Allmendinger's car owner explains why team will skip Sprint Unlimited - MotorSportsTalk

AJ Allmendinger will not compete in next weekend’s Sprint Unlimited because his team was unable to find sponsorship for the exhibition event.

JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter told MotorsportsTalk that NASCAR’s late decision to include all 16 Chase drivers in the Sprint Unlimited left his organization with little time to find a sponsor.

NASCAR announced Dec. 15 it was expanding the field for the Feb. 14 non-points race.

“It was nowhere on our radar until they changed the rules on it,’’ Geschickter said Monday of competing in the Sprint Unlimited. “If we had won a pole during the season and knew we were in it, I’m sure we would have been well prepared for it. We appreciate being grandfathered in, but, obviously, have to manage our resources to deliver the best year-end points finish we can for our sponsors.’’

Allmendinger finished 13th in the points for the team last year, earning a Chase bid with his win at Watkins Glen.

Geschickter said he’s not worried about missing additional track time at Daytona International Speedway by skipping the race. JTG Daugherty enters its second year as part of an alliance with Richard Childress Racing and will be able to get information and notes from other RCR alliance cars in that race.

Geschickter says the team has three superspeedway cars ready for the season.

“Obviously, if you go tear one up before the season starts, that’s a big hit to a budget,’’ Geschickter said.

As for sponsorship this season, Geschickter says the team has only three races to sell. Those races are in the second half of the year.

Also, a Richard Childress Racing spokesperson confirmed that Brian Scott will not compete in the 75-lap Sprint Unlimited. Scott was eligible by winning the pole at Talladega last spring.

Brian Vickers also was eligible but will not compete in the exhibition race. He will miss the first two races of the season as he completes his recovery from offseason corrective heart surgery.

NASCAR stated in December that the Sprint Unlimited would have a minimum 25 cars. The event is open to all Chase drivers from last season, pole winners from last year, former Sprint Unlimited winners, and former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full time in 2014. If any of the 25 spots remain, then those highest in the points not yet eligible would qualify.

NASCAR confirmed that the top four drivers not automatically in the Sprint Unlimited but who would be eligible if others fell out: Clint Bowyer (19th in points last year), Paul Menard (21st), Casey Mears (26th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (27th).

A spokesperson for Michael Waltrip Racing confirmed that Bowyer would compete in the event. A spokesperson for RCR confirmed that Menard would race in the Sprint Unlimited.

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Allmendinger’s car owner explains why team will skip Sprint Unlimited

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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