WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — AJ Allmendinger stood next to his car on pit road looking regretful and remorseful. The normally mild-mannered Kyle Larson emerged from the infield care center annoyed and aggravated.
The two NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers collided coming to the checkered flag for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. When Allmendinger’s JT Daugherty Racing Chevrolet knocked into Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet on the final lap, it ended what looked to be a sure-fire top-five finish for Larson and instead resulted in a hard-to-swallow 29th-place.
Allmendinger recovered from the contact and finished fourth.
“We were about a 10th-place car and we were going to get a top-five day out of it,” Larson said after coming out of the medical center following the race. “We were running sixth coming to (Turn) 7; the No. 47 was behind me. He is always aggressive. I figured he would be smart.
“Obviously, the No. 78 (Martin Truex) was spinning in front of us. That is a free spot for both of us and he (Allmendinger) just dumped me. He had already ran me down to the front stretch wall once with about 15 to go or so. Pretty dumb move right there too, but I was the smarter one racing for points, lifted, could have wrecked him, but didn’t.
“I don’t know. He wrecked me earlier in the year at Vegas. He has run me hard, but we always race pretty well. But today was flat-out stupid. I love his crew chief (Randall Burnett) to death; he was our engineer last year. It just sucks they are going to have to start building some more race cars because he has got a few coming.”
Allmendinger was apologetic about the incident while talking as he leaned against his car on pit road after the race. The 2014 Watkins Glen winner was hopeful that a victory in this final road course race on the Sprint Cup schedule would be enough to put him in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
But a pit road penalty and then hard racing back through the pack altered his goal for the day. He and Larson had another intense meeting earlier, too.
But Allmendinger was forthright and apologetic about the incident, which damaged Larson’s car enough that the 2014 Rookie of the Year couldn’t drive it back to the pits after the checkered flag.
“I cost him a good finish, all over fourth place,” Allmendinger said. “I don’t want to race like that. I’m upset with myself and I know his team should be pretty mad at me right now.
“I spun Kyle Larson out. Not on purpose. We were battling hard there for fifth and coming into the last corner, he had a good run and I defended, and I think the 78 was spinning as I tried to cut back under Kyle. He was lower than I expected.
“I just literally barely caught him in the right rear, and when I did, I tried to jump off the throttle to let him straighten it back up.
“They should be pissed off at me right now. I’m a little pissed off at me right now myself. Can’t thank Kroger and Kingsford enough for the effort. I just feel pretty crappy right now.”
The poor finish left Larson 15th in points in the driver standings, but 16th on the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship grid.
Last week’s winner, Chris Buescher, would move into the 16th and final position on the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup grid if he advances into a top-30 points position. He’s currently three points behind 30th-place David Ragan.
Allmendinger is ranked 19th in the points standings, 26 points behind 16th-place Trevor Bayne.