NASCAR: 5 playoff drivers who have no need to panic
By Asher Fair
NASCAR drivers who don’t need to panic: No. 4 – A.J. Allmendinger
Keeping with the trend of NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff contenders from a year ago who now compete in the Cup Series, let’s take a look at Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger.
Allmendinger was brought in as the second full-time driver for Matt Kaulig’s team this year after they had run just one car for a full-time driver and another car for multiple part-time drivers, including Allmendinger, last year.
Allmendinger had a solid start to his first season as a full-time Cup Series driver since 2018, placing sixth in the Daytona 500, but he finished last at Auto Club Speedway as a result of an early crash and now sits in 19th in the point standings, outside of the provisional playoff picture.
But unless we’re talking about last place road course finishes, there is no need for Allmendinger to panic.
Allmendinger is driver whom many had penciled in as one of the 16 playoff drivers this year simply because of his prowess on circuits with both left and right turns. Both his Cup Series wins are on road courses, including one in just his fourth start with Kaulig Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course back in 2021.
There are five road and street courses remaining on this year’s regular season schedule, all races for which Allmendinger will likely be one of the favorites.