“I work out every day, but it's a different kind of fitness in NASCAR. It's about endurance in NASCAR racing and getting yourself to go out there and do that for four hours in a hot car that during the summer is 150 degrees inside. And getting yourself mentally and physically prepared for that. You look at a guy, whatever, take Tony Stewart, for instance, people are like, ‘Oh, you’re not in shape.’ When it comes to fitness, hard body kind of routine, yeah, Tony’s not in that kind of shape, but he's also got himself where he does this every week and he’s done it for 12 or 13 years now and he's a strong guy.

Allmendinger took 11th in the No. 51 Chevy last weekend. (Photo: LAT)

“So that's what he's got himself used to, is that kind of endurance. That's just the way it is. So an IndyCar is just way more physical. It's physically harder to drive. I won't ever lie about that. It's a physical racecar. You don't have the heat to deal with and stuff like that, but physically, no power steering or nothing, yeah, it's hard to drive. The braking force, you don't have four G’s in a NASCAR no matter where you go when you hit the brake pedal. You just don't.”

As a popular member of the NASCAR fraternity, Allmendinger says plenty of Cup drivers at the Phoenix event were curious to learn about his recent IndyCar test.

“Oh yeah, it's been a good response from everybody, honestly, everybody asks questions about it,” he remarked. “I was talking to Juan [Pablo Montoya] and I was going on with him about how physically tired I was. I told him, I said, yeah, I’m probably going to test at Barber. And he started laughing. He said, ‘Holy crap, I probably couldn't do that right now!’ Talked to Scott Speed and a bunch of other guys and it's been a good reception, both sides of it.”

With the Phoenix Cup race behind him, Allmendinger won’t be in a stock car this weekend at Las Vegas, but should have a number of additional NASCAR races placed on his calendar this season.

MISC

• Word out of the Dale Coyne Racing camp says talks with Ana Beatriz have picked back up after the most recent deal, one that would have had Sebastian Saavedra and Bia splitting the No. 19 between roads/streets (Seb) and ovals (Bia), fell through. Asked if the Honda-powered No. 19 would have a driver to take over the races Saavedra was meant to fill before he signed with Dragon Racing, team owner Dale Coyne said “We will be there with two fulltime [cars] all year.”

• Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports sophomore driver Simon Pagenaud will be busy over the next 10 days. He’s competing in a rally at home in France this weekend, leaves directly for Spring Training in Barber, then departs for Sebring to contest the 12 hour with fellow IndyCar drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ryan Briscoe as teammates.

• Andy Hallbery, a veteran journalist and friend to many drivers and paddocks, has amassed a large hospital bill after a recent illness. Many colleagues have been contributing to a fund to help get his finances in order.

• The IndyCar Series lost one high-profile Brazilian with an F1 pedigree in the offseason with Rubens Barrichello switching to his domestic stock car series, but Bruno Senna, nephew of his mentor Ayrton Senna, could be in the frame to fill that void with a part-time drive on road and street courses. Senna, who lost his seat at the Williams F1 team for 2013, recently signed to drive for the Aston Martin Racing GTE team in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but could be on the IndyCar entry list on a few non-conflicting weekends.

• If you’re a fan of EDM, “DJs Afrojack and Diplo will headline the party in the Snake Pit presented by Miller Lite during the 97th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 26,” according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the famed Hair Band Poison already confirmed for the Indy 500, adding the complementary sounds of Electronic Dance Music was a no-brainer.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.