A.J. Allmendinger, Sam Hornish Jr., Kasey Kahne Advance In All-Star Race

[DebWilliams-GFN]

By Deb Williams

CONCORD, N.C. (May 17, 2008) – A.J. Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr. advanced into Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star race with a first- and second-place finish, respectively, in the Sprint Showdown, while the fans voted Kasey Kahne into the All-Star event.

“I feel like I won the Daytona 500,” said a happy Allmendinger, who failed to qualify for the first three points events this season, sat out the next five, but then competed in the last three events. “No one understands how much this means to me after all this team has been through. Sam was quicker than me at the end. He may have had a chance to go out there and get his win, and he raced me clean knowing that we were both in. I thank him for that.”

Hornish, who started eighth, clearly possessed the quickest car in the final 20 circuits of the 40-lap event on the 1.5-mile track. He battled David Ragan for several laps before finally shooting underneath the second-place Ragan on lap 32. Hornish, who is in his first full NASCAR season, then set sail for Allmendinger, who assumed the lead for good on lap 21.

With two laps remaining, Hornish was glued to Allmendinger's bumper. He attempted a pass, but Allmendinger blocked him. It was then that Hornish elected to settle for second and a starting spot in his first-ever All-Star race. Hornish's performance gave Penske Racing all three teams in the All-Star race for the first time in the organization's history.

“I wasn't going to take any chances unless I had a good run on him [Allmendinger] and could get by him cleanly, then I was going to do it,” Hornish said. I wanted to be smart and not waste a chance to get into the All-Star race. I feel like we have a real good car.”

Hornish said his car was “real close” to his team's Coca-Cola 600 car.
“We're real happy that we made it through the Showdown,” Hornish said. “One mistake by me early in the run put us back and I had to fight my way back to the front.

Even though Allmendinger earned a position in his first-ever All-Star race, he didn't escape the wrath of Elliott Sadler. On lap 7, Allmendinger's Toyota tagged Sadler's Dodge, sending Sadler into the wall.

“The 84 [Allmendinger] just took us out,” an angry Sadler said. “There's a reason why he gets taken out of that race car it seems like every other week. It's a shame. We had a fast race car and he got into us and just took us out.”
In his post-race interview, Allmendinger admitted the accident was his fault and said he would apologize to Sadler.

“I don't know if I can really defend myself,” Allmendinger said after his Sprint Showdown victory. “It was my fault; I slid up into him. I didn't mean to do it. We'd been loose throughout the whole race to start. I was tucked under Brian [Vickers] to try to get by him and get around Elliott [Sadler] clean. I basically passed him right as that yellow came out. I was so close to Brian that the nose just took off on me and I was out of the throttle the whole time, just trying to miss him.

“I don't want to race like that. I don't want to be known to race like that. There's no defense. I messed up. I'll apologize to him, but I know right now that doesn't mean anything. We'll talk later.”

Kahne said he would have preferred to have raced his way into the All-Star race, but it was “awesome” that his fans voted him into the event.

“We have great fans,” Kahne continued. “We need all the fan support we can get, and they have stuck behind us. I was going to head home and have a couple of Budweisers and watch the All-Star race, but thanks to the fans, we get to race.

“The car will be fine. We just have to pull a fender out there a little. As far as the handling, we need to work on that. I don't think we will have time to do what we need to do to win the million, but we'll get enough time here to work on it and get it good enough to, hopefully, get in the top 10 in the million-dollar race.”

The Sprint Showdown had four lead changes among two drivers. Sadler started on the pole, but Brian Vickers snatched the lead on the first lap and held it through the first 10. Vickers' Red Bull teammate then led lap 11, but turned it back over to Vickers for laps 12-20. In the all-Toyota show at the front of the field, Allmendinger regained the top spot on lap 21 and led the rest of the way.
Allmendinger averaged 88.779 mph in the race that was slowed by four caution flags for six laps.