How NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger sees Daytona race before playoffs

• Allmendinger’s visit to Daytona a month before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 was lightheartedly framed as a practice advantage.
• The Coke Zero Sugar 400 returns to its position as the final race of the regular season, increasing the pressure on drivers vying for playoff spots.
• Allmendinger acknowledges Watkins Glen as his best chance to secure a playoff spot but recognizes the potential for an unpredictable Daytona race, too.

DAYTONA BEACH — You couldn’t tell if AJ Allmendinger was being serious or not.

While taking groups of media members and raffle winners around the Daytona International Speedway tri-oval before a fundraiser on July 23, the NASCAR Cup Series driver hopped out of the Chevrolet Blazer pace car after each ride, greeted the next bunch and quipped as they climbed in with him.

“I’m wearing that front left tire out! That’s OK. I think it’s got two more laps in it.”

“Man, we’re heating those brakes up! We should be all right.”

The tires looked normal, even after a few rounds at 130 miles per hour. But the brake smell lingered on pit road.

Later, Allmendinger broke out more (likely) sarcasm. He said his visit to Daytona a month before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 offered him an advantage.

“You know, just practicing running the top,” Allmendinger said, holding back a smile. “It’s slick out there. The old Chevy Blazer, I might try to take the shock package off that thing because that was really smooth. Might take that over to my crew chief, Trent Owens, and see what we can learn from that.”

If there is an advantage to the few extra practice laps, Allmendinger will take it.

Daytona’s August race returns to the final week of the regular season this year. Last summer, due to a two-week Olympic break, it filled the second-to-last slot on the calendar.

Translation: The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is back to being the final chance for drivers to claim one of the 16 playoff spots. Some will leave Daytona Beach happy. Many won’t.

“It’s going to be some action,” said Allmendinger, who is in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet full-time this year. “This being the cutoff race, we’re all-take now. It’s not give-and-take. It’s going to be all-take from everybody. It’ll be a fun event.”

Following the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday, there have been 13 winners, locking each of them into the postseason with four races to go.

Two of those four will occur at ovals (Iowa and Richmond). The others will take place at larger wild cards (road course Watkins Glen and superspeedway Daytona).

Allmendinger sits 124 points below the cutline, four spots removed from the playoffs. As a road-course specialist, he views Watkins Glen as his best chance to score a postseason-clinching victory. 

But if it doesn’t happen there, well, enter Daytona and all the chaos that comes with it. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 23.

“Of course, the goal is to make the playoffs,” Allmendinger said, “but we’ve just got to keep getting better. We’ve had some really good runs. We’ve had some speed, I would say. At more than three quarters of the races, we’ve been pretty quick. We’ve just had some bad luck, and there are a lot of teams that can say that.“But just trying to keep getting better. If that gets us into the playoffs, great. If not, you finish the year strong and keep trying to build where our organization is at on the Cup side of it.”

No joking there.