MARTINSVILLE, Va. — JTG-Daugherty Racing spent much of the offseason restructuring its technical program. Through six races, the changes seem to have paid off for AJ Allmendinger.
The team earned a runner-up result Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, its second top-10 in as many starts after an eighth-place finish March 20 at Auto Club Speedway. Allmendinger has quickly gelled with new crew chief Randy Burnett and the pairing has climbed to 12th in the Sprint Cup standings.
Allmendinger had been qualifying well through the first handful of races but now believes he and his team are putting together a more complete effort.
“I think that's something that really started on the West Coast swing and coming through here, I feel like we've been at our best at the end of these races,” Allmendinger said. “We've maximized. That's the biggest thing we always say — if we can just maximize our finishes, whether they're top-fives or you're running 20th and you can get 18th an out of it, that's what we want to do.”
The changes to JTG-Daugherty began in December when Ernie Cope was named Director of Competition and Burnett replaced Brian Burns as crew chief. Eventually, Burns was named to an engineering role at the team's shop and the additional depth has provided a significant advantage from last season.
Allmendinger said his team was somewhat shorthanded last year and that both Cope and Burnett have made a dramatic difference this spring. And instead of taking the reassignment as a demotion, Burns has brought a lot of energy to his new role in the shop.
“Brian Burns and (engineer) Tony Palmer, they stepped back into new roles and instead of feeling like they were downsized or demoted, they've stepped up and embraced it,” Allmendinger said. “The whole team here at the racetrack and at the shop, they've all stepped up. Pit crews the last two weeks have really stepped up, and there's a good vibe around the team.”
Burnett told USA TODAY Sports Allmendinger deserved a much better finish than 27th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and they can compete for a third straight top-10 next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
“We've had really good cars this year,” Burnett said. “Our Atlanta car was fast but we had some unfortunate issues that kind of knocked us out with some pit road issues or whatever. All of our intermediate stuff has been really fast.
“We've qualified well and we've had speed in our cars. So heading into Texas, I'm really excited about our intermediate program. I'm pretty excited about our short track program after this, too. We're having a lot of fun and we're only going to get better.”
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