Allmendinger has career race with future in limbo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- For A.J. Allmendinger, it all comes down to character. And even though he was told this week he wouldn't return to Red Bull Racing Team next season, his first Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway Sunday resulted in a career-best ninth-place finish.

The team expects to announce its plans for next weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway and the season's final six races soon, but Allmendinger wouldn't dwell on that.

Chased-Out Standings

Following Kansas

Pos.	Driver	Points
1.	David Reutimann	341
2.	Bobby Labonte	336
3.	David Ragan	330
4.	Kasey Kahne	315
5.	Elliott Sadler	307

An unofficial list of the top five non-Chase for the Sprint Cup competitors over the 10 Chase races.

"I'm not sure it's a going-away present, we'll find out this week," Allmendinger said. "But it's like I said, I always feel like I have something to prove, especially when you're told you might not be the guy that's going to be back next year. You go out there with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder and you fight hard, and that's what I did. You've got to go out there and prove something to team owners, and hopefully they see what kind of character I have -- that I'm not going to lay down, I'm not going to give up and I'm going to keep on fighting.

"I've got a lot to prove, still. I know I can do this, hopefully I can show that and I need a ride for next year."

The ultimate gut check came when a tire escaped from Allmendinger's No. 84 Toyota's crew during a pit stop at Lap 76, after he'd run up to sixth place from his 14th starting position. The resultant tail-end of the longest line penalty on the restart took him nearly half the race to recover from.

"That was really nobody's fault -- kind of one of those things," Allmendinger said. "It is tough to recover, but we definitely had a good car, so it makes it a lot easier when you know you're running up front and the car's consistent and it's fast -- it's not one of those things that that was your only chance to be there.

"But it's so tough to pass out there and you're slipping and sliding -- so having clean air on the racetrack is really important. It's a tough fight, but we fought hard and we got back there. It was a handful all day, but hats off to everybody at Red Bull. Obviously, we're going through a lot and everybody keeps fighting."

What makes his achievement a little more significant is that Sunday was Allmendinger's first race at Kansas, since his team didn't qualify in his 2007 rookie year. And the 400 miles on the relatively flat, fast 1.5-miler were a revelation.

The intensity of Cup racing in the new car was more of an issue for Allmendinger, who came out of his hauler for a live TV spot looking pretty refreshed, even if he said his arms felt like they were going to fall off. (Continued)