Heroic effort by AJ Allmendinger

As sick as AJ Allmendinger was on Saturday, it’s a minor miracle he was able to drive in Sunday’s race.

What’s more, after an IV treatment in the infield care center, the driver of the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Chevrolet piloted the car to a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and climbed three positions to fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

“I definitely wasn’t 100 percent today, but (on Saturday) I was awful,” Allmendinger said. “I’m usually, knock on wood, I’m not sick a lot, and just over the course of this week, kind of started feeling not great. Friday night I wasn’t feeling really well. I thought I was just tired, and yesterday it turned bad.

“I was okay in the morning, and then all of a sudden everything on my body ached. I went to the infield care center, so I’ve got to thank them a lot because they gave me some stuff and some recommendations to make me a whole lot better because if we had to race last night, I don’t know if I could have raced. I was in bed from 2:00 in the afternoon until I went to sleep, barely just able to move.”

Allmendinger, however, was fully capable of making a move on Sunday. He drove to sixth from his 22nd-place starting position.