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[/media-credit]Friday, April 27, 2012
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Richmond International Raceway
Capitol City 400
Dodge PR
A.J. Allmendinger Open Interview
A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) ON FRIDAY SHELL/PENNZOIL ANNOUNCED IT WILL SERVE AS A PRIMARY PARTNER FOR ALLMENDINGER’S KARTING SCHOLARSHIP AND THAT YOUNG FLORIDAN RACER KYLE KIRKWOOD WAS SELECTED AS THE FIRST-EVER RECIPIENT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP.
“I started this scholarship program this year. I’ve watched him over the last year or so and he’s got a lot of speed. Ultimately, it’s exciting to start this program and have Shell come on board, to me, is a huge deal. It shows their support of me, to want to be a part of this program, but more importantly to show that they want to try to build a scholarship program and be a part of helping get young drivers into this sport, which I think we need more help with. To have this karting scholarship, to have Shell wanting to step on board, is a big deal. Kyle ran a few weeks ago with us and has a first, a second and a sixth. Ultimately, I think it’s really cool to have Shell be a part of this. It’s just exciting to be able to give back to karting the best that I can, but to have a huge company like Shell wanting to be a part of it and already step up, it’s pretty amazing. I’m excited about it. You can tell that Kyle is really thrilled and it’s really cool, so I look forward to it.
“I think for everybody that doesn’t know my background to the full extent, I had Paul Tracy have a karting team and when I was 16, 17 years old trying to figure out what I was going to do, Paul Tracy had his karting team and really stepped up and at that point it was amazing to me to have such a superstar in the kart world series wanting me to be a part of his race team. That was something that I took to heart and knew that it was something that, once I got to the right time in my life, I wanted to kind of do the same thing. And, you know, I think karting doesn’t really get the recognition that it deserves here in the U.S. Across the world, it’s such a big deal but in the U.S., to me, it doesn’t get the recognition because it’s where all the young guys start. I think in NASCAR racing, they look at late model racing and that’s where kids start, bandeleros, things like that, but for me it was always karting. To me it’s the most pure form of racing there is, whether you’re six, seven years old or on up through the ranks or somebody like me that’s still trying to relive my old glory and still race go karts. That’s something that was always important to me. That’s why I wanted to start the karting scholarship. I wanted to do this the last couple of years and I felt like this was the right time.”
DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO RACING AT TALLADEGA? “I look forward to hanging out in the infield at Talladega (smiles). You know, when you flip down the front straightaway it kind of takes the excitement level away. I think for me, I’m excited to get back and hopefully have that big pack racing again. Hopefully, that kind of stays the same as Daytona. To me, to get back in the big packs and getting back to that will be a lot better than over the last couple of years. Hopefully, it continues the same way it was at Daytona. Daytona, to me, was great racing throughout the whole race. I wouldn’t say that I’m ever excited to go to Talladega, but I look forward to getting back to how big pack racing used to be there.”
DO YOU THINK ALL THE RULE CHANGES COMING FROM DAYTONA WILL BE A GOOD FIT FOR TALLADEGA? “Man I hope so. To me, I think it’s only going to help it more because, although it’s not, it seems like it’s so much bigger. The cars heat up so much quicker at Talladega. Obviously, the weather is a lot warmer than when we’re at Daytona in the beginning of the year. I’d be surprised if we go there and all of sudden we’re back to tandem racing for whatever reason. But the good thing about these race teams is they’re always finding advantages. I think it’ll be big pack racing for the most part. At the end, it’ll be still the same thing: you’re going to try to hook up with whoever you’re working with and try to push each other to the win. Hopefully, it’s back to big pack racing. I think that’s what the fans wanted. I think the drivers, for the most part, enjoyed it back in Daytona. So hopefully it’s the same way.”
WHAT TRAITS MAKE A GOOD RESTRICTOR DRIVER? “You know, when it came to the tandem racing, a lot of it was just luck. I mean, just getting hooked up and kind of getting that right hole at the right time and being pushed at the right time. But I think when it comes to big pack racing, the first thing is having a fast race car. It’s not just because Dale Jr. and guys like Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, they’re great plate racers and everybody just wants to beat ‘em. They also have fast race cars, so it makes everybody want to kind of hook up with ‘em.
“But you know, I think it’s just timing, knowing when to go. A lot of it is still luck, getting in that right time at the right place and not getting caught up in that big wreck, knowing when to go, knowing the right position to put yourself in. It’s a combo between having a fast race car and being smart. You see those types of guys that are up front when it comes time to get going at the end.”
WHEN ANOTHER DRIVER TAKES A WIN AWAY FROM YOU, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET PAST THAT? “You’ve got to be patient. That’s hard to do, especially at a short track race. You know, my theory has always been you race people how you want to be raced. If they want to rough you up, you’ve got to rough ‘em back up. You know, at the same point, you can’t get frustrated with each other and start just focusing on that because there’s 41 other guys besides the two of you out there. Even now, on the short track races, it’s about aerodynamics. You can’t kill the fenders; you can hurt the race car. As tough as it is to do, sometimes you’ve just got to be patient and you really got to pick your poison. If a guy goes out there and roughs you up, how bad was it? Is that the guy you really want to deal with at that point or do you just bare down and get back to what you were supposed to do and just kind of put that in the back of your mind.”
ONCE THAT HAS HAPPENED, IS IT OVER ON MONDAY? IS IT OVER THE NEXT TIME YOU GO TO A SHORT TRACK? “Drivers have long memories. Maybe it’s over three years later, maybe it’s over the next weekend. To me, I’ve always looked at that as you’ve still got to focus on the job at hand, trying to get all the points possible, try to make the Chase. That’s the most important thing, try to go win races. It’s one of those things, if the opportunity comes up, you pay ‘em back but you can’t just focus on that. If that’s all you’re out there to do, that’s just going to cause problems, cause damage to the race cars and just get you fired.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN WHEN YOU WERE TIRE TESTING EARLIER THIS WEEK AT POCONO? “I mean, it’s definitely a lot faster. They did a good job there. It’s fairly smooth. There are still some little rumbles in the racetrack. You could see even on the second day of the test it was starting to get some character already built into it, but a decent amount of grip already. We were running lap times that were heck, by the end, three to four seconds faster than a race pace there. But it’s not like scary fast. You’re not like holding your breath getting down into the corners. The biggest thing is it’s smoother. The bumps in one and two are gone for the most part. I think what it’s going to come down to is if the groove widens out. You know when you’re there with five or six cars, the fastest way around the racetrack is right around the bottom. So you get one groove built up. That groove had a good amount of grip in it. I think it’s just about trying to work in our line. Nobody is really going to work that line in until probably the truck race because I don’t see why any driver is going to want to try to work that line in practice by himself. It’s well done. I was the first car on the racetrack, so I was scared it was going to be like ice. We were going to be doing 200 down the straightway and going into (Turn) one, it was going to be like ice like it was at Phoenix. You know, it had a decent amount of grip to start with. They did a good job on it and I’m looking forward to racing there. I think it was probably because I was really bad there the last couple of years (laughs), so something new will be good.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY REMOVING THE PROGRESSIVE BANKING? HOW WILL THAT CHANGE THE RACING THERE IN AUGUST? “I don’t think we’ll know until we get on the racetrack. You can sit there and talk about it and figure out this is what’s going to happen, that’s what’s going to happen but you’re not going to know until you get on that racetrack. It’s tough. A fan has an opinion about what they like there. A lot of fans like the racing. I think the battle between Brad (Keselowski) and Matt (Kenseth) was amazing, side-by-side lap after lap, not touching each other. But I think Bristol had built up such a reputation and you build that reputation up, even if the racing is good, it’s not the reputation that was built, so I think that’s where fans come into play that they think, okay, it needs to be back the way it used to be. The way I look at it, although we were fast there, I never had a really good finish there. Just like Pocono, change it up. Let’s see what works out for me. If it’s fast for me, that’s all I care about (smile).”
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE LACK OF CAUTIONS OVER THE LAST TWO RACES? “You know, I think it’s the fact that everybody is so good now. I didn’t get to drive the old car a whole lot but talking to Tony and Jeff and Mark Martin and those types of guys, they say these cars are so much harder to drive now than the old cars ever used to be. So I think what you see is the fact that Goodyear is doing a good job now. They bring a tire that’s got decent amount of grip in it. You still slide around. I mean you look at Texas and we were sliding around. But everybody is so good now and with the Chase, every point is so important, I think it’s just about trying to salvage everything you can and not maybe taking that risk. But I think it’s just the talent level is so high. I think that’s it. Nobody really makes a mistake. I’ve heard people talk about maybe we’re not driving as hard in the middle of the race. I don’t know about everybody else but I’m wearing myself out. I get done and I’m spent after these races. I just think everybody is so good. The cars are built so well now. There’s not a lot of engine failures, there’s not stuff falling off the race cars to get a caution. It’s just everything about this sport has evolved to where everything is so good and that’s why you don’t see the yellows.”
