Katie's Komments: 12th Edition

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Katie’s Komment’s, a place to find the latest NASCAR news and my opinion on it! All comments are my views only but feel free to leave your own!

Martin Truex Jr: How can I not Komment on this?! I have been watching this man each and every weekend, just WAITING for him to take the checkered flag. He made the Chase last season and was a decent contender throughout the Chase and came back even stronger this season. He has seven top-10 finishes and has led multiple laps throughout the first 13 races, most notably, at Texas. Truex led 134 laps at Texas and many had him pegged at halfway to break his multiple season winless streak. Truex though, finished second. The following week at Kansas, Truex led laps again, 46 to be exact, but went on to finish fourth. Some, including myself, were starting to wonder if he was ever going to catch a break after his third place finish in Michigan. Then came Sonoma. In his eight starts at the road track, he had only one top-10 finish leading into this weekend. Was Truex on my fantasy list? Not even close, but when he took the lead, it was all but over. Truex took that lead and had lead on second place that was over seconds. Truex fought hard for this win and he and his team deserve it! With the momentum from this win, Truex and the No.56 will be hotter than ever going into the summer months.

Dinger Does It: After a rough road last season and losing his seat in the No.22 Penske ride, AJ Allmendinger finally made his comeback. There weren’t too many people who thought the Dinger would get a second chance at a ride, especially with one of the best teams in racing. Almost a year after testing positive for a banned substance, Allmendinger found himself in Victory Lane in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in a ride given to him by Roger Penske. Even after everything that happened with Allmendinger in the last year, one person was by his side the entire time; Roger Penske. Penske kept his faith in his driver and even put him in an IndyCar ride for the Indy500. Allmendinger has made a few starts in the Sprint Cup Series for other teams but Penske Racing is where his home is. He drove his heart out for his first Nationwide Victory, and his first victory since losing his ride in the No.22 Cup Car. I would love to see Allmendinger get a full time ride, either in NASCAR or IndyCar, and I would love to see him succeed.

Bobby Labonte: Well, his streak of more than 700 straight starts in the Sprint Cup Series will end this week as AJ Allmendinger will pilot the No.47 at Kentucky. The 2000 Cup Champion is a fan favorite no matter where he finishes in the race or the final standing and has been a familiar face around the track since starting his full-time Cup career in 1993. JTG-Daugherty Racing, for which Labonte has piloted their No.47 full-time since 2011, wants to see where their equipment and team is compared to others. Their solution to this is to put another driver, AJ Allmendinger, in the car. The first time this switch occurred was two weeks ago in Michigan. Allmendinger drove the No.47 and Labonte drove the No.51 for James Finch. So if Allmendinger is in the No.47 this weekend then why doesn’t Labonte drive the No.51 again? Nationwide Series driver Austin Dillon is scheduled to drive for James Finch this weekend, leaving Labonte without a ride. So, unfortunately, Labonte’s streak of 700+ straight starts in the Cup Series will indeed come to an end at Kentucky.

That will be it for the twelfth edition of Katie’s Komments and remember, if you don’t like mine, feel free to leave your own!