AJ Allmendinger would have loved to have had a shot at winning Sunday night’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway but gladly took a third-place finish when NASCAR deemed the race official when inclement weather hit.
“We’ve all been on the end of trying to race into the rain,” Allmendinger said, “and at a racetrack like this, just like Daytona last year, it’s hard to put us at risk to all of a sudden have a rain shower down the back straightaway, and you’re running 190 wide-open, and there’s nothing you’re going to do. It was close.
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“One lap, I would tell them, ‘It’s not raining.’ Then the next lap, it’d start sprinkling and then for a couple of laps, it would kind of die down and then it kept building. Obviously, you look at the radar, and you know it’s coming. I’d love to have one more shot at it, but I’m also happy (NASCAR) didn’t try to force us into making one or two laps before the rain really hit.”
It was never in question that rain or lightning was going to interrupt the Quaker State 400. Allmendinger ended up on the right side of strategy when the No. 16 Kaulig Racing team kept him on track at the end of the second stage, giving him the race lead.
Allmendinger was one of 10 drivers who stayed out and he led six laps. But his lead under the green flag, when the race restarted with 96 laps to go, was short-lived. William Byron took the top spot with 94 laps to go.
“I think I could have kept the track position, it was just trying to lead the race that was the toughest thing,” Allmendinger said. “We just had a little bit too much drag in the car. We came (here) knowing it was going to be slick and working on handling, so once I would get into the lead, it was hard to defend because they could get big runs on me.
“I could run second or third real easy, so it wasn’t going to be that I was going to defend them for five laps and win the race. I was going to have to time it right on the back straightaway and go for the win.”
Because of the impending weather, Allmendinger felt from the beginning it was a race to halfway. As halfway closed in, the moves through the field got bolder as drivers tried to position themselves for when a weather-related caution might come out. When lap 130 (halfway) came and went, Allmendinger said from there on out, everyone raced like the next lap could be the last one.
“Sometimes I’d love to watch it more than be in it, but it’s the nature of the beast of this race,” said Allmendinger of being involved in an intense race. “That’s why I always say I absolutely hate them with all passion in my life, but I’m still going to try to stuff it three wide and go for the win because I hate losing more.
“The car I had today, it made it somewhat fun because I didn’t have to hold my breath and be on the ragged edge. My car was stable and I could make moves. There are just moves at times you’re just holding your breath and hoping you get through the rest of the corner.”
Sunday was Allmendinger’s third top-10 finish in four weeks. After a rough start to the season, Allmendinger and his team are finding their footing.
“I think we’re getting better,” he said. “The last six, seven races have been better. Last week hurt a little bit, we just completely missed it at Chicago and never had the speed all weekend. Not even to win the race but to run inside the top five, top seven, which is where I feel we should be at those racetracks no matter what. So, we hurt ourselves there to get some points back. But we’re getting there.
“Don’t get me wrong, by no means are we at the top of the level yet or even close to that, we still have a lot of building to do. But from where we were basically after Richmond and Darlington compared to where we are now, it’s a huge gain, and that credit goes to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing for working hard because we were pretty bad at that point.”