Allmendinger, Petty strike up an unusual friendship

Nobody was more surprised at the introduction than A.J. Allmendinger. He was still relatively new to NASCAR's premier series, still trying to prove himself and admittedly a little shy. So when Richard Petty, he of the seven championships and 200 career victories and feather-adorned cowboy hat, walked down pit road to say hello, Allmendinger's first reaction was -- are you talking to me?

"To have him actually come talk to you," Allmendinger remembered, "I was like, 'Why are you talking to me? I'm like nobody.'"

Five things about ...

"The Dinger" is focused on racing -- no question about that. But he does have other interests in life, and gambling isn't one of them (he's not very good).

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Not to Petty, he wasn't. The King had seen something he liked in the kid -- a desire that had led the California native to give up what had been a promising and more comfortable open-wheel career to make the leap to NASCAR, and a persistence to keep at it even when things got tough. Allmendinger drove hard, learned fast, and was all racing all the time. Petty had found a kindred soul.

"I saw the improvement he made last year, from where he was at to where he wound up, how good he ran at the end of the year and how competitive he was," Petty said. "And after being around him, going to a couple of tests with him and seeing his attitude, he's really focused on nothing but driving right now. He's not focused on getting a motorhome or an airplane or any of that stuff. He wants to get behind the wheel and go racing, and that's the kind of people we need."

They make a strange pairing -- the 6-foot-2 septuagenarian with more race wins than anyone else in the history of NASCAR, and the diminutive 27-year-old with just 67 career starts. But Petty clearly admires Allmendinger's hard-charging style, which earned the young driver some enemies when he was first finding his way on the circuit. Allmendinger's dedication to his career is evident in his few outside interests; when he's not in the car, you're more than likely to find him in a racing simulator. He's earned praise from current and former teammates for his attitude, his ability to foster a spirit of camaraderie, his willingness to spend so much time in the shop. How many other Sprint Cup drivers will you find at a Dave & Buster's, out playing video games with their crewmen on a Friday night? (Continued)