AJ Allmendinger

After the best season of his Sprint Cup career, AJ Allmendinger landed the best opportunity of his career.

Allmendinger will drive the No. 22 Dodge for Penske Racing in 2012, having replaced Kurt Busch after the 2011 season.

In his third full year at the Cup level, Allmendinger had his best NASCAR season in 2011, finishing 15th in the Sprint Cup standings for Richard Petty Motorsports.

He scored one top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in Richard Petty’s famous No. 43 car.

A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Allmendinger moved to NASCAR following a successful stint in the open-wheel Champ Car Series, where he won five races and finished third in the 2006 final standings. In 2004, He was the first American to be named AutoSport International Rookie of the Year in 2004, and became the second-youngest driver to win the Toyota Atlantic championship in 2003.

The following season, Allmendinger moved to NASCAR, running 17 races for Red Bull Racing. He failed to qualify for 19 events as the new two-team organization tried to find its footing in NASCAR.

Allmendinger ran 21 races for Red Bull in 2008, scoring his first two top-10 finishes, before finishing the season for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

In 2009, GEM merged with Richard Petty, forming Richard Petty Motorsports and fielding a team for Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Paul Menard. Allmendinger scored one top-five and six top-10 finishes in his first year with the revamped organization.

In 2010, Allmendinger scored two top-five and eight top-10s and finished 19th in points – his first in the top 20.