NASCAR insiders react to AJ Allmendinger ranting against ECR at Kansas

During tonight’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas, AJ Allmendinger was out early due to a mechanical failure and was so mad. Who was he mad at? ECR Engines, the engine manufacturer owned by RCR and used by teams such as Kaulig and Trackhouse Racing.

AJ Allmendinger is a fiery personality. Competition is everything to him. When he was out of the race early today with an engine issue, he was furious.

Over the radio, Allmendinger explicitly called out his engine manufacturer. “Hey ECR, you guys f***ing suck,” the Kaulig Racing driver said on the radio.

Following the dominant win by Kyle Larson, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about Allmendinger’s rant. It was not a great look. Calling out an engine maker is not something a driver wants to do, especially publicly.

“You know the playoff bubble, we just started talking about all these guys last week. Oh, AJ Allmendinger’s in the mix, boom. Gone,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “And how about his rant? That really, you don’t do that.”

“Specifically calling out the engine department… that is, whew…” Bianchi responded. He’s not exactly wrong. Those are the folks you want to keep happy at the shop.

“He was like screaming, like f-bombs, right?” Gluck added. “You hear him like throwing stuff. … Yeah, yeah, it was loud enough to get picked up on the mic of the ambient noise even though he wasn’t keying it up when he was in the garage. That was, I mean, I’m sure Richard Childress is going to love, love that when that gets back to him. … Also, like, he didn’t just like blurt it out. Then, he sort of thought about it more again, and then he like went back at it again.”

Bianchi added a little bit more. It was not just one moment for AJ Allmendinger. He went back at it and made sure his point was heard.

“When the engine first blew, he went on the radio and did that. It’s like, okay, heat of the moment, you explain that. But we’re talking minutes later because the car ends up in the garage and then it’s another episode. You’re like, oh man, I don’t know if you can say that’s heat of the moment anymore.”

Now, did AJ Allmendinger go over the top? Kind of, yeah. But is he saying anything different than what we have heard Ross Chastain say but more politely?