Latest news with #Allmendinger
Hindustan Times
08-08-2025
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Road course specialists hope to seize on opportunity at Watkins Glen
As the NASCAR Cup Series hits the two-thirds mark this weekend, drivers will be turning right to make it right at the checkered ending. HT Image A.J. Allmendinger just needs a repeat of 2014 to make his 2025 right when the series arrives in upstate New York for the Go Bowling at the Glen on Sunday in Watkins Glen, N.Y. Nearly 11 years ago, Allmendinger -- owning a reputation as a hot shoe driver on road courses -- led 29 laps at Watkins Glen International, tying superstar Jeff Gordon for the race high, but Allmendinger was around at the end of the 90-lapper while Gordon's famous No. 24 fell off the lead lap. Driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, Allmendinger raced away from Australian Marcos Ambrose by more than a second to score the first of his three Cup victories over now 465 career starts at NASCAR's top level. With only three races left, winning is about the only way the 43-year-old veteran of 18 Cup seasons will get to compete for this season's championship. Slotting in at 20th and with just one top-five finish thus far (Charlotte), Allmendinger is 118 points behind Chris Buescher, who slides his seat up to the 16-car playoff table as the final competitor. "Watkins Glen is always special to me; it's a racetrack that we're always really fast at as well," said Allmendinger, who had transmission trouble on Lap 1 at the Glen last year. "We have the opportunity to be in contention this weekend if we execute well. Obviously, we want a shot to win, but ultimately, we need a solid run, and this is a race track that we can do it at." With a baker's dozen different winners occupying the locked-in title contenders, Buescher may be primed to turn the tables on Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman -- both winless and gridding in 14th and 15th, respectively -- and leapfrog them. That's because Buescher made a last-lap pass in September to beat Shane van Gisbergen in a race dominated by polesitter Ross Chastain, who led 51 circuits on the famous layout. It's a race that still haunts the New Zealander, who was leading coming to the white flag but made a mistake that Buescher capitalized on for his most recent win. "I still get frustrated thinking about that race," van Gisbergen said this week. "When I make a personal mistake like that, it makes me angry to think that I threw that one away myself, especially after how good of a day it was, and we had the fastest car all day. Then to do that." After finishing sixth in Austin on March 2, van Gisbergen claimed checkers at the next three road courses in Mexico City, Chicago and Sonoma and is aiming for four straight on the twisty circuits. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, who lost the top spot Sunday in the point standings to Iowa winner William Byron, has two victories at the Glen, taking the checkers in 2018 and 2019. The sport's most popular driver also possesses the most road racing checkered flags of any active driver -- seven -- but his last one came at Elkhart Lake four years ago on July 4. Sunday's Cup event will feature 19-year-old upstart Connor Zilisch and mark the fifth time in 2025 that NASCAR has gridded a full 40-car field. --Field Level Media
NBC Sports
31-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
AJ Allmendinger's team faces penalties after violation ahead of Cup practice at Nashville
LEBANON, Tenn. — AJ Allmendinger's team faces additional penalties after NASCAR officials discovered an unapproved adjustment to the No. 16 Kaulig Racing car before Saturday's practice session at Nashville Superspeedway. All cars had to pass pre-race inspection ahead of Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions. Allmendinger's car was on pit road when officials suspected an illegal modification had been made to the car. The car was ordered back to the garage and NASCAR found that an unapproved adjustment had been made. The team was forced to undo that change and had to go back through inspection before being allowed to participate in practice. NASCAR also held the team for 10 minutes in the 25-minute session. Additional penalties could be announced later in the day. Allmendinger is coming off a fourth-place finish in last weekend's Coca-Cola 600. That finished moved Allmendinger up eight spots in the season standings to 17th. Sunday's race at Nashville begins the second half of the regular season.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Richard Childress seeks answers to Kansas engine failure for AJ Allmendinger
ECR Engines is closing in on a cause for AJ Allmendinger's blown engine last weekend at Kansas Speedway, a failure that led to the driver's radio rant against the engine company that Richard Childress serves as Chairman and CEO. Allmendinger's engine blew after six laps last weekend. After the engine blew, Allmendinger said on his team's radio: 'Hey ECR, you guys (expletive) suck.' Advertisement When a team member asked if he had lost an engine, Allmendinger replied on the radio: 'Yeah, shockingly.' The engine failure was the second of the season for Allmendinger. Those have been the only two engine failures for ECR in the Cup Series. ECR provides engines for Kaulig Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing and Beard Motorsports. NASCAR: NASCAR All-Star Race How to watch Sunday's All-Star Open, All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro After dominant performances the past two years, the exhibition event will have a new format and length. Childress told NBC Sports on Friday at North Wilikesboro that he had yet to talk to Allmendinger but expressed his displeasure with Allmendinger's comments, noting how other drivers have reacted on a team's radio after an engine failure. Advertisement 'The 12 (Ryan Blaney) blew up two times,' Childress said. 'The 48 (Alex Bowman) blew up (one time). They never said anything. It's how you want to run your mouth.' Childress said he wanted to talk to Allmendinger when there was a definitive answer to the engine's failure. 'I want to know what happened to the engine,' Childress said. 'When (Allmendinger) jumps out (of the car at Kansas), he don't even know if the belt come off the oil pump or what.' Adding to the frustrations for Allmendinger is that the engine failure marked the second consecutive race he failed to finish. A crash ended his day at Texas in the previous race. Those two finishes dropped him from 15th in the points to 25th heading into next weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Advertisement Joey Logano won last year's All-Star Race, leading 199 of 200 laps. Danny Lawrence, vice president of alliance operations for ECR Engines, told NBC Sports that debris may have caused the issue with Allmendinger's engine last weekend at Kansas. 'It was a bearing issue,' Lawrence said. 'We at RCR and ECR have a quality control department. They're struggling to figure out exactly what happened. They've sent the bearings off to be analyzed, but the initial (cause) looks like lack of lubrication. 'That engine had ran at Darlington. We're not so sure that we didn't have some kind of foreign material, something, an oil line or something happened for (the) lack of lubrication.' Advertisement Lawrence said what caused the failure with two of the eight bearings should be known this week. As to what could have got in the line, Lawrence is unsure. 'We have filters on the oil going in, we have filters on the oil coming out,' Lawrence said. 'So it's baffling, but Richard is holding a strong arm (saying) 'I want answers to be able to show (Kaulig Racing President) Chris Rice and (team owner) Matt Kaulig. We're going to know exactly (what happened) and try to make sure this never happens again.'
NBC Sports
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Richard Childress seeks answers to Kansas engine failure for AJ Allmendinger
ECR Engines is closing in on a cause for AJ Allmendinger's blown engine last weekend at Kansas Speedway, a failure that led to the driver's radio rant against the engine company that Richard Childress serves as Chairman and CEO. Allmendinger's engine blew after six laps last weekend. After the engine blew, Allmendinger said on his team's radio: 'Hey ECR, you guys (expletive) suck.' When a team member asked if he had lost an engine, Allmendinger replied on the radio: 'Yeah, shockingly.' The engine failure was the second of the season for Allmendinger. Those have been the only two engine failures for ECR in the Cup Series. ECR provides engines for Kaulig Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing and Beard Motorsports. Nate Ryan, Childress told NBC Sports on Friday at North Wilikesboro that he had yet to talk to Allmendinger but expressed his displeasure with Allmendinger's comments, noting how other drivers have reacted on a team's radio after an engine failure. 'The 12 (Ryan Blaney) blew up two times,' Childress said. 'The 48 (Alex Bowman) blew up (one time). They never said anything. It's how you want to run your mouth.' Childress said he wanted to talk to Allmendinger when there was a definitive answer to the engine's failure. 'I want to know what happened to the engine,' Childress said. 'When (Allmendinger) jumps out (of the car at Kansas), he don't even know if the belt come off the oil pump or what.' Adding to the frustrations for Allmendinger is that the engine failure marked the second consecutive race he failed to finish. A crash ended his day at Texas in the previous race. Those two finishes dropped him from 15th in the points to 25th heading into next weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Dustin Long, Danny Lawrence, vice president of alliance operations for ECR Engines, told NBC Sports that debris may have caused the issue with Allmendinger's engine last weekend at Kansas. 'It was a bearing issue,' Lawrence said. 'We at RCR and ECR have a quality control department. They're struggling to figure out exactly what happened. They've sent the bearings off to be analyzed, but the initial (cause) looks like lack of lubrication. 'That engine had ran at Darlington. We're not so sure that we didn't have some kind of foreign material, something, an oil line or something happened for (the) lack of lubrication.' Lawrence said what caused the failure with two of the eight bearings should be known this week. As to what could have got in the line, Lawrence is unsure. 'We have filters on the oil going in, we have filters on the oil coming out,' Lawrence said. 'So it's baffling, but Richard is holding a strong arm (saying) 'I want answers to be able to show (Kaulig Racing President) Chris Rice and (team owner) Matt Kaulig. We're going to know exactly (what happened) and try to make sure this never happens again.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
AJ Allmendinger rips engine builder after early failure in NASCAR Kansas
AJ Allmendinger was out of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas after just five laps due to an engine failure and he immediately tore into 'Earnhardt Childress Engines' as a result. 'Hey ECR, you guys fucking suck,' Allmendinger said over his team communication. Advertisement Did you lose the engine? 'Yeah, shockingly.' That was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell. But he wasn't done as he coasted towards pit road. 'I mean, what…fuck you guys,' Allmendinger added before dropping several more f-bombs for good measure. Allmendinger has been a surprise playoff contender this season and much of his frustration had to center around a 38th place finish that cost him considerable ground in the hunt to make the Round of 16. He is now 40 points out of the final provisional spot after Kansas. ECR Engines is the primary Chevrolet supplier for Richard Childress Racing and Kaulig Racing, of which the latter employs Allmendinger. Advertisement Also Read:: Kyle Larson is taking NASCAR points lead into second Indianapolis 500 run Related Headlines
