Times wires
Friday, May 6, 2011
ATLANTA — Two of the surprise performers in the Sprint Cup series this year have been Paul Menard and A.J. Allmendinger, both of whom have been in and around the top 10 in the standings through the first quarter of the season.
While Menard has dropped out of the top 10 to 15th in recent weeks, Allmendinger is closing in on a top-10 spot. As the circuit heads to Darlington Raceway for tonight's Southern 500, Allmendinger is 11th in the standings, just 12 points behind 10th-place Tony Stewart.
Allmendinger, who persevered through a rookie season that saw him fail to qualify 19 times, has an average finish of 15th through this season's first nine races, with a best of seventh last week at Richmond and a worst of 31st at Bristol. He has four finishes of 11th or better.
"We have kind of had just a solid year," Allmendinger said on this week's NASCAR teleconference. "We have not done anything spectacular yet. I think the biggest thing, especially with this points system the way it is, is we have not done anything to shoot ourselves in the foot.
"We had one really bad race at Bristol where we got caught up in an early wreck, but everything else has been pretty solid."
He quickly pointed out that there's room for improvement, and that he and his team will need to be better to realistically contend for a Chase for the Championship berth.
"I think there are just certain areas we've got to work on, really, including Bristol," he said, adding that he and his team need to be better at keeping their cars fast throughout the entire race.
Allmendinger said he knows he generally is not considered a Chase contender at this point.
"We still need to be better to be considered one of those teams that are up there every week fighting to be in the top 10 to be in contention to win races," he said. "Do I think we have the potential to get there? Definitely. But are we there yet? Not yet."