BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY RACE RECAP
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger and his No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion team worked hard from the drop of the green flag during Sunday’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Starting from the 23rd position, crew chief Mike Shiplett urged his driver to save his brakes and reminded him that patience was key. Allmendinger felt like his Insignia Green Ford Fusion fell into a good rhythm during green flag runs. As the first of 10 yellow flags came at Lap 43 of the 500-lap event, the No. 43 driver drove down pit road to his Richard Petty Motorsports team to change four tires, add fuel, and make some adjustments to improve the handling. On the third caution at Lap 116, the Allmendinger felt the car was really coming around and the adjustments being made were allowing the No. 43 to get where it needed to be up front.
As the race approached the half-way point, Allmendinger was positioned inside the top-20 where he remained until finishing the event in the 17th position.
Allmendinger on the Bristol Event: “It’s one of those days, and this is what we’re trying to build on with the team. We never really got it right today. At times, I thought we were better than others, but we just struggled on fighting to get the car to turn. We were losing rear grip, but this is what we said was gonna make us a good team is to make our bad days 17th and that’s where we finished. We missed the wrecks and probably had about a 20th-22nd place car and salvaged 17th out of it. That’s not what we really want to be happy with, but it’s one of those days that could have been a lot worse. We gained some points because there were a lot of guys in front of us that had a bad day. I think we should be OK at Martinsville. We’ve just got to keep working on it.”
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Petty Motorsports drivers:
Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford 34th
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 98 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford 18th
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Stanley Ford Fusion 20th
Next Race
Date: March 28, 2010
Race: Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500
Laps: 500 Laps/263 Miles
TV Information: 1 p.m. ET on FOX
Radio Information: 1 p.m. ET on MRN and Sirius/XM
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