Allmendinger back at Daytona in 1st Cup race since 2018

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — AJ Allmendinger is back, racing for wins this time, and eager to help young Kaulig Racing reach the big show.

Allmendinger will run his first Cup race since the 2018 season finale in Kaulig’s first Cup race not at a superspeedway. The team last week made its second Daytona 500 — a critical first step in trying to become a full-time Cup team — and now it has dusted off Allmendinger to take another shot Sunday on Daytona’s road course.

Allmendinger is a ringer with 15 appearances in the Rolex 24 sports car race in Daytona. Nearly everyone else? The bulk of the Cup field ran it for the first time last August, when the pandemic pushed Daytona’s 14-turn, 3.61-mile circuit onto the calendar for the first time.

His familiarity with Daytona made Allmendinger the smart pick for Matt Kaulig to take another step forward. NASCAR added Sunday’s road course race to the schedule in December, and Kaulig persuaded his “trophy hunter” Allmendinger to help pull the team to the top level.

“I am pumped to be racing in the Cup Series for Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said.

Allmendinger was weary of the grind when he lost his job at the end of 2018. He had no desire to drive for mediocre teams just to have a seat. He decided to move on with his life.

He planned to do television work and maybe moonlight for team owners he considers friends. Kaulig kept Allmendinger engaged in 2019 by giving him quality cars that would win in five Xfinity races. The program swelled to 11 races last season, and the “Trophy Hunter” had three victories in 16 starts.

Allmendinger was helping Kaulig grow a program. The team started in 2016, and, this season, Allemendinger will run full time for the Xfinity championship as one of three Kaulig contenders. He also will drive select Cup races as part of Kaulig’s development.

Having a central role in Kaulig’s push to the top has made NASCAR enjoyable again for Allmendinger. He remembered last week when Kaz Grala made his first Daytona 500 start just how special the sport had once been to him.

“I was standing next to Kaz by the car during driver intros, and I think veterans sometimes, we lose sight of how big the 500 is,” Allmendinger said. “When you are just standing there, and you see somebody who has made his first 500, his eyes lit up, it made me feel good.”

Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell has a strong opportunity Sunday to give Front Row Motorsports the best start in team history.

The team always has concentrated on its road course and superspeedway programs because those circuits give small teams a competitive chance. These are the exact tracks where FRM thought it would do well, and a pandemic scheduling change gave FRM a legitimate two-week chance.

The longshot Daytona 500 win earned McDowell his first playoff berth, and FRM is positioned to build a once-unthinkable cushion. McDowell was 10th in NASCAR’s debut on Daytona’s road course last August.

Austin Dillon is the points leader for the first time. He finished third behind McDowell and Elliott in the Daytona 500 and ran his first Rolex 24 sports car race in January to experience the road course for the first time. Dillon missed the Cup race in August because he’d received a positive covid-19 test.

Chase Elliott is the 9-5 betting favorite, followed by Martin Truex at 3-1. Truex had one of the best cars in the Clash until he crashed from the lead and finished last in 21st.