AJ ALLMENDINGER
NO. 47 FRY’S / CLOROX CHEVROLET SS
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY PREVIEW
Event: Can-Am 500
Date/Time: Sunday, November 13th / 2:30 PM ET
TV Network/Radio: NBC / MRN / SIRIUSXM
Quotes:
Fry’s and Clorox: “We’re happy to have Fry’s and Clorox back on the hood of our No. 47 Chevy at Phoenix International Raceway,” Allmendinger said. “There’s a couple Fry’s Food Stores near the track, which makes it easy for the team to pick up groceries for the weekend. We’re very fortunate to have some of the best brands in the sport.”
Phoenix: “Phoenix International Raceway has been kind of a weird track for us,” Allmendinger said. “The first few races there, I felt like we were pretty good. Over the last couple, we’ve struggled to get the car to turn. It’s a tough place. It’s so flat. If you can’t get the car rotated through the center, it just makes for a long, long day. That’s something that we’ve fought there. I thought we managed the race really well to get to 17th last time out, but we didn’t have speed all weekend.”
New car: “I’m looking forward to going back to Phoenix because I think we’ve done some things on the flat racetracks that will help us and we’ll also have a brand new race car there,” Allmendinger said. “We were better in the fall at Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) and I think we can take some of those ideas on to Phoenix. That will be good. There’s some stuff we’ve got to work on when we get there.”
Fine line: “It’s a fine line between making sure your car has got the rear stability that you need, but you still need to be able to roll the corners in Turns 3 and 4,” Allmendinger said. “The track changes a lot. It’s really dirty when you get there. As the weekend goes on, it builds a lot of rubber that makes the track a lot different. So, you’ve got to keep up with it. I look forward to going to Phoenix because I think we’re going to be better than we’ve been there in the past. If we get it right with the cars we are building, we should be really fast.”
Overcoming challenges: “Phoenix was a challenge for us in the spring, but we’ve worked so hard to come up with some solid ideas that will steer us in the right direction,” crew chief Randall Burnett said. “We kind of missed the setup last time there, which has been a weakness for us this year at flat short tracks with Martinsville Speedway being the exception.”
Optimistic about Sunday: “We feel like our package we took to Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) earlier this year was quite a bit better than what we had been on those tracks and that has us optimistic about this weekend,” Burnett said. “The result at Loudon did not show the efforts we put into that race. We lost some track position and never got it back, which is not easy to do there. One of the big positives was that the car had speed and we look to build on that this weekend. We’re looking for better results.”
Finding balance for both ends of track: “It’s no secret that Phoenix is a tough place to get around,” Burnett said. “The two ends of the track are very different. Finding the balance for both ends is usually a challenge. Our goal is to go out there and get another top-10 finish. We’ve been on a pretty good run lately and we want to keep it that way.”
Season: “I think overall this season was a step up for us,” Burnett said. “We’ve had some ups and downs for sure. We started off the year strong. Then we went through a period where we struggled for a little while. When that happened, we all got together and said, ‘Hey, what are we doing wrong.’ We all put our heads together and came up with some solid ideas. Those ideas that we implemented are showing up here at the end of the season. Our cars have more speed lately. We are still working on finishing the year out strong. That is very important to us and finishing in the top-20 in points is a big deal for us too. So, overall the year has been good with certainly some ups and downs. I think it’s heading in the right direction for sure.”
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Fast Facts:
Career Starts: 297
Wins: 1
Top-fives: 9
Top-10s: 46
Pole Awards: 4
First Start: 3/25/2007 Bristol
First Pole: 4/10/2010 Phoenix
Last Pole: 8/8/15 Watkins Glen
Best Start: 1 – 4/10/2010 Phoenix
Best Finish: 1 – 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen
Driver DOB: 12/16/1981
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Crew Chief: Randall Burnett
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JTG DAUGHERTY RACING APPEARANCES:
Sunday, November 13th
JTG Daugherty Racing Sponsor Meet & Greets
