Jul 9th, 2010 by T.C.
Last weekend at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Richard Petty and RPM driver AJ Allmendinger had a short confrontation in the garage area after the race. During the race, Allmendinger was involved in a wreck with Kyle Busch that sent him spinning off the track and into the inside wall. AJ went on to finish the race, but 36th position, 30 laps down wasn’t the result he and his team were looking for. Once in the garage, Petty had words with Allmendinger as he climbed from his race car.
I apologize for not having the video of the incident, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere online. In case you didn’t see it, Petty says something to Allmendinger as he climbs from the car that AJ doesn’t want to hear. ’Dinger attempts to walk away, and Petty grabs his arm. The two talk for a bit longer, with AJ attempting to escape again.
What exactly was said between the two I don’ t know. It does appear to me however, that Petty was attempting to teach or point something out to Allmendinger about the day, and AJ didn’t want to hear it. Either way, I don’t think anyone is to blame for the spat, and I don’t think it will have any lasting effect on their relationship.
Robbie Loomis, RPM’s VP of Competition, came out after the incident and tried to downplay the confrontation.
“I always say the car owner shouldn’t talk to the driver anytime after the race, especially after an accident,” Petty VP Robbie Loomis said. “I think Richard’s been here so many times, he’s been through this stuff and he was just trying to get him to loosen up and let the boys do their stuff on fixing the car and getting back out there. Anytime you talk to somebody at the wrong time, it always causes discussion that needs to be worked out. That’s all that happened.”
Richard Allen from RacingwithRich.com thinks that the confrontation may affect AJ’s future with RPM, but I disagree. Allmendinger was clearly upset about how the race played out, and you can’t blame the guy for being angry. And if anyone knows what it’s like to be disappointed by a race, it should be Richard Petty. Both are very passionate about racing, and that passion is going to boil over at certain times. In this case, Allmendinger let his temper get the better of him, and Petty just chose the wrong time to try and make his point to his young driver.
With it being Friday already, I’m sure Petty and Allmendinger have already sat down and worked out any issues they may have had. Both are passionate competitors, and I’m sure once calm, AJ will listen to anything Richard has to say. In the future, hopefully Petty will wait until their weekly meeting to offer any advice or thoughts to his drivers.
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