[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch may have won the last four Sprint Cup Series races at the Dover International Speedway but they weren’t the ones who stole the show. Keeping in their tire tracks has been Los Gatos, California native AJ Allmendinger in his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion. And had it not been for one too many mistakes Allmendinger, not Johnson or Busch, could have been the driver in victory lane.

Costly mistakes like running in the top five last year then having a loose lug nut and subsequent vibration force Allmendinger down pit road for an unscheduled stop. It resulted in a 14th place finish for a car that could have ended up at least third.

Last fall Allmendinger led 143 laps and at one time had a six second lead on Johnson but only finished 10th. This time a cut tire the culprit. As the series again heads north to do battle with the Monster Mile, Allmendinger said he’s pumped up about it.

“For me, I really enjoy Dover,” he said last weekend. “It’s a place that I’ve liked as soon as I got there. Obviously, it’s high-banked and fast. It’s just really a fun place to drive each lap that you’re on it and, relatively, we’ve had really fast racecars there, so I was excited.”

His average finish of 23.6 at the track comes from his performance in his first five showings. He best start was seventh but his best finish was 16th. His other finishes were 29th or worse. In the three races since then Allmendinger has started no worse than 19th and started outside pole last fall. In that span he’s also finished no worse than 14th, his best being a seventh in the fall of 2009.

In his eight starts Allmendinger has done everything but win. The difference this year could be the added practice and familiarity he’ll have with an important factor on Sunday after participating in the Dover tire test. Allmendinger hopes history repeats itself after seeing what Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya accomplished after participating in the 2009 tire test. When race weekend rolled around they qualified first and second then finished first and fourth respectively.

“We did the Goodyear tire test there and it went really well,” said Allmendinger. “So, for me, I’m trying to get through Darlington and have a good run and, hopefully, be consistent here and keep ourselves up in the points, and then I’m really looking forward to Dover.”

Allmendinger did indeed get through Darlington. He finished 20th and brought the car home in one piece, which was good enough to hold onto 11th place in the point standings, just outside a Chase position with the new format in 2011.

New is what Allmendinger is hoping for. Well aware of the biggest storylines and new winners the series has already seen from Cinderella stories Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith, the young 2011 season is already one to remember and has led to talk of who could be next.

Dover, for its monster reputation, can be quite nice. Especially to those looking for their first career win. Take Martin Truex Jr. in 2007 in the Sprint Cup Series. Or Scott Speed, 2008, Brian Scott, 2009 and Aric Almirola, 2010, in the Camping World Truck Series. Allmendinger should already have a win on his resume, not just at Dover. But Dover, maybe more so than anywhere else, is where he knows he can run with big boys. And it gives him confidence heading into this weekend’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.

“I know I can make it happen and hopefully take home the win,” said Allmendinger. “I see these guys this year that are winning for the first time and I’m happy for them, but I want to be that guy so badly. Dover is a great track and I hope it happens for us this weekend.”

Bayne and Smith, who won two of NASCAR’s most prestigious races, also took home two of the most coveted trophies in the sport. Dover isn’t considered one of NASCAR’s crown jewels, but should Allmendinger win on Sunday, he says he’ll be taking home something coveted too.

“Dover has one of the greatest trophies of the season, so it’s one I really want to take home.”

By the time last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ visit to Darlington-South Carolina was concluded, NASCAR officials must have felt they were standing on a very slippery slope. At the conclusion of last Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500, it was very apparent that their “have at it boys” policy had just been severely tested and we were all wondering if that policy would be altered in some way to establish crystal clear boundary lines. In turned out that NASCAR did a very good job during the process of handling the Darlington situation.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]The NASCAR “have at it boys” situation at Darlington actually began last Friday when they called drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman to their official trailer to further discuss their incident from the week before during the Richmond race. Officials were simply taking the driver’s temperature and reminded them that their actions would be closely monitored during the Darlington race.

What NASCAR wanted from this Friday meeting was a clear understanding with these two drivers based on open communication. What they received instead was a reported physical confrontation inside of their trailer.

Despite NASCAR’s disappointment from that meeting, the worst was yet to come and did exactly that Saturday night. We all saw the final laps of the Darlington race when drivers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch began beating and banging on each other. We saw the inevitable crash on the front stretch. Then we witnessed the two of them oh so close on pit road and wondered what they were going to do next. The fact that Harvick felt compelled to climb out of his race car and attempt to land a left hook on Busch’s face should not come as a surprise. We all saw that coming. The unexpected part of the incident came when Busch used his front bumper to shove Harvick’s car out of his way. The result was Harvick’s now unmanned car making a sharp ninety degree left turn nose first into the pit wall.

That’s was the breaking point for NASCAR officials. The following Tuesday they announced that both drivers were fined $25,000 and placed on probation for the next four Sprint Cup championship points races.

In the aftermath of this announcement, Kerry Tharp, NASCAR Senior Director of Communications, made it clear that the penalties had nothing to do with the on track contact between the two drivers. That part of the incident fell within the parameters of “have at boys.”

Tharp did make it clear that the decision to penalize these two drivers was based on what happened on pit road and the safety issues that came with it. Harvick’s unmanned car bounced off of the wall in the midst of NASCAR officials, crew members and the media who had already gathered on pit road.

Last Wednesday Tharp made an appearance on the Sirius/XM’s Radio program “Sirius Speedway”, hosted by Dave Moody, to further clarify NASCAR’s position on the penalties. He made it clear that NASCAR has to, and absolutely will, maintain a safe environment on pit road.

Tharp also explained that the two drivers were fined equally because each of them had a level of responsibility while parked on pit road. He also pointed out that both drivers had enough time, while sitting inside of their cars, to calm down and drive away from each other which would have been a far better judgment call.

During the course of that radio interview, Tharp indicated that there would be no changes to the policy of “have at it boys” and further pointed out that NASCAR felt the drivers have done a good job in policing their own matters. “We’ve seen some terrific, hard racing over the last couple of years and I think the policy is alive and well,” he added. That’s certainly true.

Regarding the status of drivers Montoya and Newman, Tharp indicated that he didn’t feel there would be any penalty coming their way. Despite the alleged intensity of last Friday’s meeting, Tharp said it was clear that they eventually got the message and their respective Darlington performances reflected very hard, but very clean, racing. This is also a good call. Montoya versus Newman easily falls within the parameters of the “have at it boys” policy.

There’s is, however, one intriguing element with last Tuesday’s penalty announcement, regarding Harvick and Busch.It lies within the carefully worded semantics of the press release. The wording specifically states “probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events.”

Every NASCAR fan in the world is well aware of what’s on the schedule during the evening of May 21st. It’s the annual Sprint Cup Showdown and All Star events. This particular evening is the perfect example of a non championship points event. It’ also well known that this event is famous for no holes barred, winner take all racing.

This is not to imply that anyone of these four drivers will intentionally be out on the track looking for their rivals May 21st. However, I’m thinking that many of you have already considered the possibility and can’t wait for the All Star evening at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Over the years we have all had a tendency to occasionally point a critical finger at some of NASCAR’s policies and decisions. However, in this case, last Tuesday’s announced decision regarding these four drivers was spot on and NASCAR deserves to be congratulated. Their sense of justice from Darlington was both well thought out and fair.