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A.J. Allmendinger still has a chip on his shoulder (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
Since the moment A.J. Allmendinger hopped on the road to the NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series, he\u2019s always carried a chip on his shoulder<\/p>\n It\u2019s a road he never expected to travel down. He jumped on the freeway after a career in open wheel racing, being tempted by a lucrative offer as Red Bull Racing entered the world of stock cars. Before he knew it he was barreling 190mph, full steam ahead in the ferocious Cup Series drafting pack.<\/p>\n The road is well-traveled now. Through the winding streets of Chicago and Mexico<\/a> City, barreling round the Los Angeles Colosseum, roaring around Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte and every track in between. This week, the road leads to the winding hills of upstate New York<\/a> and Watkins Glen.<\/p>\n At this point, it\u2019s a familiar routine, familiar surroundings. Next year will mark \u2018Dinger\u2019s\u2019 20th year in stock car racing.<\/p>\n He\u2019s currently 18th in the Cup Series standings. It is a far cry from the first few years, when he \u2018Did Not Qualify\u2019 24 times in a time before charters guaranteed a spot in the field. Did he ever expect to be here?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d have said there is no chance,\u201d he admits. \u201cIf you\u2019d have asked me after the first or second year\u2026(shakes his head)”.<\/p>\n Allmendinger will race his No.16 Kaulig Racing car at Watkins Glen this weekend (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n During those days, he felt the need to prove himself each and every time he got on track.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter whether it was a practice session, we were testing, or it was during the race…I did everything I could just to show that I had speed, just to try and make it to the next week\u201d.<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s proven he belongs here, and nobody can have any doubts. But the chip on his shoulder remains.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s maybe still in my mentality, why I\u2019m always pushing myself,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s still in my heart, \u2018I\u2019ve got to prove it\u2019, whether it\u2019s myself or\u2026I don’t know.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why I love this team, because they tell me, \u2018you\u2019ve got nothing to prove any more\u2019, but I guess I\u2019m still that rookie that has to prove it to myself.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019d have never believed it. Those first few years were brutal. I used to hate when people would say, \u2018this builds character\u2019, because I was like, \u2018I have enough character, I just want to stay in this sport!\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s been a crazy ride to get here, and hopefully we keep adding to it.\u201d<\/p>\n DON’T MISS: <\/strong><\/p>\n Allmendinger arrived in NASCAR with Red Bull Racing and will enter his 20th season next year (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n Despite his proven performances in the Cup Series, Allmendinger is likely to never shake the perception he\u2019s a \u2018road course specialist\u2019. It\u2019s why he rightly enters this weekend at Watkins Glen with high hopes that he could potentially win his way into the playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always joked around\u2026it\u2019s better than saying, \u2018hey, you equally suck at everything\u2019,\u201d he laughs. \u201cLike I say, it doesn\u2019t bother me at all.<\/p>\n \u201cI always feel, even on the road courses, I\u2019ve got to be a lot better. I don\u2019t mind it. I still get paid to drive race cars, and I know there\u2019s certain ovals I show up to and it\u2019d be, I wouldn\u2019t say a miracle, but it\u2019d be a shock to go and win that. But there are other ovals that I have a lot of confidence that in the right situation we can go and win.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a perception that means Allmendinger often sneaks under the radar. It’s fair to say he’s probably the most underrated driver in the field.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t mind flying under the radar,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, I\u2019m not here for popularity or anything like that, I just want to keep giving us chances to run well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make noise if we go and keep trying to be in front of the pack, winning races or contending for it, so that\u2019s the ultimate goal.\u201d<\/p>\n If Allmendinger was one of the original \u2018road course ringers\u2019, then Shane van Gisbergen has taken things to a new level. But his experience of learning the NASCAR ropes is vastly different.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine showing up to these places with 25 minutes of practice and that\u2019s all you get,\u201d Allmendinger says. \u201cSo to be a rookie, and especially a guy like SVG in that he\u2019s a true rookie in the sense of not having a lot of oval experience\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you could argue that it\u2019s the most competitive that the Cup Series has been, maybe ever. So there\u2019s nowhere to hide and it\u2019s tough for these guys now coming into the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n At this stage of his career, Allmendinger takes heart in the fact he\u2019s still finding new ways to improve. While all the focus is on the likes of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch extending their careers, Allmendinger also shows no signs of slowing down. He still has plenty of fuel left in the tank.<\/p>\n \u201cEven as I\u2019m getting older here, I still feel like I\u2019m still getting better at it, right? There\u2019s always stuff I can keep working on and try to be better for us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve put a lot of effort into it this year, and I think that\u2019s making a difference. To go and be contending each week for wins, we\u2019ve still got a way to go, but the improvement has been there and, for me, I\u2019m just always trying to get better.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like there\u2019s always a lot I can work on to get better for all of us here. It definitely gives me the confidence that they keep believing in me and just push the program to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n The 43-year-old insists he is still getting better (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n Allmendinger\u2019s clear passion often comes through on the team radio, with the occasional hot-headed outburst or moment of outright frustration coming through the airwaves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing for me, I always have all the passion for my race team,\u201d he explains. \u201cI think I\u2019ve always been like that in any team I drive for, but it\u2019s especially like that here.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Matt (Kaulig) and Chris (Rice) and the seven years that we\u2019ve been together, the success that we’ve had, they make me feel like this is my team as well.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, that\u2019s why I\u2019m always the way I am. A lot of the frustration over the radio is more mad at myself, because I feel like I\u2019m letting us down when we’re struggling.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask all the people that work with me on a race team, the one thing I truly care about is for them to say, \u2018he cares\u2019. He doesn\u2019t give up, he drives every lap as hard as he can, and he cares for every one of us and what\u2019s best for the race team.<\/p>\n \u201cSure, there\u2019s times where maybe I go back and I\u2019m like, \u2018ooof, I wish I could take that back\u2019, but I will never take back those emotions in that sense. It\u2019s the way I am, and probably the way I always will be in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Given how his journey has played out, and the progress he\u2019s made, there\u2019s little need for Allmendinger to change. It\u2019s served him well to this point, and the long road he\u2019s cruising down still has plenty of tarmac left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A.J. Allmendinger still has a chip on his shoulder (Image: Getty) Since the moment A.J. Allmendinger hopped on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[30850,4423,1406,80087,62,80088,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-131953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-a-j-allmendinger","9":"tag-motorsport-section","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-road-course-specialist","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-underrated-driver","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114999353955991058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"AUTO:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/412975.jpg\" "\\"AUTO:")
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