A.J. Allmendinger
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| File:Dale Earnhardt Jr..jpg | ||
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| #88- Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Born | October 10, 1974 | |
| Hometown |  Kannapolis, North Carolina
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| Award(s) | 2x Busch Series champion 6x NASCAR's Most Popular Driver | |
| Sprint Cup statistics | ||
| Best pts finish | 3rd (2003) | |
| First race | 1999 Coca-Cola 600 | |
| First win | 2000 DirecTV 500 | |
| Born | December 16, 1981 | ||||||
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| Hometown | Los Gatos, California | ||||||
| Awards | 2-time IKF Champion
2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series Champion 2003 Champ Car Atlantic Champion 2004 Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series statistics | |||||||
| Car #, team | #22 - Penske Racing | ||||||
| First race | 2007 Food City 500 (Bristol) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series statistics | |||||||
| Best NCWTS position | 46th - 2006 (Craftsman Truck Series) | ||||||
| First race | 2006 Sylvania 200 (New Hampshire) | ||||||
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| Statistics current as of January 30, 2010. | |||||||
A.J. Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver of the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge for Penske Racing. He formerly drove the #84 Toyota for Team Red Bull and the #43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. It was announced on September 24, 2008 that he and Team Red Bull would part ways.
Contents |
Racing career
Edit
Early careerEdit
He started his career in kart racing. He won two International Karting Federation Grand National championships. [1]
Allmendinger won the Barber Dodge Pro Series championship in 2002, and the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2003 with Carl Russo's RuSport team.
Champ CarEdit
In 2004 they entered the Champ Car World Series, with Michel Jourdain Jr. joining Allmendinger. He generally outperformed the experienced Mexican, scoring a run of 6 top-6 finishes towards the end of the season, winning the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year award ahead of Justin Wilson. Wilson joined the team for 2005, and both drivers have been in regular contention for podium finishes.
On June 9, 2006, RuSport announced that Allmendinger would be replaced by 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta. However, he did not remain unemployed long, as Forsythe Championship Racing hired him on June 14, 2006. In the interim, he became engaged to Lynne Kushnirenko, a model and chiropractor.
On June 18, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Portland in his first race with Forsythe Championship Racing. Allmendinger became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at The Milwaukee Mile in 2004.
On June 25, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Cleveland from the pole in a hectic race that saw two-time CART champ and points leader Sébastien Bourdais, teammate Paul Tracy, former teammate Justin Wilson, Dan Clarke and former seatholder Mario Dominguez eliminated during the race.
He continued his winning streak by winning his third consecutive race at the Grand Prix of Toronto on July 9, 2006. He started second after Wilson bested Allmendinger's time in the last lap of the event's final qualifying session. The victory moved Allmendinger into second place in the CCWS championship standings, behind leader Bourdais.
He chalked up his fourth and fifth wins of the season at Denver and Road America.
NASCAREdit
Allmendinger made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series driving for Bill Davis Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16, 2006[2] [3]. He crashed his primary truck in qualifying but started the race 32nd and finished on the lead lap in 13th. He also competed at Talladega Superspeedway in October with a finish of 5th. In his 3rd career truck series start, he qualified in 2nd place at Atlanta.
Allmendinger attempted his first Nextel Cup Series event at Atlanta in October 2006 driving the Team Red Bull entry, however, a rain out in qualifying prevented him from making the race, due to lack of owners points for the team. He also attempted to make the race at Texas however he failed to qualify.
It was announced on October 24, 2006 that Allmendinger will drive the Nextel Cup #84 Team Red Bull Toyota Camry in 2007.
Allmendinger failed to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 after a crash in the first Gatorade Duel race. He has also failed to qualify for the California, Las Vegas, and Atlanta races. As of May 25, 2007, he has qualified for one "current car" event, and has made four races, all featuring the Car of Tomorrow. To assist him in the transition, he is also driving selected Craftsman Truck Series races for Toyota under the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports banner.
Allmendinger finished 40th his first Nextel Cup start at the Food City 500 at Bristol, which was the debut of the COT. The next race, he finished 38th at Martinsville and posted a 32nd place finish at Richmond on May 6, 2007.
Entering the 2009 Sprint Cup Series Season, A.J. Allmendinger will be behind the wheel of what used to be the ride of Patrick Carpentier at Gillett Evernham Motorsports, which was bought out in the off season by Richard Petty. The organization is now called Richard Petty Motorsports, and A.J. Allmendinger will be sporting the 1979 #44 Valvoline paint scheme during the 2009 Budweiser Shootout, and throughout speedweeks. He has alot to show, being that he is driving for Richard Petty, and using the replica of Kyle Petty's 1979 ARCA Valvoline paint scheme at Daytona.
Well the Daytona 500 is over, A.J. Allmendinger proved himself a worthy driver as of Sunday, Feb. 15th 2009, posting a 3rd place finish in his first Daytona 500 with his new team Richard Petty Motorsports. On April 10th 2010 Allmendinger won his first pole at Phoenix International Raceway.
PersonalEdit
On Friday, January 19, 2007, A.J. married Lynne Kushnirenko in Palm Beach, Florida.
Teams Edit
| Year | # | Sponsor | Make/Model | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 43 | Best Buy | Dodge | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 2009 | 44 | Valvoline | Dodge | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 2007-2008 | 84 | Red Bull | Toyota | Team Red Bull |
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Allmendinger's Champ car profile
- ↑ http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/32253/
- ↑ NASCAR results at Racing-reference.info
External links Edit
- A.J. Allmendinger Career Statistics
- AJ Allmendinger Champ Car career
- Allmendinger statistics pre NASCAR career
- Official website
- A.J. Allmendinger Wedding Video - Love Story Interview
Complete Champ Car resultsEdit
(key)
| Yr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Team | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | RuSPORT | LBH 12 | MOT Ret | MIL 5 | POR 6 | CLE 6 | TOR 11 | VAN 3 | ROA 13 | DEN 5 | MON 5 | LAG Ret | LAS 6 | SUR 6 | MEX 3 | RuSPORT | 6th | 229 |
| 2005 | RuSPORT | LBH 8 | MOT 10 | MIL 2 | POR 5 | CLE 2 | TOR Ret | EDM Ret | SAN Ret | DEN 3 | MON 9 | LAS 13 | SUR 2 | MEX 2 | RuSPORT | 5th | 227 | |
| 2006 | RuSPORT | LBH Ret | HST 8 | MOT 3 | MIL 4 | POR 1 | CLE 1 | TOR 1 | EDM 3 | SAN 7 | DEN 1 | MON Ret | ROA 1 | SUR Ret | MEX DNS | Forsythe | 2nd | 280 |
* Pole positions indicated in bold.
