When the celebration died down and AJ Allmendinger was walking back to his motor coach following a win two weeks ago at Watkins Glen, he was taken aback by the surprise JTG Daugherty co-owner Brad Daugherty had waiting.
NASCAR Bristol 2014: Team owner toilet-papers AJ Allmendinger’s bus
Former NBA star and current NASCAR car owner Brad Daugherty celebrated his first win by wrapping driver AJ Allmendinger’s motor home in toilet paper.
Tom Pennington
“Brad TP’d my bus, which I felt was kind of wrong,” Allmendinger said smiling. “I walked up and my bus had toilet paper all over the top of it -- [team sponsor] Scott Toilet Paper by the way.”
That was just one of the memories Allmendinger looks back on with fondness in the euphoria of winning his and JTG Daugherty’s first Sprint Cup race. The victory assured Allmendinger would be in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, a significant feat for a single-car team with limited budget.
As he was celebrating in Victory Lane, Allmendinger received congratulations from Kurt Busch and Roger Penske, among others. The embrace he shared with Penske was especially meaningful since Allmendinger was driving for Team Penske when he failed a NASCAR drug test two years ago.
After completing a NASCAR-mandated rehabilitation program, Allmendinger returned in late 2012, and though he lost his ride with Penske, the car owner remained one of Allmendinger’s biggest advocates.
However, it was the elation of current co-owners, Tad and Jodi Geschickter and Daugherty, that Allmendinger most cherished.
“I think that the Victory Lane celebration was cool,” Allmendinger said. “And seeing really Tad and Jodi’s faces -- everything that they’ve gone through and the struggles they have had to see -- just kind of their body language and on their face what it meant to them. That to me was the most satisfying thing because when they signed me here, they gave me an opportunity and took a chance on me to a certain degree.”
Allmendinger doesn’t know what to make of his chances once the Chase begins. JTG Daugherty has struggled on intermediate tracks this season, which make up half the 10-race Chase schedule. And although his team shares a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, Allmendinger will not have a teammate to lean on for support.
“We know when it comes Chase time, when you put the championship contenders and label each team, we are probably at the bottom of the list,” Allmendinger said.
But of the mindset that anything can happen in the playoffs, JTG Daugherty’s Chase approach is straightforward.
“We want to go in there and make some noise,” Allmendinger said. “That is what we are working hard the next few weeks to just try to get better.”
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