AJ Allmendinger makes 500th Cup Series start at Sonoma Raceway

NASCAR Cup Series veteran AJ Allmendinger made his 500th career start when he took the green flag in Sunday's race at Sonoma Raceway (TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Piloting the No. 16 Chevrolet, the 44-year-old has found a home at Kaulig Racing since the start of the decade and has held full-time roles in both the Cup Series and NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series with the organization. He returned to full-time Cup action in 2025 and is under contract with the team through at least 2029. RELATED: Race results | Allmendinger through the years "I guess the way my mentality is still of I'm always out there trying to prove it to myself that now you still belong here, and it's what drives me insane sometimes," Allmendinger said. "It's also what pushes me to want to be at my best every second of the day. I think there's two ways, and it's just the way I am mentally about myself -- thinking 500 starts -- it's like immediately my mind goes, 'well, damn, I wish I had won more.' Like, I wish in these 500 starts there'd be kind of more, more ups. But if you'd asked 2007 AJ, as I was missing most of the races on a brand new race team, like, hey, by the way, 19 years later, you're going to be at start 500 at Sonoma, I would've been like, 'there's not a chance in hell.' " Allmendinger has competed in the Cup Series since 2007, running for now-defunct teams Red Bull Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports. He also ran part-time schedules for Team Penske and Phoenix Racing in 2012-13. Allmendinger then moved to JTG Daugherty Racing (now Hyak Motorsports) at the end of 2013 and became its full-time driver at the start of 2014. In 2014, Allmendinger broke through for his first career Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen International after 213 starts. Allmendinger went on to win two more Cup Series races after joining Kaulig, winning the first Cup event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2021 and two years later at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Those victories came after not making a Cup start in 2019 and 2020. Allmendinger entered Sunday's Cup race 20th in points, 21 markers below the cutoff for The Chase. He is seeking his first postseason berth since 2014. The Los Gatos, California, native has also qualified for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason on three occasions, reaching the championship round in both 2021 and 2024. Saturday at Sonoma, Allmendinger took time to thank owner Matt Kaulig and Kaulig CEO Chris Rice for the success he has garnered deep into his career. "This is like my home, and sometimes it can be a dysfunctional home on all ends. I'm a little crazy, you hear it on the radio, but we love each other, and we will fight to the death for each other," Allmendinger said. "I've gotten to kiss the bricks at Indianapolis, got to win at Charlotte, got to win on ovals, got one of the coolest finishes ever in Bristol. Like, I owe the happiness of my career, whether it's ever good enough in my mind, I wish it was. We've done some pretty damn cool things. Hopefully, we got more to go, but I owe my happiness of my career when I'm done to Matt and Chris." Allmendinger battled handling gremlins during Sunday's race at Sonoma and placed 16th in the final running order. Contributing: Cameron Richardson | NASCAR.com