While the NASCAR world celebrates Corey Heim’s first Cup race win, there is another driver whose stellar drive at the Coronado Naval Base circuit in San Diego went under the radar. 

The situation at Kaulig Racing isn’t ideal, with Chevrolet cutting off all resources and support to the team after it switched to RAM as their OEM in NASCAR’s Truck series. 

With the race in San Diego being a first for every driver across the grid, the preparations were highly dependent on simulations. Something that Kaulig Racing didn’t get access to. Yet, AJ Allmendinger drove a brilliant race, finishing 5th with a massive 45 points. 

Allmendinger spoke to media personnel, including Bryan Nolen, who shared a clip of the 16 Kaulig driver’s interactions speaking about his race. Nolen asked Allmendinger how he managed to get a top-5 finish despite having no simulator time. 

Allmendinger said, “It starts with Mike Cook and Trent Owens. We’re just doing everything we can to make our best guesses at it. Not having any sim laps on the racetrack, I was lost the first day, A little bit lost yesterday in qualifying. Felt like I figured out pretty good today.”

While the veteran driver finished in 5th, his teammate, Ty Dillon in the 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, finished 30th.

But Allmendinger didn’t just get lucky because of the chaos that unfolded in San Diego. He was consistently in the top 5, finishing Stage 1 in 5th and Stage 2 in 4th. 

Allmendinger said it took him a while to figure out the track but there are other aspects of the race that clicked as well. 

Allmendinger breaks down San Diego race

A first time for everyone in NASCAR at the Naval Base in Coronado turned out to be a chaotic affair. Multiple drivers struggled with tire degradation as well as multiple crashes and cautions. Allmendinger managed to keep it clean right through, with a cautious rather than an aggressive drive giving him maximum points. 

In the same conversation with the media, he broke down how his race went and said, “We know who we’re racing against. It’s tough; we know the areas we lack on the road course right now, but I thought we maximized everything we could.”

Allmendinger also spoke about how the track evolved. The track evolution through the weekend made it an even trickier surface to tackle because even those who came in with multiple hours on the simulator seemed to struggle with it. 

The Kaulig driver said, “It was crazy. In certain sections, it gripped up a lot. I’m pretty sure I ran 2 seconds faster today than I did in qualifying yesterday. It was gripped up, and some of it was knowing where to push and where to calm down.”

With 45 points in the bag, Allmendinger proved that sometimes you can have all the technical support, but the value of experience and raw instincts may be way more useful. 

Who do you think was the best performer in San Diego?

Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to Daytona Racing Digest for more.

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason