BRISTOL, Tenn. – JTG-Daugherty Racing will look to put its drivers’ love of short-track racing to good use this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway as the team chases its first win in nearly four years.
Both A.J. Allmendinger and Chris Buescher are fans of the rough-and-tumble racing that frequently takes place at the three tracks under one mile in distance on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and after showing solid speed at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last month, the two drivers are confident they can contend up front.
Allmendinger ran among the top 10 for most of the STP 500, scoring a seventh-place result for his second top-10 finish of the year, and he hopes to improve on that performance at the the .533-mile concrete oval that he considers one of the most special tracks on the circuit.
“Bristol Motor Speedway is one of those short tracks that I’ve been racing at for 10 or 11 years now, and for me … when I walk into the place, it still takes my breath away,” said Allmendinger. “I always tell people, if they’ve never been to Bristol, or a NASCAR race, that’s the track to go to. It’s a tough race, but it’s a really fun race at the same time.”
Allmendinger approaches Martinsville and Bristol in much the same manner mentally, and he hopes that mindset will reward him with his second Cup Series win.
“I like a lot of short tracks, and I look at Martinsville (Speedway) and Bristol the same way. You know you’re in it for 500 laps,” explained Allmendinger, who earned JTG-Daugherty’s lone Cup win at Watkins Glen Int’l in 2014.
“It’s a grind. You never really get a breath,” said Allmendinger. “What they do with the VHT that’s stuck on the track can help you decide what line you’re going to run … but it can also affect a lot of things throughout the race. It’s 500 laps of holding on and knowing that it’s a challenge. It’s a fun race track and it’s one of those tracks where if you can finish inside the top 10, or especially if you can win the race, you really feel like you’ve done something special.”
While Buescher struggled in the second half of last month’s Martinsville race en route to a 22nd-place finish, he performed well at times and showed flashes of the same speed that Allmendinger had at the Paper Clip.
Buescher hopes that a little bit different dose of luck will lead him to victory lane at Bristol, as he’s carrying Bush’s Baked Beans as his primary sponsor.
Bush’s is headquartered in nearby Knoxville, Tenn., and Buescher would love nothing more than to deliver them a victory and lock in for his second-career playoff appearance.
“With Bristol being the home track for Bush’s Beans, it’s a big weekend for all of us,” noted Buescher. “It’s nice to be able to bring everyone out there and run the copper paint scheme on our No. 37 Bush’s Beans Camaro ZL1 that resembles the Original Bush’s Baked Beans can. That makes it all the more meaningful for us.”
Much like Allmendinger, Buescher carries a heavy “fun factor” into The Last Great Colosseum, knowing one has to enjoy short-track racing in order to succeed at it.
“Bristol (Motor Speedway) is a very fast half-mile. It’s my favorite track,” said Buescher. “I absolutely love the place. When you look at the track, it’s just so much fun to run the top groove, and you can play with the different compound VHT grooves on the bottom. They’ve hit the mark with where they place the VHT sometimes and missed it a little bit on others, but if they can get that right, I think it makes it a track that has two very usable grooves.”
“It’ll wear out as we go, but it’s a really awesome race track. I feel like it’s a place we can go and have a really solid race. Maybe, if we can catch the right breaks, we might even be able to sneak a win out. You never know.”
Buescher has a career-best of fifth at Bristol, coming in August of 2016 for Front Row Motorsports, while Allmendinger scored his lone Bristol top-10 in the same race, finishing ninth for JTG-Daugherty.
