DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When the payday window opened late in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the two cars of JTG Daugherty Racing showed up to collect.
While A.J. Allmendinger and Chris Buescher were not race-winning cars in the third restrictor-plate race of the season, their eighth and 10th place finishes were much welcomed to a team who has struggled to find speed and finishes they can be satisfied with.
Late in Saturday night’s race, Allmendinger looked as he might contend for his second straight top-five finish at the “World Center of Racing”, but following a NASCAR overtime, the Calif. native would find himself shuffled out of the mix and settled for eighth, his third top-10 of the year and first since a sixth at Martinsville Speedway in early April.
Allmendinger admitted though after the checkered flag, their arrival inside the top-10 late in the race was all strategy.
“We had a plan that we weren’t going to race until 40 to go, and it all worked out,” said Allmendinger. “It was crazy back there. You are kind of hanging on. I thought the Quick Lube Chevy had good speed and handled really well. That has always been our strength here and it was again.
“The guys did such a great job. It was our backup car. I kind of crushed the roof of the primary car at Talladega. They got it ready and it had decent speed in it. You just wish you could re-do it. I thought I was doing everything right.”
Daytona was kind to Allmendinger this year.
Starting the season with a third-place showing in the Daytona 500, the team faded out of the picture with finishes of 24th or worse in seven of the first 11 races of the year.
Since then, however, and a new crew chief calling the shots, he has picked up the pace considerably with four top-20 finishes in the last six races, including his 50th career top-10 on Saturday night.
“On that first restart, I had a big push there on David (Ragan) and thought we were going to get clear that second restart,” Allmendinger sounded. “I couldn’t get to Ty’s (Dillion) bumper as good as I wanted to. I was going to shoot the gap, and Ty went high and the 38 went low and I got pinned in the middle and lost our chance to win.”
For Buescher, the finish was his best of the season. The Roush Fenway Racing driver on loan to JTG Daugherty Racing has struggled to find speed and consistency since the birth of the second team at Daytona in February.
“Really nice to finish Daytona with our Nestle Coffee Chevrolet,” offered Buescher. “We tried to have a smart race and just hang out there in the back so we could have a good piece at the end.
“The team did a great job on giving me a good race car all weekend. We knew qualifying would be what it was, but the car raced and handled really well and we got a top-10 out of it.”
Outside of Daytona, Buescher’s other top-15 finishes of the year included an 11th at Martinsville and 15th at Talladega in May.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
