TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY RACE REPORT
Race Summary: AJ Allmendinger started the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Monday from the 17th position. The race, originally scheduled for Sunday, was postponed due to rain. The only track time prior to the start of the race that Allmendinger and the No. 43 team had was Friday’s afternoon practice session and qualifying. As the race got underway, Allmendinger reported his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion was tight, especially in traffic. Crew chief Mike Shiplett let his driver know he would come up with a plan to help alleviate the issue. Despite battling the tight condition, the No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford held ground among the top-15. The No. 43 crew took advantage of a competition caution at Lap 25, and brought the car down pit road for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment that Shiplett believed would free the Ford up. As the field returned to green flag racing, Allmendinger reported that the car was definitely better than the first run. The driver kept his Ford running among the top-20, but at Lap 122 suddenly reported the car was running very hot. Shiplett made the call to bring the No. 43 to pit road and the crew was able to clear some grass that was covering the grille. Though it was a setback, the team didn’t let it get them down. During a fifth caution period at Lap 231, Allmendinger chose to take the wave around and was able to get back on the lead lap. Not too long after getting back on the lead lap, a solid pit stop on Lap 272 sent Allmendinger back out on track in the 10th position. Allmendinger battled for real estate between 12th and 10th position and the caution waved again with only 17 laps remaining in the event. Shortly after a restart on Lap 317, the No. 43 fell victim to a wild multi-car accident that caused NASCAR to bring out the red flag. Shiplett kept his driver and team calm. Once again, they prevailed. In two different trips down pit road after the yellow replaced the red flag, the Insignia/Best Buy crew made the necessary repairs to the damage sustained and kept their driver from going a lap down. As the dust settled on the day, Allmendinger brought home a 13th-place finish.
Allmendinger on the Texas Event: “I’m proud of the whole Insignia/Best Buy Ford team. Everybody on the 43 did a great job. The car was really fast. We were a little bit tight to begin with and just kept fine-tuning and making the car better. There was so much grass on the race track. At one point we got grass in the grille and basically had to fight 150 laps to get our lap back, but the car was so fast. At the end, the car was the best it had been on the outside for that restart, but we had nowhere to go. It could have been a lot better, but it could have been a lot worse. We’ll take it.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Petty Motorsports drivers:
Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford 5th
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 98 Menards Ford 35th
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 18th
Next Race
Date: April 25, 2010
Race: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway
Laps: 188Laps/500 Miles
TV Information: 1 p.m. ET on FOX
Radio Information: 1 p.m. ET on MRN and Sirius/XM
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