Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR
A.J. Allmendinger took a major step forward in 2011, establishing himself as a more competitive driver in NASCAR's Sprint Cup season. Despite being winless and not making NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, Allmendinger and his Best Buy Ford race team had several impressive runs throughout the year. When the season completed in the final event in the Ford 400 at Homestead, Allmendinger had the best season of his five year Sprint Cup career.
Allmendinger started off the year with a string of consistant top 15 finishes including ninth at Phoenix and seventh at Richmond. The best run for the Richard Petty Motorsports team came in the longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. Allmendinger came through with what proved to be his only top five of the year, a fifth place finish. The rest of the season was similar to the first 10 events on the schedule as Allmendinger had occasional poor finishes, occasional good finishes, but mostly finishes in the top 15. Though he did not make the Chase, Allmendinger ran well in the final 10 races notching finishes of seventh at Dover, seventh at Charlotte, 10th at Texas and sixth at Phoenix.
Allmendinger and his Best Buy race team did a good job in the pits for the year. Allmendinger was blackflagged twice for speeding in the pits and once for going above the blend line. The pit crew survived 2011 completely unscathed penalty wise.
2011 Statistics For A. J. Allmendinger
15th in Sprint Cup standings
1 top 5
10 top 10s
Best Finish: 5th in the Coca-Cola 600
51 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For A.J. Allmendinger
Race 1 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 3 - Speed-Entering pits, tail end
Race 8 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
Race 30 - Pre-Race to the rear, Tail of Field, Missed Driver Intros; Speed-Entering pits, Pass Thru
Race 32 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Going above the blend line exiting the pits, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end