Having won the first race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas, AJ Allmendinger has secured his place in the final race at Phoenix, capping a season in the Xfinity Series marked by seven top-5 finishes and consistent performance before his upcoming move to the NASCAR Cup Series next year.
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Since Allmendinger’s journey in the Cup Series has been somewhat sporadic, when Dale Jr. recently inquired about his return to the Cup Series after three years, he shared a candid response. Allmendinger joked, “I just love the punishment man I just really do. It’s just that mental scarring every day that I love just waking up.”
Shifting to a more earnest tone, the two-time Xfinity Series Champion expressed gratitude for his current position, saying, “I’ve been very fortunate especially what I Call my second life here in in NASCAR with Kaulig racing is the fact that I have people that believe in me that think that I can help the program whatever that is Xfnity/Cup.”
The former Cup Series driver also stated that a big part of his motivation for returning in 2024 is to bolster the Xfinity program. Having secured the regular season Xfinity championship multiple times, this time around, his eyes are set on clinching the overall championship — a distinction he views as a big honor in the top tiers of NASCAR.
Allmendinger’s journey in the NASCAR Cup Series began in 2006, with his full-time entry in 2007. However, his career faced a major hurdle in 2012 while he was behind the wheel of the #22 car for Team Penske, after moving on from Richard Petty Motorsports.
That year, he was suspended from the Cup Series for failing a random drug test, which turned up positive for a banned substance. He later acknowledged that the test result was due to inadvertently taking Adderall, a prescription medication.
Following his suspension, Allmendinger’s most extended stint in the Cup Series came with JTG Daugherty Racing, where he drove the #47 from 2013 to 2018 before joining Kaulig Racing in 2019. In October 2022, Kaulig Racing declared that Allmendinger would pilot the #16 car full-time in 2023, marking his return to a full-time Cup role since 2018.
However, after just one season back in the Cup series where he finished 21st, he transitioned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Now, in his sixth year with Kaulig Racing’s Xfinity team, he has reached the final four for the second time.
Looking ahead, Allmendinger is set to return to full-time Cup Series racing in 2025 with Kaulig Racing, ready once again to take on the challenges of NASCAR’s premier series.
Previewing Allmendinger’s Xfinity Championship race at Phoenix
Allmendinger has hit the track at Phoenix a total of five times, securing an average finish position of 9.8. While a victory at Phoenix has eluded him, he’s notched two top-5 finishes and three top-10s there. Besides that, in his recent outings, the pilot of the #16 Chevy has captured a win, a top-5 finish, and a top-10 finish in his last four races.
However, Austin Hill and Cole Custer are stepping onto the track with stronger average finishes of 8.8 and 7.6, respectively. Hill, over five starts, has yet to clinch a win, while Custer boasts two victories in nine starts at Phoenix. Justin Allgaier, with an average finish of 10.0 across 28 starts, has also managed two wins on this track.
Should Allmendinger manage to leverage this chance, it would mark his first-ever NASCAR Championship victory — a milestone he’s eagerly chasing.
