A.J. Allmendinger Released From Penske Racing; Who's Replacing Him?

It was just announced that A.J. Allmendinger has been released from Penske Racing.  This announcement came after Roger Penske and A.J. held a meeting.

A.J.'s release is Sam Hornish Jr.'s moment.  It would look like Sam Hornish Jr. will be in the No. 22 Penske Dodge for the "foreseeable future."  The ride is up for debate for the 2013 season.

A.J. Allmendinger said:

"Effective today, I have been released from Penske Racing as driver of the No. 22 Dodge Charger," Allmendinger said in a statement. "I wish to thank Mr. Penske, Penske Racing, their sponsors, and especially all the of the No. 22 team for the opportunity they provided me and for their support in this difficult time. I also, again, would like to thank all the fans that really have been awesome through this. I apologize for the distraction, embarrassment, and difficulties that my current suspension from NASCAR has provided. As I stated last week, I have begun NASCAR's Road to Recovery program and look forward to using those resources and its completion to compete again in NASCAR in the near future."

This is not an unexpected development.  A.J.'s track record wasn't bad but also wasn't making waves or making people stand up and take notice.  It was more of a quiet burn.  And there's the sponsor and what they want and feel compelled to do, in regards to image.

Penske Racing also has a no-tolerance policy with substance abuse.  Is that a clue as to what popped up with Allmendinger?

So I'm guessing that this contract release was a team/sponsor decision.

And what about Allmendinger's present status?  No one knows.  As it's been put, his camp has gone quiet. 

With the exception of letting the fans know that he immediately chose to pursue the Road to Recovery program, fans have not heard one other word about his situation.  Was this a false positive from a supplement?  Was it an error on his part for whatever reason?

I think fans would like to know.  His camp needs to know.  Drivers who will be possibly sharing the track with him down the road would love to know.

I don't think his present PR camp is the best for him either. Regardless of what he did.  The lady behind his PR camp made a few statements early on, that proved to be incorrect.  And when Dave Moody called her on it during a SiriusXM interview, her reasoning for her mistaken statements seemed irresponsible.

In one example, she said that A.J. barely squeaked past the failure threshold of NASCAR's random drug test.  NASCAR said he failed by a large margin.  Later, A.J.'s rep backpedaled and said she was quoting his test numbers against other sports threshold's, not NASCAR's.  I would think you gather your facts and present them.  Not spin them with aspects outside the sport.

But that's my opinion.

Will Sam Hornish Jr. stay in the car in 2013?  No word yet.  Fans of Hornish Jr. can hope he pulls one out of his hat and makes the car dance.  Kurt Busch did.  So there's no shortage of performance ability in the team/car.  But this is a team/sponsor call.

If Hornish Jr. does not  keep the ride, well, there are all kinds of offers to take the wheel, as Penske put it last weekend.

Who do you think might make a good replacement in the No. 22 Ford for 2013?  (Penske Racing is moving to Ford in 2013.)

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