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.

• Complete story, click here

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.

"We've just had so many things go wrong," Allmendinger said. "It was just a matter of, when are things going to turn around? When are we going to get over the hump? Obviously, as we see every weekend, it's so close. There's no cut and dry, these guys are going to be in, these guys are going to be out. Every weekend, the times are close. Last weekend, Brian made it by a hundredth of a second, at Vegas I missed it by two hundredths of a second. This week, I made it in by three hundredths of a second. You know it's going to be tight."

An emotional driver who is often his own harshest critic, Allmendinger took missing races hard. The near-miss at Las Vegas, where Kenny Wallace bumped him at the very end of the session, was especially painful. He's endured public scrutiny of his race team, his manufacturer and his own driving ability. But he never regretted leaving the relatively comfortable world of open-wheel racing for the rigors of NASCAR.

"I knew it was going to be tough. I didn't think it was going to be this tough, I don't think any of us expected it to be this tough. But as far as doubting whether or not you made the right choice, you can never do that. Sure, I could easily be at Champ Car this year. I could probably win some races and probably contend for the championship. Maybe win the championship. But it's not as competitive. It's not in the spotlight," he said.

"Not in the sense that I want the whole world to know who I am, but in the sense of knowing you're on the verge. The spotlight is on the series, on the racing, and it's the toughest racing in the world. There's no other series where you have to race your way in. You don't get to go, 'I'm looking forward to Sunday.' I'm looking forward to getting in. I never regret that. I know I have the talent. I know the team has the will to do it. It just takes time."

And time is something Red Bull can give Allmendinger. Since the energy drink company is both owner and sponsor, the race team doesn't have to worry about outside pressure from a corporation that pays to put its logo on the car. But that hasn't quelled questions about Allmendinger's job security, something Gaunt said has never been an issue.

"We're in a unique situation where the owner is the sponsor," Gaunt said. "This team is owned by Red Bull, 100 percent. We've said from the beginning we do things a little bit differently. Bringing in A.J. from open-wheel, he doesn't have a whole lot of stock-car experience. But you look at his raw talent, and look at the stars of today and where they've come from. It's going to take time. It's a building process. But it's never been a question to us."

Or, it appears, to Toyota, which qualified a season-high five cars for Sunday's race. It was a needed boost for NASCAR's newest manufacturer, which saw Jeremy Mayfield of Bill Davis Racing make his first event in addition to Allmendinger.

"There's probably not a team in the industry who could have afforded to take a chance on an A.J. Allmendinger and stand there behind him and watch him develop and help him develop other than Red Bull, because the sponsor is the owner. You don't have to report to the sponsor," said Lee White, vice president of Toyota Racing Development.

"Red Bull is in a unique situation in that they can afford to do it that way. They can do it the hard way, working with the young guy and getting him up to speed. I wish him all the best in the race. I mean, 500 laps at this place? His very first NASCAR race is going to be 500 laps at Bristol? It'll be interesting to see how far he makes it."

Actually, Allmendinger doesn't seem all that intimidated. While he doesn't doubt Bristol's rough-and-tumble reputation, he credits all the seat time he received in the recent Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol for helping him make the Food City 500. And right now it's the big tracks, rather than the small ones, that concern him most.

"I don't mind the short ovals," he said. "It's a tough place, and in practice we weren't very good. We need to get better, or it's going to be a long day Sunday. But I was comfortable from the time I got on it. It's really the mile-and-a-half and 2-mile tracks where I really need a lot of laps. That's where I need to get comfortable. Get a frigging 3,400-pound car going 205 (mph) into Turn 1, it scares the living daylights out of you. Here, I'm not surprised. It's a tough track, but I feel comfortable. Especially when the car's good, I feel comfortable around the place."