No Honeymoon in Poconos
A confusing series of pit strategies played into AJ Allmendinger’s favor Sunday at Pocono Raceway, helping him to a “cheap” 19th-place finish in the Pennsylvania 500.
Frustratingly loose and hardly worthy of a top-20 day, the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota last pitted on lap 166. But as fuel mileage unfolded in the end and competitors’ cars ran dry, AJ stole a handful of spots and gained 25 points on the top 35.
“We were 35th all day and once again, that’s what Jimmy (Elledge, crew chief) and the boys are so good at now is the strategy,” AJ said. “He played it right, knowing that most of those guys couldn’t make it on fuel and we would pick up some cheap spots with that and we did.”
The No. 84 remained 37th in the car owner standings, 38 points from AJ’s first stress-free qualifying day.
Teammate Brian Vickers last pitted on lap 163 to maintain track position, but he eventually fell victim to fuel mileage. The No. 83 ran out of gas on the final lap and crept home in 28th.
Brian is 16th in points — 203 from the Chase’s 12th and final berth.
posted by The Bull Spotter at 7:57 AM
10 Comments:
The 84 team really pulled a decent finish off yesterday. AJs sounded like the car was absolutely a handful all day long. Amazing what a little pit strategy can do!
I see that top 35 coming up very quickly! Good job guys.
A little nervous for AJ qualifying for the Glen this weekend...
Jayski's has entry list up and a bunch of "ringers" are entered-
The go or go home group will be-
00 Michael McDowell- should beat
10 Patrick Carpentier -ehhh
21 Marcos Ambrose -qualed for Sonoma and ran good...
34 Brian Simo- I think he made the Sonoma race too, should beat but ya never know
45 Kyle Petty- good on RC's, but should beat
60 Boris Said- ehhhh
70 Max Papis- ehhhhh maybe
78 Joe Nemechek- should beat-
81 Regan Smith- DEI is putting Fellows in the 01 for owner points reasons, and giving Regan a different car to qual, AJ should beat him, but adding another car to the fray makes it a pain in the ass-
84- the Dinger- the man the myth the legend
96 J.J. Yeley- not much of a RC guy, but again, another car to beat...
Now if the Bulls bring the 'A' game there will be NO issue, but keep in mind AJ is a complete rookie at the Glen and has never even driven the place cuz practice and quals got rained out last year... I am actually hoping for rain this year also, cuz we'd get a cheap 'in'... And the weather up here in the northeast should be rough by the weekend because of the tropical storm thats now in the gulf today...
Everyone do your favorite rain dance on Friday!!
As a side note, I got to meet AJ for the first time at Pocono on Sunday morning at the hauler. I am a huge fan of his and he was definatly awesome. I was for sure star struck, but my girlfriend broke the ice by saying "so it's nice to finally meet my boyfriend's man-crush" and AJ was really cool about it he laughed and smiled, we all know of his own "man-crush" for Brett Favre!! He said having a man-crush was A-Ok and said he was glad to have loyal fans... Anyway, I am glad to be an AJ fan as he is def a talented racer and a pretty cool guy in person also...
We basically don't have a shot at the chase now, but that's okay. It seems like we've been stuck between going for wins and keeping that slight chance of a chase berth alive. Now, we can go all out for the wins.
I seriously think we have a shot at putting two cars in the chase next year.
Oh, and A.J. will be fine getting in this weekend. He just needs some practice there. We have better equipment than most of those guys. If he can keep the car on the track during his lap, we'll get in.
Relax Jason, have faith...it will prolly be even worse with a ringer in the 96 too. He made Infineon,which seems like the tougher of the 2...The 84 as a team is stronger than those other gogh's (FYI McDowell is a RR specialist from the Grand-Am series)
Have faith in the #84. They're a strong team. They will be in the top 35 soon. I'm sure BV will give AJ pointers about the track. And also AJ does a lot of online simulation racing and that helps him prepare. Don't sweat it, guys. AJ will give them hell. Both he and BV will be the turn-around teams of the year.
If the car is capable of being fast - Dinger will have no problem!
Oh man the RBRT midseason video is kickass. Good job by whoever does the editing.
Curt,
That video is radical!!!
BV still has some good tracks coming up......look out.
Anyone know whatever became of Rick Viers? Still with TRBR in some capacity?
Great job on the mid-season video. One more example of the quality work being done by the RBRT. Go get 'em boys!
Last I heard, Rick Viers was still with RBRT, but that was a while ago.
KCMO
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