AJ Allmendinger has yet to win a Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but no driver has more consistency at the high-speed track in the Gen 7 era.
Allmendinger delivered a seventh-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. This marked his fourth consecutive top-10 at the 1.5-mile Florida track, which continued the longest active streak in the Cup Series.
Additionally, the Kaulig Racing driver took his average finish at Homestead to 5.75 in the Next Gen/Gen 7 era. This too is the best mark in the Cup Series.
"I thought we had a really solid weekend at Homestead," Allmendinger said, per Kaulig Racing. "We needed a little bit more to go contend in the top five but overall, we had really good speed. I thought (crew chief Trent Owens) made some great adjustments after the second stage when we were struggling there just getting too loose.
"I'm proud to have another good run at Homestead; we had great stops from our pit crew; they were on it all day. It's really nice to put two top 10s together in a row after the disappointment we had at the start off the year. To come to these races, execute, earn stage points and finish well is really good for us to build momentum."
For comparison, Kyle Larson has two wins at the track since 2022, but his average finish is 12.25. He finished 34th in the 2023 playoff race after a collision with a sand barrel at the entrance of pit road. He then finished 13th in last season's playoff race.
An intriguing part of this comparison is how the two drivers approach Homestead. Larson is best known for racing inches away from the outside wall and occasionally hitting it. It's a strategy he used in all three national NASCAR races this weekend while winning twice. A caution erased a 16-second advantage in the Xfinity race.
Allmendinger has used multiple lanes at Homestead throughout his career, and especially in the Gen 7 era. A fitting example of this is the 2022 playoff race when he battled Larson and Ross Chastain in the closing laps.
Larson, the race-winner, ripped the boards on both ends of the track. Chastain alternated between the middle lane and right against the outside wall. Allmendinger started in the middle and then went down to the track's lowest lane.
This multi-lane strategy is one that the Kaulig driver has used multiple times in the Gen 7 era while battling for top-10 finishes at Homestead, and it has helped him run consistently even when he didn't have enough speed to challenge for the win late.
"I was able to figure out enough lines to make speed and do different things where certain guys just rip the fence to keep the momentum up," Allmendinger said. "We just didn't quite have enough there in the longer run. In general, I was really happy there."