By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
Missing the shift at Sonoma Raceway at the end of June still brings a sour taste to the mouth of AJ Allmendinger.
When the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of three road courses on the schedule, Allmendinger is always the one people expect to win. At Sonoma Raceway, that expectation came true in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 until lap 33 when the veteran driver missed a shift during a restart.
Missing that shift is still on the mind of Allmendinger.
“I’m not over it yet and it was pretty simple. I missed a shift. That was it. Bad mistake. And something I’ve never really done before. And, yeah, it’s still on my mind, for sure,” the 36-year-old driver stated on Friday before NASCAR Xfinity Series practice at Watkins Glen International.
“It’s something that I think about still. It’s something that still annoys me. It’s kind of like a bad golf swing, right? You hit 100 great swings and all of a sudden you hosel one and that one starts sticking in your head about how did that happen. So, just make sure it doesn’t happen again. That had nothing to do with the team or anything we did. That was all me.”
The only reason why the veteran driver still thinks about the incident nearly six weeks ago is that he is a perfectionist.
“I’m a perfectionist. And you know, the road course races, I really try to be a perfectionist. Like I said, it’s not going to bother me here, but I am who I am. It’s still in the back of my mind. It still just annoys me,” Allmendinger continued.
“That’s it. I was disappointed for the race team and that I let them down. We didn’t get a good finish. I don’t think we were going to win that race. I don’t think it cost us a Playoff spot there, but I thought we were going to at least have a top three or four finish. It just annoys me.
This weekend at Watkins Glen allows for Allmendinger to redeem the miscue at Sonoma not just once, but twice. The 36-year-old driver will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for GMS Racing on Saturday as well as the Cup race on Sunday.
Allmendinger finished ninth in last year’s Cup race at Watkins Glen.