a great road racer. All three of his NASCAR national touring series wins came on road courses. His lone Sprint Cup Series win was at Watkins Glen back in 2014, while he has recorded two NASCAR Xfinity Series road course wins, both coming in 2013 at Road America and Mid-Ohio.
On Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, he showed his prowess as a top short track ace.
Allmendinger backed up a strong sixth place qualifying run on Friday with an even stronger run on Sunday. The Los Gatos, California native raced in the top ten all day, often pushing and shoving his way around his competitors.
He had moved into the top three before the final caution came out with 17 laps to go. On the final restart, he moved around second place runner Matt Kenseth, and then tried to chase down leader Kyle Busch over the closing laps.
In the end, Allmendinger had to settle for second in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevy.
“I was kind of hoping that we’d stay green because our long-run car was really good,” Allmendinger said. “I had gotten a little bit more aggressive early in the run to try to stay closer to everybody, and I could see Kyle. I think I had come off 4, and I could see Kyle, I think, going into turn 1 in a lot of traffic. At that time I was hoping we’d stay green, but I figured we wouldn’t. And at that point, our short-run car wasn’t great, so (crew chief) Randall Burnett made a great adjustment there to try to be a little bit better on the short run, and it was pretty good on those restarts.”
While there has been a trend in the past of road racers doing well at Martinsville, Allmendinger said it helps when the team brings good race cars to the track.
“I know the first couple times I came here, I couldn’t figure this place out to save my life,” he said. “You know, it’s just a rhythm racetrack. There’s a fine line between needing to be aggressive enough, using the brakes and the things you have to do and be fast, and then overusing them, and that’s kind of the way road course driving is. It’s always a fine line. You can be aggressive but you’ve got to know that line to where you overstep it.”
Hamlin’s Strong Early Run Ends Early
Denny Hamlin came into Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 as one of the favorites to win.
Hamlin had won five races at his home state track going into Sunday’s race. After starting in the eighth position, He had worked his way into the top five and looked to have a car that could contend to take the victory.
But that came to an end on lap 211, when the Chesterfield, Virginia native overdrove turn one, sending his car up the track and into the outside wall.
The damage sent his No. 11 Toyota to the garage area, and ended his day.
“It’s my first time ever doing it here, so it’s a little embarrassing,” said Hamlin. “But I mean we were the fastest car those last 30 laps and we got back to the top-five and I was making up a lot of my speed on entry. As the tires wear, the rears get hotter, less grip, you can’t brake at the same amount and I just – it was really out of the blue.
“I didn’t ever have a hint of it up until that moment, so a bit of a rookie move on my part – been around here too much to do something like that, but learning for the fall and I’m really encouraged about how good our car came up through the pack and I really thought we had a car that could win.”
Hamlin would end up finishing 39th, his worst finish of the 2016 season.
Disappointing Finish For Aric Almirola
With long time sponsor STP headlining Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, it’s only natural that the driver most associated with the sponsor, Richard Petty, would be a focus of the event.
Carrying the legendary STP red and Petty Blue colors on the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, Aric Almirola had high hopes of adding to his car owner’s win total at the paper clip shaped half mile raceway.
But it wasn’t to be, as Almirola began showing signs of engine woes shortly before the 200 lap mark. After bringing his car to the attention of his crew, Almirola tried to soldier on.
But it wasn’t meant to be, as the No. 43 continued to lose cylinders, eventually ending his day in the garage. Almirola would be credited with 40th position, having completed 206 laps.
“We had a part failure with a part that typically doesn’t break, so I’m not sure. Doug (Yates) will go back and investigate it and I’m sure they’ll figure something out so it won’t ever happen again. It was a disappointing end to our day.
“We had an okay STP Ford Fusion. We were making it better and were probably a 15th-place car. Walking out of the track now, I certainly would have taken a 15th-place finish because this is gonna put us in a pretty big hole.”
Almirola came into the weekend 13th in Sprint Cup Series points. He now goes to next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway in 22nd position.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/4/383595/allmendinger-drives-to-a-strong-martinsville-finish