CUP: Second flat tire in two days makes it a rough Iowa weekend for A.J. Allmendinger

Written By Brock Beard

by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO: Jonah Ylhainen, @DnfRacers

A.J. Allmendinger picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at the Iowa Speedway when his #16 Action Industries Chevrolet fell out with crash damage after 54 of 350 laps.

The finish, which came in Allmendinger’s 436th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since February 26, 2023 at Fontana, 51 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 19th for the #16, the 669th from a crash, and the 857th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 39th for the #16, the 1,380th for a crash, and the 1,945th for Chevrolet.

Allmendinger’s most recent last-place finish came at the beginning of his first full-time Cup Series season since 2018, his last for JTG-Daugherty Racing in the #47. The next year, he rejuvenated his racing career with Kaulig Racing, where he scored his first XFINITY Series win in six years. That win came on the Charlotte “Roval,” a race he wouldn’t lose until 2023 – and only because he wasn’t entered. In fact, he won the Cup race there the next day. However, by then, Allmendinger had already missed the Playoffs, scoring just four Top Fives and seven Top Tens on the season, and he finished 21st in points.

This year, Allmendinger has returned to full-time XFINITY this season with Iowa among his few Cup starts. Heading into the race, he’d qualified for the Daytona 500, where he finished 6th, then claimed 23rd among the shredded tires at Bristol, took 6th on the first road course race at COTA, 13th at Dover, then 6th just last week in Sonoma, where he led his first laps since Daytona.

Iowa would see Allmendinger again run double-duty, starting with his run in the #16 Cirkul Chevrolet in the XFINITY Series. In that series, he ran 13th in practice and secured 11th when qualifying was rained out. But just 32 laps into the race, he blew a right-front tire in Turn 4 and slammed the wall hard, leaving him 37th. He climbed out in the infield grass without serious injury and turned his attention to Sunday. On that Cup side, he was 17th-fastest in practice, then in an abbreviated single-round qualifying session managed 18th with a lap of 24.035 seconds (131.059mph).

The view from Austin Dillon’s 36th-place car just before the start. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)

With only the 36 Chartered entries attempting the long-awaited inaugural Cup race on the Iowa track (following the withdrawal of David Starr in the MBM #66 due to sponsorship), Austin Dillon secured the final spot after his #3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet managed a lap of just 24.891 seconds (126.552mph), nearly a full second slower than the next-slowest car of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Prior to the start, he’d be joined by Christopher Bell, who after waiting for the track to rubber up in practice lost a tire on the 19th lap of his run and hit the wall, sending him to a backup car. Also docked for a backup car was Gateway winner Austin Cindric, whose #2 Discount Tire Ford blew a right-front tire and hit the wall in Turn 2. Bell’s backup car earned 10th on the grid while Cindric’s took 21st, though both would incur tail-end penalties prior to the start.

When the race started, Bell was on the outside of the final row, and remained in the 36th spot coming off Turn 2. At the stripe, he remained in 36th, 0.150 behind Dillon’s #3 and 3.198 back of the lead. By Lap 3, Bell had climbed to 33rd, dropping Erik Jones to the last spot. At the time, Jones’ #43 Family Dollar Toyota was locked in a side-by-side battle with Dillon, the pair just 0.088 second apart. By Lap 4, both dispensed with Kaz Grala, whose #15 Remixers.com / Xemex Ford was now alongside Jones, just 0.036 apart. That time by, all three Spire Motorsports cars collided in Turn 2 when Carson Hocevar’s #77 Premier Security Chevrolet bumped Zane Smith’s #71 Focused Health Chevrolet into Corey LaJoie’s #7 Gainbrdige / Iowa Hawkeyes Chevrolet, sending LaJoie into a spin. “Probably could have been avoided on Lap 4,” said LaJoie’s crew as he continued without serious damage, but now in 36th. “We'll talk about it on Monday.”

Under the ensuing caution, LaJoie, Grala, and Jones were among those who pitted, followed by Michael McDowell, who on Lap 7 took over last place in the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford. Grala made a second stop and retook the spot on Lap 8, and the #15 remained there for the Lap 10 restart.

Much like in Saturday’s XFINITY race, the ensuing run saw a hotly contested battle for last place, featuring several laps of side-by-side racing. On Lap 11, Grala pulled alongside the now 35th-place McDowell, the pair just 0.061 apart, but McDowell held him off the next time by. Grala set after him once more, drawing alongside just 0.019 behind on Lap 14, then both climbed past Jones, who dropped to last on Lap 15. McDowell pulled away from Grala, who on Lap 18 was caught by Jones, just 0.028 apart at the stripe, and on Lap 20, Jones dropped Grala back to last. Grala again reciprocated, and on Lap 24 was just 0.088 behind. Jones pulled away, and Grala was first to be lapped on the 33rd circuit.

Daniel Hemric stranded in the early laps. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)

On Lap 40, Grala passed Daniel Hemric, Allmendinger’s teammate on the Cup side, whose #31 Cirkul Chevrolet was lapped moments after Grala during that run. By Lap 45, Grala had pulled so far ahead of Hemric that he was running by himself, the next cars a full straightaway ahead. Hemric was still running in last place when the caution fell on Lap 52. Reminiscent of his race on Saturday, Allmendinger cut down a right-front tire. This time, he was entering Turn 1 and running in the high lane, which at first seemed to keep the damage minimal. He took last from Hemric as he made it to pit road under caution, where the crew inspected the right-front suspension, changed tires, and applied some tape.

But Allmendinger reported the toe was off, so he pitted again, when this time the crew lifted the hood. He returned to the track on Lap 57, by now four laps down. But now, the driver reported “the right-rear’s bent,” to which the crew said, “Bring it to us, I don’t want you to hit the wall again.” By then, NASCAR told the team’s spotter the #16 was smoking. And so, on Lap 59, Allmendinger pulled into the garage. The car missed the track’s narrow garage entry at first, needing to back up and enter it again. The driver pulled up to the hauler, where the onboard camera was shut off, their day done.

Finishing 35th was Kyle Busch, whose #8 zone / Kwik Star Chevrolet was battling in the Top Ten when he suddenly slowed in Turn 1 with suspension issues. After making an unscheduled stop, the crew put him behind the wall, then returned on Lap 283, showing 12 laps down. Moments later, a belt failed on either the power steering or water pump, and he pulled into the garage, this time done for the night. This ranked him just 34th at the time until he was passed by Kyle Larson, whose #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet led 80 laps, then was collected in a multi-car accident off Turn 4 involving himself and Denny Hamlin’s #11 Interstate Batteries Toyota. Larson returned to the race on Lap 261, 30 laps down, and dropped Busch to 35th on Lap 308. He climbed no further as Grala and Jones completed the Bottom Five, showing five and three laps down, respectively.

Kyle Larson returning from his mid-race crash. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)

Justin Haley even more impressive at Iowa

Just like Gateway, Justin Haley was again impressive in Rick Ware Racing’s #51 MotoRad Ford, and this time ran between 9th and 10th for most of the race. He even overcame an early pit road penalty to rejoin the Top Ten in the middle stages. On the final run, he settled into 13th position between an equally impressive Todd Gilliland in the #38 Ruedebusch Ford and Carson Hocevar, who rebounded from his early incident to take 14th in the Spire #77.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*While this was Allmendinger’s first Cup last-place finish of 2024, it was the second of the season for the Kaulig Racing #16. On February 25th, Josh Williams’ #16 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet crashed after 2 laps around Atlanta.

*This marks the first time the #16 finished last in an inaugural Cup Series race since September 14, 1969, when Don Schisler – one of the Grand Touring entries to fill the strike-shortened field – failed to complete a lap of the inaugural Talladega 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway, citing engine issues. His 30th-place qualified entry was credited behind 33rd-place starting Doug Easton, whose 1968 Ford had a driveshaft failure that also kept him from completing a lap.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 54 laps / crash

35) #8-Kyle Busch / 272 laps / water pump

34) #5-Kyle Larson / 314 laps / running / led 80 laps / won stage 2

33) #15-Kaz Grala / 345 laps / running

32) #43-Erik Jones / 347 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Kaulig Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

3rd) Legacy Motor Club, Motorsports Business Management, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (7)

2nd) Chevrolet (6)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

Brock Beard https://lastcar.info
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