Allmendinger relieved with 'monumental' BMS effort

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- He'd try to escape by going to the gym, but of course over some cardiovascular machine or weight bench there would be a television tuned to the race. He'd try to get away by playing video games on his computer, but of course the TV would be right there. So A.J. Allmendinger almost always wound up watching, and ruing the fact that another Nextel Cup event had come and gone without him.

In the show

Jeremy Mayfield, driving a No. 36 car that started the year with no points, has spent every Sunday at home. Until this one.

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It was a humbling, frustrating experience for a driver who had won five races in his final Champ Car season, and showed immediate promise in NASCAR by finishing fifth in an early Craftsman Truck Series start. No wonder there was more relief than happiness in the No. 84 camp on Friday, when Allmendinger finally turned a qualifying lap fast enough to make the show.

"It was all relief," Allmendinger said Saturday. "I was getting tired of answering the questions of when will I make the race. It kind of goes through the emotions of relief, and then you're happy, and then you come back here and you're ready to do the job again. As a racecar driver, you always want more."

There was no suspense, no standing on top of the hauler and watching other drivers make qualifying attempts, no crossing fingers and hoping the lap of 122.976 mph was good enough. The No. 84 team knew their man was in after his first circuit around Bristol Motor Speedway, a lap where Allmendinger grazed the wall trying to squeeze out every last ounce of speed. Crew chief Rick Viers came over the radio with two pieces of information: You're in, and do not wreck that racecar.

Allmendinger will start 43rd in Sunday's Food City 500, but at least his No. 84 car is in the race. So is the No. 83 of Team Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers, marking the first time the fledgling Toyota outfit owned and sponsored by the Austrian energy drink company will have both vehicles in a Nextel Cup event.

"It's monumental for our race team," said Red Bull general manager Marty Gaunt. "I always thought there was a little bit something missing, in that the 83 made some races. There wasn't just one reason why the 84 didn't make races. We had some issues along the way. It's a big day to have both cars in. It actually now feels like as a team, we've accomplished our goal of making the race."

That's nothing new to Vickers, who's qualified now for three races, led the first laps by any Toyota driver last week at Atlanta, and scored the manufacturer's best finish with a 10th-place run at California. Yet for Allmendinger, it's been one travail after another -- crashing out of a Daytona 500 qualifier, getting stuck in tech inspection before missing the race at California, being the last guy bumped out at Las Vegas, suffering mechanical failure at Atlanta and never even getting to make an attempt. (Continued)