DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It’s been five years since 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona overall winner A.J. Allmendinger last competed in the marquee season opener, but the NASCAR Cup Series regular is excited to be back on the star-filled grid this year.
He’s paired with Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Scott Dixon in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 in the GTP class.
Allmendinger, who’ll make his 16th Rolex 24 start on January 24, conceded with a grin, “it’s been a lot of work” getting up to speed with the new prototype. A longtime friend with Rolex 24 car team co-owner Michael Shank, the IndyCar and NASCAR race winner doesn’t just compete to fill his impressive resume, he wants to help his team earn a new Rolex watch.
Allmendinger conceded he had to be nudged – just a bit – to rejoin the team for the 24-hour race.
“In a way, he had to talk me into it,’’ Allmendinger said of Shank. “More than anything, the last thing I want to do in life is let that guy down.
“I knew this car was very sophisticated even compared to five years ago, the last time I drove DPi. It’s been a lot of work and the team has been amazing working with me and kind of bringing me up to speed as quick as they could. I put a lot of effort into studying everything.”
The opportunity was particularly attractive considering Allmendinger was going to be paired with a decorated A-list of co-drivers.
“These guys are world-class,” he said. “And part of the stress-slash-fun is being up to speed to be with them. I don’t expect to be the fastest one out of all of them, but I do expect to be fast enough to do my job and my portion of the race and hand the car off to the guys with a shot to win.
“And at the end of the day, I think it’s shown me how much I missed being around the group, the camaraderie. You have teammates in NASCAR, but you’re not sharing the car. So that’s been a lot of fun.”
