WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.: A.J. Allmendinger had a good car in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, but the difficulty in passing and the lack of cautions hindered his opportunity to conquer his first win of the season but, more importantly, an assured sport in the rapidly approaching Playoffs.
When team owner Matt Kaulig and team president Chris Rice asked Allmendinger to return to the Cup Series full-time, they realized his craft on road courses was obviously circled as an opportunity to win and propel the Welcome, N.C.-based team into the 10-race Championship run.
Heading to the Finger Lakes region of New York, the road courses have been hit or miss for the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team this season. Outside of Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June, where he fought for a hard-earned sixth place finish, the road course events of Circuit of the Americas, the Chicago Street Course and last weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course have all left more to be desired.
On Sunday, though, Allmendinger, a previous Watkins Glen Cup Series winner, showcased his speed in his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet after practicing well and qualifying sixth.
The race, however, proved to be a challenge for Allmendinger and most of the field. With just one caution throughout the 90 laps of the race, the opportunity to restack the field more than once never materialized. A struggling aerodynamic package for the Cup Series kept Allmendinger at bay.
Still, their fourth-place finish and second-top-five finish of the season boosts the team with only one mission next weekend at Daytona, win or bust.
“It was tough,” said Allmendinger after the race. “These last couple of weeks, these cars are more physically hard to drive than the old Cup car. With the tires not falling off, you still feel like you’re running qualifying laps.
“I’m proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. The Celsius Chevy was fast.”
Struggling in dirty air, Allmendinger believed that if he would have been able to pass the two Toyotas of Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, he may have had an opportunity to catch William Byron and battle amongst the Chevrolets for the win.
“I think if we could have gotten up there and cleared the Toyotas there, maybe we had something for William,” he added.
“It’s so hard to pass in dirty air. We wanted to win, but I’m super proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. We’re getting better. Last week was disappointing. I’m proud of myself. I felt like I made no mistakes. That was all I had all day today. It’s something to build on.”
With next Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona marking the final opportunity for Allmendinger to pull an upset victory in the regular season finale, Allmendinger said his team will lay it all on the line for the 16th and final coveted spot.
“For our race team, the playoffs would be great to get into. Our ultimate goal is to keep building and get better. The last couple of weeks, we’ve had some speed and struggles. Then we’ve struggled with speed at other places. It’s about building. Of course, we want to win.
“We want to get in the playoffs. We’ll lay it all on the line next week doing it. But it’s just about building momentum and trying to get better. I’m always trying to get better. The team is making me better. Just a good day.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Formerly Twitter) @Knighter01, IG Threads @TheKnighter01, or email at: [email protected].
