Is AJ Allmendinger a Chase contender?

47 team in the Chase

  • Total voters
    44
well it's obviously a yes now that he's won....but i think he'll get eliminated in the 1st round....
 
Yes if he makes it more difficult for Kenseth to get in the fight, otherwise it will be a wasted spot. IMO
 
two million shot in the arm for this win, don't know how far that will go, but that sure has to help. Hopefully they get some more for making the chase. Maybe a bigger sponsor, it is looking up for AJ and the gang. I hope they make the second round at least, love the underdogs and the rookies doing good this year.
 
I think AJ is a great road course driver. Among today's best.
However, IMO, he has not shown much promise throughout his NASCAR career that warrants him being a threat on an oval racetrack.
Whether this is attributed to overall skill or lack thereof, equipment or simply luck, has yet to be determined.
A first win in the Cup Series is certainly a step in the right direction, whether or not it is on a road course.
 
StandOnIt said:
two million shot in the arm for this win, don't know how far that will go, but that sure has to help. Hopefully they get some more for making the chase. Maybe a bigger sponsor, it is looking up for AJ and the gang. I hope they make the second round at least, love the underdogs and the rookies doing good this year.
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Kimberly-Clark Corp. just extended with them a few days ago. The RCR tech alliance was a great move. Really looking good for that team.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Kimberly-Clark Corp. just extended with them a few days ago. The RCR tech alliance was a great move. Really looking good for that team.
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Also they moved to Chevrolet at the exact right time.
 
BobbyFord said:
I think AJ is a great road course driver. Among today's best.
However, IMO, he has not shown much promise throughout his NASCAR career that warrants him being a threat on an oval racetrack.
Whether this is attributed to overall skill or lack thereof, equipment or simply luck, has yet to be determined.
A first win in the Cup Series is certainly a step in the right direction, whether or not it is on a road course.
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I disagree that he hasn't shown much promise on Ovals. With red bull, he qualified top ten a few times and this season as well he's been fast in qualifying. The reliability, race setup and the fact it's not Hendrick power show why the 47 team is where it was at before this win.

Talent shines on Road courses and AJ has lots of it.
 
KevinWI said:
But there are only two road courses and none in the Chase.
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I know. I'm bias, I'm a fan of the guy, he's a likable interview and a good driver. Talent only gets you so far on ovals. Its no knock to anyone else in the series, some very talented drivers that just lack the equipment and funding.

To your point though, their should be a road course in the chase, probably two. The less mile and halfs, the better.
 
Lazyking said:
I know. I'm bias, I'm a fan of the guy, he's a likable interview and a good driver. Talent only gets you so far on ovals. Its no knock to anyone else in the series, some very talented drivers that just lack the equipment and funding.

To your point though, their should be a road course in the chase, probably two. The less mile and halfs, the better.
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You're preaching to the choir brother. I was at Road America all day for the Tudor sports car races. Would love to see a Cup race there in June and Sonoma moved to the Chase but the news that Dover will have both dates next year has killed that.
 
Kyle18fan said:
Yes if he makes it more difficult for Kenseth to get in the fight, otherwise it will be a wasted spot. IMO
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Four races left before the Chase, and as of now four spots open for non-winners. Kenseth is 77 points ahead of Biffle, who is 5th in points among non-winners. Unless four non-winning drivers lower than Kenseth in points win the next four races, Kenseth is as good as in.
 
It would be hilarious if Kenseth missed the chase cause four different, new winners won the last four races and he wasn't one of them. Nascar would make a new rule change on the spot ;)
 
And here is the problem with the new rule. Dinger had no chance and has no business competing with JJ and company. This was a fluke today. Dinger deserved the win today no doubt but he and the 47 team are a joke everywhere else. They have 0 chance. Same amount Danica has. ZERO. Congrats but he is toast in the chase.
 
So is at least eight other drivers out of the sixteen. The format is the way it is but only a select few are real title contenders anyway. This helps the 47 program and that's a good thing.
 
47 team will be an also run when this is all over with. Bank it. They are not a factor what so ever.
 
You're still getting the biggest teams dominating the sport. its not like AJ is taking a spot from a legit title contender. If the small teams earn their way through this system, I don't see the harm. The big teams won't be shaking in their boots anytime soon lol.
 
The "system" would be way less "interesting" without an underdog or two...
 
It's interesting because I don't think this would have been possible without the huge improvement they've made just this year. I've been following him closely, and he's had some great runs but not been able to close the deal. Indy, Pocono, Sonoma, a few others where he was top 10 most of the day and had something happen to take him out. He has been knocking on the door this year, so when I made this thread a few months back I truly did believe he had a shot at making it in the Chase simply due to the format. Good for him and the 47 team.
 
Definitely a Chase contender by definition but will he be a factor in the Chase? Probably not. I hope that by making the field that this Chase position can somehow help this team in the long run.

Somewhat ironic that a road course victory gets him into the Chase yet no road course races are in the Chase. That needs to change. It will change. How can they not toss one of these road course races into the Chase when they produce some of the best racing we watch each and every season? Hopefully it's The Glen that get's that honor. Purely selfish on my part as it's only a four hour drive that would become a new norm for me to attend once it gets that spot. There's no reason that Watkins Glen couldn't host a September event. The weather still favors it that time of the year.
 
Perhaps I need to clarify, my original question was "is he a contender to MAKE the Chase". Seems as though some were confused.

Clearly, he is not a championship contender. However with the new Chase format he is now in the dance, and that's quite an accomplishment if you ask me.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
Perhaps I need to clarify, my original question was "is he a contender to MAKE the Chase". Seems as though some were confused.

Clearly, he is not a championship contender. However with the new Chase format he is now in the dance, and that's quite an accomplishment if you ask me.
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Yeah you are probably right, but he has a shot at least, which will be more than a lot of em will have. He will be in four races at least. I want to think that with their winnings, the team will be able to buy some things they need to go faster.
 
Maybe with this whole Tony mess, next year, JTG can upgrade to Hendrick engines.
 
Lazyking said:
Maybe with this whole Tony mess, next year, JTG can upgrade to Hendrick engines.
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I'm not sure if that would make a huge difference for them at this point but I'm sure the extra money will help everywhere.

I may be crazy but it just seemed like AJ was able to get his power down the best. When Ambrose got him loose and out of the groove on turn 4 I believe, I thought it was over. I was shocked that AJ was able to battle back and hang with him to the next turn. To me it seemed like he had the better horsepower, but I could be imagining things. To me, it seemed as though the 47 car had little to no trouble distancing himself from the 9 on the straights.
 
StandOnIt said:
Yeah you are probably right, but he has a shot at least, which will be more than a lot of em will have. He will be in four races at least. I want to think that with their winnings, the team will be able to buy some things they need to go faster.
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No question it's a huge shot in the arm for that team. I'm really happy for him because as I said earlier, it's not like he's been running 30th each week. He's had some really solid runs, at places where small teams shouldn't even be on the map. Indy, Pocono, you need to have the best of the best to compete at those tracks, and AJ had that car top 10 and had something happen. He deserves it IMO, he's showing how much talent he has. I think IF he's able to continue his solid performances he may actually get ANOTHER chance at a top ride, perhaps at RCR or ROUSH, okay top-ish. Sure looked like Childress and Penske were pretty happy for him, so I don't think he's burned all his bridges yet.
 
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3wideinturn1 said:
I'm not sure if that would make a huge difference for them at this point but I'm sure the extra money will help everywhere.

I may be crazy but it just seemed like AJ was able to get his power down the best. When Ambrose got him loose and out of the groove on turn 4 I believe, I thought it was over. I was shocked that AJ was able to battle back and hang with him to the next turn. To me it seemed like he had the better horsepower, but I could be imagining things. To me, it seemed as though the 47 car had little to no trouble distancing himself from the 9 on the straights.
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Yep that Childress motor out pulled Ambrose and got him back to his door. I guess that was what it was, could have been Almendinger was able on worse tires supposedly to get more traction. The big team money shows up on the fast tracks when not only horsepower but aero is a factor.
 
StandOnIt said:
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Yep that Childress motor out pulled Ambrose and got him back to his door. I guess that was what it was, could have been Almendinger was able on worse tires supposedly to get more traction. The big team money shows up on the fast tracks when not only horsepower but aero is a factor.
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Yeah it looked like Ambrose had to out brake him and could make up a little in the turns, but off the turns AJ had him beat. I'm mean I'm not surprised a Chevy out pulled a Ford, just didn't expect a Childress Chevy to be the one doing it.
 
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