AJ Allmendinger issued his first public comments Tuesday since NASCAR temporarily suspended the Penske Racing driver before last weekend’s race at Daytona for a failed drug test.
“I have informed NASCAR that I have requested that the ‘B’ sample be tested, following the steps according to NASCAR’s 2012 rule book regarding this situation,” Allmendinger said in a statement.
“I fully respect NASCAR's drug usage policy and the reasons they have it. I am hoping this can get resolved as quickly as possible so that I can get back to driving the No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge. I am sorry that this has caused such a distraction for my Penske Racing team, our sponsors and fans. Obviously, I would never do anything to jeopardize my opportunity here at Penske Racing or to my fellow drivers. I am very conscious about my training and health and would never knowingly take a prohibited drug.”
Penske Racing previously announced that Sam Hornish Jr. would drive for Allmendinger this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He drove for Allmendinger at Daytona, arriving from Charlotte, N.C., shortly before Saturday’s race and finished 33rd.
Allmendinger’s test results should be known later this week.
If his “B’’ sample affirms the previous drug test, then Allmendinger would remain suspended and be given a program he would have to undergo to regain his status to race in NASCAR. If his “B’’ sample disproves the previous sample, Allmendinger would be reinstated immediately.
With only a one-year contract with Penske Racing, Allmendinger’s future is further clouded. Car owner Roger Penske spoke on Sirius XM’s NASCAR Radio on Tuesday about Allmendinger’s future.
“I think that we’ll have to assess this situation,” Penske said. “You know, it’s something you just don’t do overnight. We’ll look at the details and understand it and we’ll make our moves accordingly. But at this point it would be way premature for me to speculate on what we might do. I think we’ve got to focus on our team and NASCAR, we’ve got good momentum and we’ve got to finish out this season strong. This will, obviously, the outcome of this will dictate what will be the future from the standpoint of ourselves and any member of our team that would be in this situation.”
ARMY LEAVING NASCAR Stewart-Haas Racing announced Tuesday that the U.S. Army would not return as a sponsor to the team next season and that “due to a reallocation of its marketing budget that will not include a presence in NASCAR.”
An official with the Army told USA TODAY Sports that the Army would not return because it was not receiving a return on investment for its sponsorship. The Army will spend $8.4 million on its NASCAR program, including sponsorship of Ryan Newman’s team for 12 races, this season.
NASCAR Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps issued a statement about the Army leaving the sport after this season:
“The U.S. Army has been in our sport for more than a decade and has enjoyed great success as a NASCAR team sponsor during that time. The Army sponsorship served to connect our troops with the American public, to engage active service men and women around the world with the sport they love, and to assist with recruitment and retention.
“NASCAR and the military share many of the same values. NASCAR fans are twice as likely as non-fans to serve in the military and 37 percent of active service members and veterans are NASCAR fans. The Army made a budget decision that won’t allow it to return to NASCAR in 2013. However, NASCAR continues to be a powerful and critical part of the marketing mix for other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and more Fortune 500 companies than any other sport.”
PENALTIES NASCAR announced multiple penalties on Tuesday for infractions discovered last weekend at Daytona.
NASCAR docked Tony Stewart six driver and owner points for a post-qualifying infraction where series officials found an unapproved open vent inside the car.
NASCAR also fined crew chief Steve Addington $25,000 and placed him on probation until Aug. 22. NASCAR also placed car chief Jeff Meendering on probation until Aug. 22.
Greg Zipadelli, competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing, issued a statement after the penalties were announced.
“While we respect and accept NASCAR’s decision, we want to be clear that there was no malicious intent,” Zipadelli said. “In a rush to replace a cracked rear windshield that happened during tech inspection prior to qualifying, we jostled a cooling hose that was behind the seat. We understand NASCAR’s position and will abide by its decision.”
NASCAR also issued two Nationwide penalties Tuesday.
NASCAR penalized Austin Dillon six driver and owner points for an unapproved open vent hose inside the car, which was discovered in a post-qualifying inspection. NASCAR also suspended Dillon’s crew chief, Danny Stockman, who was already on probation, until July 25 and fined him $10,000. NASCAR also suspended car chief Robert Strmiska until July 25.
NASCAR also docked car owner Joe Gibbs six owner points after the team’s No. 18 Nationwide car did not meet the minimum front car heights after the Nationwide race. NASCAR fined crew chief Adam Stevens $10,000 and placed him on probation until Aug. 22. Car chief Christopher Landis also was placed on probation.
STAYING PUT Denny Hamlin recently signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing and says his focus was to remain with the only team he’s raced for in Cup.
“(Joe Gibbs Racing) has been extremely generous to me in a lot of different ways,” said Hamlin, who made his Cup debut with the team in 2005 at Kansas Speedway. “They bent over backwards for me in a lot of different ways and really have helped me and put me with a great team.
“Really, when you look at where can you go and improve the seat that you're in, there just isn't any out there that you'd want to even consider. I feel like I'm with a championship-caliber team, obviously a championship crew chief. We've only been beat once by a JGR driver in points since I've been there. I feel like however Gibbs is capable of running is where we'll run and I feel like we have championship caliber cars.
“Any move that you make over money or something like that will eventually catch up to you. My thought was always to stay with Gibbs. You don't want to test the waters and end up shooting yourself in the foot because there's very few, both sponsors and teams out there that have the relationship with their driver that I feel like we have.”
EXPECT THE WORST AND HOPE FOR THE BEST That seems to be the philosophy Carl Edwards has taken into the remaining races before the Chase field is set after Richmond in September.
Edwards is 11th in the points but he remains winless this season and is not in position to get one of the two wildcard spots. He’s 31 points out of 10th, the final automatic spot to the Chase.
Edwards said he recently talked to his team about their situation.
“Our luck has been so bad this year that we can’t make any other mistakes,” he said. “We have to go forward assuming that the things that could go wrong are going to go wrong, so we need to go out and minimize the mistakes around the things that we can control.”
That was evident in Saturday night’s race when he returned the to pits under caution because he wasn’t sure a wheel was on tight with how the car was reacting. The team found no issue and Edwards continued without problems. He went on to finish sixth in the race.
BABY NEWS Kevin and DeLana Harvick celebrated the birth of their first child, a son, on Sunday. Keelan Paul Harvick weighed 6.8 pounds and was 19.5 inches at birth. Said Kevin Harvick: “Time literally stood still when I held our baby for the first time.” ... Darian Grubb, crew chief for Denny Hamlin, announced via Twitter on Monday that his wife had delivered the couple’s second child. Gabriella Grace weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 18.5 inches. ... Truck Series driver Timothy Peters recently announced that his wife, Sara, is expecting the couple’s first child. Due date is Dec. 17.
by Dustin Long
Follow Dustin on Twitter: @DustinLong
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