Allmendinger, Is He Tight in Turn 2?

I think it's a shame that A.J. Allmendinger has to be at the butt end of Red Bull's iffy NASCAR Cup effort and is instead, opting for Scott Speed to replace him. Of course, it's conjecture that Scott Speed is replacing A.J., but since they've pulled A.J. from testing and Red Bull is all over the untested Speed, I'm thinking they needed to give it another year easy, but yet no, they toss out this open wheeler, Allmendinger.

Rumors are swirling about the now available A.J.. I like him, he's pretty funny to listen to, if you've ever caught any of his Sirius Satellite NASCAR Ch. 128 interviews. But where's he headed?

Do you think AJ Allmendinger (Dinger to his buddies) will replace Sorenson at Ganassi or does Ganassi have anyone else in mind? I didn't want to ponder this with myself, so as always, I asked Charlie Turner of On Pit Row to toss in his 2 cents too!



Bruce: I'm hoping A.J. gets a good chance to prove himself. I'd hate to see him go somewhere mediocre just because he wants to stay in NASCAR. That just doesn't work. Look at HOF Racing. They dumped Yeley, but in all likely-hood, it's the garage, not the driver. Considering Logano ended up 3 laps down in Loudon in one of their cars. Am I dodging my own question? Yes. If Ganassi is Allmendingers best opportunity, maybe he can do something with it. If not, I'm very on the fence as to where else, if anyone, he could end up at. Charlie?


Charlie Turner: Allmendinger has done enough in the Red Bull no. 84 to show that he deserves more of an opportunity in the Cup series than he's had. He would be a quality replacement for Ganassi in the no. 41. The plus side of moving to Ganassi for A J is that Chip and his teams have experience with converting - and attempting to convert - ex-road racers to Cup cars. The success has been mixed. But it looks to me like Ganassi is a black hole for stock car talent though. I think he'll end up there. But my expectations are low.

Bruce: I couldn't have said it better. Oh, wait, I didn't.

Charlie asked me my thoughts on the qustion: Is Kyle Busch choking? Check it out over on his site at On Pit Row.

(Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)