CONCORD, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger holds a perfect four-for-four record in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval heading into this weekend’s Round of 16 finale.
And yet, the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet isn’t displaying the same bravado about the road-race-oval hybrid as in previous years.
“I’m going into this weekend probably with the least confidence I’ve ever had on the Roval,” Allmendinger said Tuesday during a press briefing. “You know, I was looking at Talladega as a race that I was thinking about, I probably have a better chance of winning there than at the Roval.”
MORE: Charlotte Roval schedule | Xfinity Playoff Standings
His candor offers a stark contrast to what has become the expectation of Allmendinger, whose 14 road race victories in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series are the most historic in the sport’s three national series, including one weekend of last year’s Roval races.
Entering Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Allmendinger sits eighth in the Xfinity Playoff standings, the last car above the elimination line in only seven points, with his teammate and fellow traveler. ace Shane van Gisbergen lies 10 points below this provisional divisor. Eleven times, Allmendinger drove to Victory Lane after an Xfinity road race. None of them have come in 2024 after five attempts, with his best being a third-place finish on September 14 at Watkins Glen International. SVG, on the other hand, has won three times.
“I had a hard time relaxing in the Xfinity car. That’s been the case with every road course I’ve been on,” Allmendinger said.
Van Gisbergen’s advantage at the left on the clutch. This use of the clutch also allows SVG to skip gears if it wishes, matching revs with the gas pedal. That experience stems from his time as a three-time Australian Supercars champion, where another former Allmendinger teammate – two-time Cup winner Marcos Ambrose – laid the foundations for stock car success on the road circuit.
“The thing is, Shane and I, when we talk about the cars, I think we feel they’re pretty close to the ones we’re racing with. He just worked better and obviously had really good success,” Allmendinger said. “(…) So we feel the car in the same way. But on some of these race tracks, he figured out what to do. It’s really good at driving at high speeds through corners, and that’s what I noticed. So like Sonoma, it was a place where, following him, I was trying to drive exactly like him, and I just didn’t have any lateral grip, and he made it work. …
“I didn’t understand what it is, what I’m struggling with. You know, I can identify it; I just didn’t understand what it was and how to improve it.
Having a teammate like van Gisbergen has been helpful for Allmendinger, if only for motivation, knowing that SVG can still win despite similar struggles.
“I’m a motorsport fan, so you get a three-time elite series champion from your home country,” Allmendinger said. “I mean, we all see what he can do. We saw what he did in Chicago. So from the road course side, it’s good for me to see, like, hey, like he’s still getting the speed of the car, so I just have to figure that out. (…) I guess you could always look at it as if there’s a bit of a rivalry with your teammate, but that’s not the case – I don’t look at us as a rivalry, do you? I just see what he does. It’s like, yeah, I have to be better. For example, on road courses, I would like to get there. So he definitely pushes me and I enjoy that part.
What awaits us this weekend is a reconfigured Roval, modified this year to feature a longer straight between turns 5 and 6 to set up a fast right turn 6 into an extremely tight left hairpin at turn 7 leading to banked bends. of the oval. Additionally, the front chicane gets a facelift as its Turn 15 entry dips further left to establish a sharper, near-90-degree right-hand Turn 16 before a 90-degree left turn toward the start/finish line . The expected result, Allmendinger believes, is more enthusiasm, which he envisions for ambitious overtaking opportunities. The highest alert on Allmendinger’s radar, however, is the hairpin.
“It will be interesting to feel in real life the bump they went over in the first right turn into the new part of the race track,” he said, “because in simulation the bump is pretty extreme. So that’s kind of where you have to brake It reminds me a little bit – maybe not as deep downhill – but like Chicago, right next to the part of town over there. of all the hotels and stuff. So that’s going to open it up, especially in Xfinity, I think, to get over that climb But yeah, I can definitely see using the bumper in the right section. if you do that, you get the next hairpin southpaw So I think desperation and all that, there’s going to be a lot of hairpin dive bombs I think that’s kind of there. that we’re going to see a lot of the action.
MORE: Allmendinger and SVG highlight the entry list for the Cup | Best road race winners in Cup history
And while his confidence may have waned slightly in the Sports App). In four Cup road races this season, Allmendinger finished sixth twice (Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway) and failed to finish twice, crashing at Chicago and losing a drive at Watkins Glen.
“I’m running to win the race, but I only expect to run well,” Allmendinger said. “Look, it’s hard to win Cup races. It’s tough to get a top five finish in Cup races. The ultimate goal for me is always to show up. If we can get into the top five, top six, it will be a great day. And if we can do that, I know we can win. But on the Xfinity side, of course, it’s fair — because if you take away SVG, I’m not going to win any of the races this year. It would be different if SVG won and I’m second and I’m like “yeah, I just have to find a way to beat my teammate.” But literally, if he’s not in the race, I’m still not going to win any of these races.
