AJ Allmendinger may have finally 'earned his NASCAR stripes' after rolling to his first victory since his transition from open wheel racing to stock cars and while he may have drawn harsh words from Elliott Sadler following NASCAR's Sprint Showdown on Saturday, he nonetheless proved that he does have what it takes to succeed in Sprint Cup racing.
After being 'benched' by his #84 Red Bull Racing team for several races earlier in the season Allmendinger has come back strongly and on Saturday he tasted NASCAR victory lane for the first time by holding off fellow open wheel convert Sam Hornish Jr to win the 40-lap two-part blast around the 1.5-mile Lowe's Motor Speedway. In doing so Allmendinger claimed the first of three transfer spots available to the million-dollar All Star race later in the night.
It wasn't easy for Allmendinger, who started fourth and survived an early race clash with polesitter Sadler, which resulted in Sadler making contact with the turn two wall and being forced to retire. Allmendinger then had to battle past several cars, including his teammate Brian Vickers during the final 20-lap segment to take the chequered flag ahead of an advancing Hornish Jr, whose #77 Penske Racing Dodge was easily the scariest looking car through the corners.
But, like Allmendinger, Hornish Jr finally looked at home at NASCAR's hardest track as he claimed the second transfer spot to the All Star race, passing David Ragan half way through the final segment and then closing in on Allmendinger as the chequered flag neared.
Ragan was the first finisher to miss out on a place in the main event as he took third place with Vickers fourth and Kasey Kahne in fifth. However thanks to the Fans Vote Kahne claimed the final place in the All Star race in the only Gillett-Evernham Motorsports entry to survive the Showdown unscathed following Sadler's controversial clash with Allmendinger and Patrick Carpentier's single car accident on lap two.
David Reutimann, David Gilliland, Travis Kvapil, JJ Yeley and Dave Blaney rounded out the top ten.
