Track: Darlington Raceway
Event: Bojangles’ Southern 500
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV / Radio: FOX / MRN / SIRIUSXM
TEAM QUOTES:
Power Of Bleach: “It’s great to have Clorox return to our No. 47 Chevrolet SS at Darlington Raceway,” Allmendinger said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m so ready for spring after a long winter and Clorox is on our car at the right time. We know things are going to get messy at Darlington Raceway and there are bound to be a few Bleachable Moments during the race, but we are confident that our Clorox car will clean up the competition.”
Tough track: “Darlington Raceway is definitely a tough place,” Allmendinger said. “I will be interested to see how fast these cars go around there. I didn’t race there last year. It’s one of those places that when you have the car dialed in it is pretty cool. It is such a fast track. As far as the history behind it, the track has not changed a lot other than the repave a few years ago.”
Earn your money: “It’s one of those things where you go into the night at Darlington Raceway knowing you’re going to earn your money,” Allmendinger said. “I feel like it is one of those places if you get around it well, you have accomplished something. At the same point if you struggle there, there is nowhere to hide. The history of the track and what it means to the sport of NASCAR makes it really cool to drive through the tunnel there. Again, it is one of the races I actually missed last year. Even though I haven’t really been that good there in the past, I really enjoy it.”
Night racing at its finest: “I always like the night races,” crew chief Brian Burns said. “It seems like there is a lot of excitement for more of a fan viewing entertainment experience especially at a track where there is a lot of history like Darlington Raceway. It is one of those places you go to where lining up on pit road there is a little more to it than a usual race weekend.”
Not atypical: “Darlington Raceway does not fall into a cookie-cutter style track,” Burns said. “Luckily, one of our RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance teams – the No. 13 car – has tested there. So, we feel like it is really going to help us. We feel fortunate to have a little bit of an advantage unloading at a place like that with some recent test data. It gives us direction on which setup to start with there.”
Minimizing mistakes: “I’ve been very pleased with the way we have run,” JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Brad Daugherty said. “We have got speed, which is something we haven’t had in two or three seasons. I am happy with the direction we are going with the cars and the team. We just have to work harder at minimizing mistakes. We have made some mistakes that have cost us five or more positions at some of these tracks. We will polish up on the areas we need to and make some noise throughout the season.”
Close to home: “The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway is a little bit of a breather in the schedule because it is closer to home,” Burns said. “There is not as much travel time for the team and it really nice for all the guys to be able to get back home quickly. It is a Saturday night race too and it gives us a rare Sunday at home. Following Darlington, we have an off weekend coming up too and I think we’re all looking forward to that.”
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FAST FACTS:
AJ Allmendinger has six starts at Darlington Raceway. His best finish there is 17th (5/9/09). His average start is 19.833 and his average finish is 28.333.
Career Starts: 198
Top-fives: 5
Top-10s: 31
Pole Awards: 2
First Start: 3/25/2007 Bristol
First Pole: 4/10/2010 Phoenix
Last Pole: 4/22/2012 Kansas
Best Start: 1 – 4/10/2010 Phoenix
Best Finish: 2 – 4/1/2012 Martinsville
Driver DOB: 12/16/1981
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Crew Chief: Brian Burns
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THE POWER OF BLEACH:
You wouldn’t hire a kinda-respectable babysitter or eat kinda-fresh sushi, so why clean with kinda-whitening bleach? Clorox® Regular-Bleach packs the whitening and dirt-fighting power you demand, all in a smaller, easy-to-use package. Plus it disinfects to kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria, which is kinda awesome. – See more at: http://www.clorox.com
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FAN OF THE WEEK:
Enter NOW for a chance to ride along with AJ Allmendinger during a race this season!
Throughout the season our JTG Daugherty Racing “#47 FAN OF THE WEEK” will have their photo featured on AJ’s car.
Each week we post the “#47 FAN OF THE WEEK” theme, with instructions on how you can enter. The best fan submission to us via the JTG Daugherty Racing social media pages will be chosen the following Monday and will be featured on AJ Allmendinger’s #47 car during the next race.
Last week we had a Texas sized #47FanOfTheWeek contest, AJ Allmendinger and the #47 team made four huge mounds of nachos with each featuring one of the four flavors of BUSH’S COCINA LATINA® beans.
While race fans voted on what they thought the race team would pick as their favorite flavor of BUSH’S COCINA LATINA® beans AJ and his crew held their taste test. The winning flavor was PINTOS A LA DIABLA and the winning fan is Remington Scott!
Congratulations Remington!
This week’s #47FanOfTheWeek contest kicks off tomorrow, so look for our posts on Twitter and Facebook… You might be our next winner!
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AJS WHEREABOUTS:
Thursday, April 10th
Walmart Autograph session for the fans at 1150 South 4th Street, Hartsville, SC
Saturday, April 12th
JTG Daugherty Racing Meet & Greets
