STEEP CURVE; Martinsville serves as another tough lesson for A.J. Allmendinger.(Motorsports)

AutoWeek, April, 2007

Byline: AL PEARCE The Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway was barely a quarter over, and A.J. Allmendinger was already tired of wallowing around near the back. He was headed for a 38th-place finish, 17 laps behind winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up Jeff Gordon. But at least Martinsville was better than the previous weekend at Bristol, where he finished 40th, 87 laps behind in his first-ever Nextel Cup start.

"I was just hanging on,'' the former Champ Car World Series star said at Martinsville, the tour's shortest and slowest track. "I was a moving chicane and felt like an accident waiting to happen. Definitely, it's not what we wanted. Pretty much, today stunk. It's as simple as that. We need laps, but I didn't want to be out there like that.'' On a day...