Former Thornton resident and Champ Car star A.J. Allmendinger is one of 54 drivers who have qualified for a Nextel Cup race this season. Despite being 50th in the standings, having made only two appearances in the seven races, the 2006 Grand Prix of Denver champion said he still feels fortunate to have the opportunity to compete in North America’s premier series.
“We’d like to have done better, be higher in the points and making every race,” Allmendinger, 25, said Tuesday from Team Red Bull’s headquarters in Mooresville, N.C. “But we knew it was going to be difficult, and we still manage to have a lot of fun and keep our heads up.
“It’s just a really tough year to be a rookie driver for a rookie team. You’ve got guys like Michael Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield not making races, so we’re not alone.”
Even Allmendinger’s team chassis and engine provider, Toyota, is in its inaugural season. He measures himself against teammate Brian Vickers, who drove for Hendrick Motorsports the previous four years.
“He’s got experience, he’s very quick and comes from Hendrick, and he’s not killing me,” Allmendinger said of Vickers. “I’m right with him. He’s only made (two) more races than me. I don’t hang my hat on that, but at least I’m not as far off as it seems.”
Allmendinger’s two starts were 40th at Martinsville, Va., and 43rd in a 43-car field at Bristol, Tenn. He finished 38th at Martinsville, seven laps down, and 40th at Bristol, 91 laps down.
That’s not competitive, and perhaps a bitter pill for Allmen- dinger, who won championships in every development series en route to Champ Car. In his breakout Champ Car season a year ago, he captured five races within an eight-race span, including the likely final street race around the Pepsi Center.
Allmendinger presumably is being compensated far more than he was in Champ Car. But is it worth it?
“Do I miss Champ Car? No,” Allmendinger said. “Am I missing winning? Yeah. I love driving those race cars. There’s nothing like driving a Champ Car on a street course. I miss that raw power. But I’m having fun here.
“You just have to set your goals in a different way, but I haven’t had a second thought since I’ve been here.”
Allmendinger was married in January and has moved to Huntersville, N.C., near the team’s shop. He said he still speaks regularly with Champ Car drivers Justin Wilson and Katherine Legge, but his relationship with 2003 champion Paul Tracy has soured.
Allmendinger was once proud to be Tracy’s protégé, having competed for Tracy’s go-kart team as a teenager and following the Canadian into Champ Car stardom.
But Allmendinger said Tracy publicly bashed him moving to NASCAR.
“Up until the day I signed, he was like, ‘You should go, you should go, I would do it in a heartbeat,”‘ Allmendinger said. “When I signed, he turned on me. For whatever reason, the NASCAR thing didn’t work out for him, and I was disappointed that he used me to say the right things for the interest of Champ Car.”
Understandably, Tracy and Champ Car were disappointed to lose their only American star, while NASCAR lured yet another U.S. open-wheel prodigy into its stables.
AVERAGE RUNNING POSITION
This second-year NASCAR statistic is reached by the sum of a driver position on each lap, divided by the laps run in each race:
Driver Avg. pos.
Jeff Burton 8.7
Jeff Gordon 8.8
Jimmie Johnson 9.8
Matt Kenseth 10.9
Tony Stewart 11.0
Kyle Busch 12.6
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 13.3
Denny Hamlin 13.5
Kurt Busch 13.6
Carl Edwards 13.7
Source: NASCAR
SPOTLIGHT: JEFF BURTON
Veteran off to fast start
The Virginia native and winner of Sunday’s race at Texas continues to build off his torrid start, having posted top-10 finishes in six of the seven races. He has yet to finish outside the top 15. Burton, 38, has finished fourth, second, sixth and first in his past four starts, and he leads the series in average running position. Suffice to say, he is backing up his 2006 comeback season, when he qualified for the playoffs for the first time and finished seventh.
ON THE MOVE: JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
Ex-Formula One star making his mark
The heralded newcomer from Formula One overcame an accident with Tony Stewart to finish eighth at Texas and pass David Ragan in the standings for rookie of the year. Montoya is 13th overall, just one spot shy of what would be playoff position.
THIS WEEK’S RACE: SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500
Racing heats up at Phoenix
6 p.m. MDT, Saturday, Fox
Where: Phoenix International Raceway, 1-mile tri-oval.
Track banking: 11 degrees (turns one and two), 9 degrees (turns three and four).
Distance: 500 miles, 312 laps.
Records: Qualifying – Ryan Newman (135.85 mph), Nov. 5, 2004; race – Tony Stewart (118.13 mph), Nov. 7, 1999.
Last year: Kevin Harvick won to begin a two-race season sweep at Phoenix.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
