A.J. Allmendinger and his JTG-Daugherty team were able to put an exclamation point next to their strong weekend after the team reeled in a fifth-place finish Sunday afternoon.
Allmendinger and his No. 47 utilized patience early, deciding to drop from their season-best third place starting position and hang at the rear of the field, hoping to miss the “big one” and put themselves in contention near the end.
It worked.
As the second-half of the race wore on, Allmendinger methodically began moving forward, inching closer to the front and contending for the win, but the caution flag waived on last lap and derailed any attempt at making a defining move coming to the checkered flag.
“The previous restart the outside lane had such a run,” Allmendinger said. “I kept inching, inching and then I just waited too late and I got shuffled. I really thought I had messed us up there and that last restart I’ve got to thank Paul Menard. He just kept shoving me all the way up through the inside of guys. We are slowly getting there … day by day. I’m just proud to be on this team right now.”
For JTG-Daugherty, it was their first top five since Bobby Labonte finished fourth in the 2011 Daytona 500. It was the team’s third top-10 finish of the year. The team also finished sixth last Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
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