Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981), nicknamed "the Dinger,”[1] is an American professional stock car racing driver.

[3] In 2003, he was signed to Carl Russo's RuSPORT team and won the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, winning nine pole positions and seven races.

[5] He scored a run of six top-six finishes towards the end of the season and won the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year Award ahead of Justin Wilson.

Allmendinger became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at the Milwaukee Mile in 2004.

[10] In 2007, Allmendinger commented that a lack of marketing and sponsorship due to the CART-IRL split played a role in him and several other open-wheel drivers moving to NASCAR, adding "it needs to be one series.

[15] This was extended to include the Long Beach Grand Prix, the Chevy Indy Dual in Detroit, and the season finale at Fontana.

Allmendinger made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series driving for Bill Davis Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16, 2006, in the No.

84 Red Bull-sponsored Dodge Charger,[19] however, due to qualifying being rained out, a lack of owner's points prevented Allmendinger from making the race.

To assist him in the transition to stock cars, he participated in selected Craftsman Truck Series races in a Toyota for the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports organization, and in the No.

Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president for racing operations, said that Allmendinger had up to 72 hours to request a B test sample.

[30] On July 24, 2012, it was announced by NASCAR that Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely after the B sample tested positive for a banned stimulant,[31] which was revealed to be amphetamine.

On June 1, 2013, Roger Penske announced that Allmendinger would drive for his team at Road America and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

51 and was running near the top-ten for almost the entire night until lap 148, when he was part of a wreck in the tri-oval with Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and David Reutimann, reducing Allmendinger to a 35th-place finish.

Allmendinger had a few poor opening races, but did well at Fontana, recovering from a late speeding penalty to finish eighth, as well as having top-tens at Richmond and Talladega.

"[44] Before the race, Allmendinger had announced that Kimberly-Clark Corporation (consisting of Scott, Viva, Kleenex, Cottonelle, and Huggies brands) extended its sponsorship agreement with the team through 2017.

[45] Though NASCAR expanded the grid of the Sprint Unlimited to include all the Chase drivers, Allmendinger declined the invitation, saying he wanted to save his equipment for the points races such as the Daytona 500.

[47] On May 9, 2015, Allmendinger announced plans to sign a five-year contract extension with JTG Daugherty, allowing him to remain with the team through the 2020 season.

On June 8, 2016, Richard Childress Racing announced plans to add Allmendinger to their Xfinity Series driver lineup, hiring him to drive the No.

[58] In the 2019 Circle K Firecracker 250 at Daytona, Allmendinger finished third, but was disqualified and relegated to last place after his car failed an engine vacuum test during post-race inspection.

[61] At his final start of the year at the Charlotte Roval,[62] he picked up his first win of the season and third of his Xfinity Series career, beating out RCR driver Tyler Reddick.

[63] A few weeks after his Roval win, Kaulig president Chris Rice stated in an interview that Allmendinger would tentatively return to the team to drive for them in all of the Xfinity Series road course races again.

[69] At the Cup Series race at Martinsville in June, Allmendinger was on standby for RCR's Austin Dillon, who was expecting his first child with his wife, Whitney.

[70] Allmendinger continued acting on standby until Homestead-Miami but was not needed as Dillon's son was born Sunday morning before the Homestead race.

[72] At the Daytona road course race, Allmendinger finished fourth but was involved in controversy as he spun Justin Allgaier in the closing laps, leading to a confrontation between the two drivers.

[73] Allmendinger was leading going into the final corner of the August Daytona oval race but wrecked after contact with his Kaulig teammate Ross Chastain.

[74] In October, Allmendinger defended his win on the Charlotte Roval, taking victory at the track for the second year in a row in a race affected by rain and darkness.

[77] In March, Allmendinger earned his sixth career win by passing Daniel Hemric on a late-race restart at Las Vegas.

[99] In July 2019, Allmendinger joined the IndyCar Series on NBC booth for the Iowa Speedway event, working alongside Leigh Diffey and Paul Tracy.

Allmendinger was married to Canadian model and 2003 Miss Molson Indy Canada Lynne Kushnirenko in January 2007[101] after meeting her at a Champ Car race in Toronto in 2005.

After Wilson's death in 2015, former RuSPORT president Jeremy Dale recalled their positive relationship as teammates as something that helped Allmendinger's growth as a driver.