AJ Allmendinger Reaches 500 Starts Without Stopping the Pursuit of Better
- Crystal Clay
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
by Crystal Clay
SONOMA, Calif. — Great wine doesn’t become great by becoming something else. It matures, refines itself and gains character over time.
Five hundred NASCAR Cup Series starts into his career, AJ Allmendinger has found the same is true of a race car driver.
The Northern California native reaches the milestone this weekend at his home track, Sonoma Raceway; a fitting setting for a driver whose career has been defined by resilience, reinvention and an unwavering commitment to improvement.
Allmendinger admitted the milestone caught him somewhat by surprise.
“I’ll be real honest, the fact that I’m the 48th person, I just thought there was more people that have done it,” Allmendinger said. “That kind of shocked me that I guess I’m number 48 to reach that milestone.”
For now, however, the accomplishment isn’t something Allmendinger is ready to dwell on.
“I think it’s something I’ll look back on when I’m done and kind of go through the fun times,” Allmendinger said. “Maybe at the end of it, look back and like, ‘Hey, that’s pretty amazing I’ve gotten to do so many of them.’ But right now I just want to be better.”
That desire to keep improving has shaped Allmendinger’s approach throughout his career, even as the road-course landscape around him has changed. Road-course racing has evolved dramatically since Allmendinger first established himself as one of NASCAR’s aces. New talent has emerged, new benchmarks have been set and today’s standard is often measured against Shane van Gisbergen.
But after 500 Cup starts, Allmendinger understands there is a difference between learning from greatness and trying to become someone else. “You know, you still learn from what makes him so good,” Allmendinger said. “But with that said, it’s like, you go out there and you try to drive exactly like him… it makes some of the things I think I’m strong at weak, trying to do that. So, it’s just a balance.”
Instead, Allmendinger studies what works while remaining true to the strengths that have carried him through nearly two decades in NASCAR’s premier series.
“More than anything, he’s so smooth and the way he takes care of the rear tires,” Allmendinger said of van Gisbergen. “If you watch his in-car stuff, it looks slow. If you don’t put a stopwatch on it, you’re like, ‘It’s not very fast,’ but obviously it is.”
Even with 500 starts behind him, the learning hasn’t stopped.
“So, yeah, there’s always a little bit of mix in there. I still study, though.”
That mindset has become one of Allmendinger’s defining traits both as a driver and as a teammate.
Kaulig Racing teammate Ty Dillon said Allmendinger’s intensity was immediately apparent when they first began working together. Over time, however, Dillon came to appreciate the work ethic and openness behind that competitive edge. “AJ is probably my favorite teammate I’ve worked with,” Dillon said. “He’s an absolute grinder, hard worker, puts so much effort into it. You put him in any situation, he’s gonna get the most out of it.”
Dillon credited Allmendinger’s willingness to share information and work collaboratively with helping elevate not only his own road-course performance, but Kaulig Racing as a whole.
“He’s been such a good teammate,” Dillon said. “He’s helped me so far in these road courses come a long way… When you have two teammates that are pretty open and vulnerable with each other about what they need to get better, it’s helped our whole program.”
Five hundred starts also brings perspective. For Allmendinger, that means knowing what lessons to embrace, which strengths to preserve and understanding that growth never truly ends.
Like a great wine, the best version of AJ Allmendinger wasn’t created overnight.
It's been refined, one start at a time.
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