AJ Allmendinger gets good advice, stays on track and shatters a Road America record
ELKHART LAKE – The racetrack may be different, but AJ Allmendinger isn’t.
One of NASCAR’s top road racers, Allmendinger danced on the edge of control Friday in Road America 180 qualifying. Not only did he hold on when numerous drivers failed, he knocked more than 2 seconds off the track record and nearly 4 off last year’s pole time on a surface that is both fast and tricky.
“Honestly, I came through (Turn) 13 and when I crossed the line I just thought to myself, that was about all I had,” Allmendinger said. “That was about as smooth of a lap as I could have put around the racetrack. We improved the race car. But I think we need to keep making it better. Long-run speed is probably not quite there.”
Allmendinger turned the fastest lap of the day in the second round of group qualifying at 2 minutes 10.574 seconds on the 4.048-mile layout, eclipsing the 2016 mark of 2:12.642 set by Alex Tagliani.
Allmendinger, who won at Road America in 2013, is one of three drivers who could become the first winner of more than one NASCAR national series race at the track, along with Justin Allgaier and Jeremy Clements. Allmendinger will forgo Cup Series practice and qualifying Saturday in Richmond, Virginia, to make his fourth Xfinity Series start of the season for Kaulig Racing. He has won two of the first three.
Cole Custer, who was the first to break the track record in the first round, qualified second at 2:10.872. Allgaier and Riley Herbst will share the second row for the race scheduled to start after 2 p.m.
Franklin native Sam Mayer qualified fifth for what will be his third Xfinity race at Road America. He also qualified fifth during a part-time season in 2021. The top seven drivers turned laps faster than Tagliani's record, and 18 topped last year's pole lap.
Another of the three state drivers competing, Josh Bilicki of Richfield, barely missed advancing to the final round and will start 11th. Parker Retzlaff of Rhinelander qualified 20th in his first appearance at the track.
With no testing, Allmendinger reached out to IndyCar Series team owner Michael Shank and driver Scott McLaughlin for insight into their experience at Road America last month.
“I watched the IndyCar race and you could see there was more speed once the track got worn in,” he said. “Obviously these cars are completely different than an Indy car, but I think you can still figure out trends. From there it’s guessing how much do we go in that direction. It helped.
“You’re just trying to get it in that right little box of what makes grip but still makes the car not roll over too much or not be too stiff. It was the right direction of what they told us.”
The narrow line of grip on the track will make passing difficult, and modified pit stops will limit the strategy options for crew chiefs.
In an effort to contain costs at standalone Xfinity races, NASCAR has adopted a system that allows teams to pit during the stage breaks without losing or gaining position relative to the others that do the same. The scheduled breaks are after 22 and 34 of the 45-lap race.
“Starting up front, staying up front, not making any mistakes I think is going to be ultra-important just because you don’t have the strategy now of, say, pitting before the end of the stage or something like that to really make a difference,” Allmendinger said. “I do think it’s going to be hard to pass.”
Numerous drivers slipped off course during practice and qualifying, many of them in the Kink, the superfast right-hand bend about a mile from the finish line.
Allmendinger didn’t, and he hopes to avoid the trouble associated with other drivers going off during the race.
“Hopefully if I’m in the lead we won’t have to worry about the dust cloud, we’ll just have to worry about the remnants of it when we get back around,” he said.
“But yeah, there was a couple of laps I thought we repaved again because it was just brown, like the dirt was caked on the racetrack. I don’t know if it’s because of the rubber or what, but it’s like it’s stuck to the racetrack now. It’s not like you just drive through it and the dust flies.
“It’s going to be important if it happens in front of your spotters for your spotters to really let you know, like, hey, Turn 5 or the Kink, there’s a lot of dirt, because you’re carrying a decent amount of speed so if you hit that in certain parts of the racetrack, you’re going for a ride. That’s going to be a big deal as well.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: AJ Allmendinger wins pole for NASCAR Xfinity Series Road America 180
