INDYCAR: Allmendinger Confirmed For Two Races, Continues His IndyCar Preparation

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Allmendinger Confirmed For Two Races, Continues His IndyCar Preparation

Former Champ Car driver/current NASCAR pilot AJ Allmendinger is seeing his calender start to expand with the announcement of at least two IndyCar races.

Marshall Pruett | Posted March 07, 2013

Team Penske confirmed AJ Allmendinger for at least two IndyCar races this season, including the Indy 500, with support from IZOD. (Photo: LAT)

Former Champ Car driver/current NASCAR pilot AJ Allmendinger is seeing his calender start to expand with the announcement of at least two IndyCar races for Team Penske.

Team owner Roger Penske expressed his interest in testing Allmendinger in an Indy car in Early February, suggesting a drive at the Indianapolis 500 was a possibility if things went according to plan.

“So we’ll get him back in a car at Sebring and try and get some sponsorships for a few races and maybe Indy would be his re-launch,” Penske told SPEED's Robin Miller. Now he's been confirmed for the Indy 500 for The Captain with support from IZOD, as well as the Barber Motorsports Park round on April 7th.

“It is exciting to welcome AJ back to Penske Racing,” said Penske. “He obviously went through a tough time last year but he has done everything he needed to in order to get back to racing at the top level of the sport. We have always believed in AJ and his ability and he deserves this opportunity. We think he will be a strong competitor this season in the IZOD IndyCar Series for Team Penske and we look forward to racing with him in the IZOD car at Barber and at the Indianapolis 500.”

The team also states Allmendinger's open-wheel stint could expand beyond two rounds.

The 31-year-old turned his first laps in an IZOD IndyCar Series machine on Feb. 19th at Sebring with Team Penske, and will be back in the saddle in the Chevy-powered No. 2 entry on Tuesday and Wednesday at Barber during IndyCar Spring training.

The California native is also coming off a strong run at Phoenix last weekend where he finished 11th driving for Phoenix Racing in his first stock car outing of the year.

Allmendinger’s already spent plenty of time in the Michael Shank Racing GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype this year, and coupled with his recent IndyCar test, he headed to Arizona wondering how quickly he’d adapt to a Cup car.

“I was a little nervous getting back into it and maybe it's my personality too just going, oh God, what if this feels way different from what I'm used to,” said Allmendinger. “Or, has driving in GRAND-AM and IndyCar messed my mind up the way this is going to feel? I got back in it really quick and it was pretty good right away. In race trim we were top 10 right away. Felt good about that.

AJ Allmendinger has adapted to driving three distinctly different cars this year, and that trend will continue at Barber Motorsports Park next week. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

“We started the race and we were tight, just like I figured we would be, kind of plugged away. I was pretty proud of the team. So I was happy. I was happy with myself because all day I was real patient and not aggressive and didn't use up the car and, heck, there were no stresses on the car from the race. I plugged away and got an 11th out of it, which is probably a little bit better than what we should have got, honestly, of what we had run all day.”

Since Sebring, Allmendinger has been studying everything possible to prepare for his final open-wheel test before the 19-race IndyCar championship kicks off at St. Petersburg on March 24.

“The car itself, it's fun to drive,” he said. “It's definitely got a lot of braking force in it with the carbon fiber brakes. It was the first time I was in one of those. So the braking force that was in it was probably something that was a big surprise to me. And then from there it's just little stuff. And obviously Barber, I've never been to, so getting up-to-speed and learning the track was the first deal. That, right there, is going to be what I have to work on most--to learn the racetrack. And there's plenty of video that I've been looking at and in-car stuff and things of that nature.

“Then it’s looking at the data. And looking at [data from Penske teammates] Will [Power] and Helio [Castroneves], there's nothing that – which is good – nothing that stood out like, ‘holy crap, they're doing this. I don't know if I can do that. That's a lot.’ It was just little stuff like rolling speed, trusting that you can brake a little later and not lock the tires up and just stuff like that.”

Modifying his fitness routine to meet the different demands of a high-downforce Indy car has also been part of his training since Sebring.

“And from there, honestly, it’s physicality of the car,” he said. “Being physically being strong enough to drive the car. I was pretty whipped after the test day. But it's just about getting stronger so I can attack. I felt like the first half of the day the car felt really fast to me and I was behind the car. And then the second half of the day I felt like, okay, I'm up-to-speed with the car now and I'm driving it, but now I'm tired. Now I'm worn out from it. It's just trying to do that. I go to the gym every day at the Penske gym, just working out hard to try to get better. But there's nothing that's going to simulate what it takes until you're actually in the car again.”

Allmendinger described the two types of cars as exacting completely opposite physical tolls on a driver.

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