Now driving the legendary number "43" car, the number belonging to NASCAR legend Richard Petty, A.J. Allmendinger is poised to become a shining star in America's most popular racing series.
A.J. made his professional debut in major league auto racing in 2004 driving for the RuSport team in Champ Cars, America's open-wheel racing series. He performed well with the underfunded team, finishing in the top six on six different occasions and being named Roshfrans Rookie of the Year. In 2006 he moved to the better funded Forsythe Championship Racing team, won five races and finished 3rd in the championship. He then accepted a lucrative offer to move to NASCAR and drive for Team Red Bull.
While the driver and team showed glimpses of promise in the beginning, the overall results were inconsistent, and Red Bull released A.J. in 2008. Driving in one-off appearances for several NASCAR teams for the rest of the year, he caught the eye of legendary driver and owner Richard Petty and was signed to drive for his racing team in 2009. A.J. made the most of this big break and finished an excellent 3rd in his first race with his new team at the Daytona 500.
Things are now looking up for this hard-charging racer from California: A.J. scored his first pole position in 2010 and in 2011 has displayed speed equal to that of the top teams in both qualifying and in the series. It shouldn't be long before he wins his first race in NASCAR.
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