AJ Allmendinger doesn’t think he can make the Chase. The entire NASCAR grid is starting to get serious about the Chase cutoffs as they approach Pocono Raceway for the next round of the Cup Series this weekend. The championship is at its halfway stage, and with the way things are progressing so far, the top contenders seem to have locked in their bids. So why is AJ Allmendinger feeling so nonchalant about his championship season?

While discussing his championship chances and the urgency to make the Chase, AJ Allmendinger had no shame in admitting that he was nowhere near the level needed to make the Chase.

“I don’t even worry about the bubble. If we, with four races to go, have a shot at the playoffs, we are doing some pretty amazing things with what we are as a race team right now, where we are at,” he confesses. “My thought process is whatever your car is that weekend. If you maximize that speed and you get the best result, I mean, that’s all we can do as a race team.”

AJ Allmendinger currently sits in 21st position in the driver standings. And that’s not the position a driver would want to be in if they want to make an impact in the postseason this year. At the very least, Allmendinger needs to be somewhere near P17-18 to have a fighting chance to make the Chase cutoffs, and currently, he sits 28 points behind 18th place.

However, the way Kaulig Racing has been performing this year doesn’t leave him with a lot of confidence in his pace.

With only two top finishes this year, it is quite clear that for Kaulig to qualify for the Chase, they will need to improve their car by leaps and bounds, which is not something that can happen this season. Meanwhile, Allmendinger himself is struggling to keep himself from being overly frustrated and bringing more burden to his team than necessary.

Road courses are Kaulig’s only lifeline. AJ Allmendinger has a proven track record through the right turns. Also, the Kaulig car seems to perform better than the others at the road courses. In fact, their sole top 10 finishes this year came from road courses.

AJ Allmendinger concedes victory to SVG ahead of San Diego

Unfortunately for his fans, Allmendinger himself doesn’t feel too convinced about going head-to-head with SVG. After two road course visits, it seems like he won’t be visiting San Diego with the hopes of winning the race.

“I mean, sure, do we at some of the road courses have a better option, and can we run well? Sure, definitely, we know that. But do we have the outright speed right now to win? Well, I don’t. I guess Tyler has the speed to beat SVG, but in general, nobody has the outright speed of SVG.”

Shane van Gisbergen is undoubtedly the king of road courses in NASCAR right now. At COTA, Reddick outran SVG with a perfect weekend and an equally competitive car. As soon as the group visited Watkins Glen, SVG was back to his old ways.

He had no issues overtaking and building a gap to the other drivers. In fact, in the final stage of the race, SVG went on to perform far better than teammate Connor Zilisch and chased down a 29-second gap to the race leader.

After that, he won the race with a six-second lead over the second-place finisher. Most drivers would give up at the mere thought of attempting such a risky strategy and would try to maximize the stage points with a decent finish. So it shouldn’t sound strange when drivers in backmarker cars like Kaulig Racing do not try to challenge Gisbergen’s dominance on road courses.