THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2021 B3
MOTOR SPORTS | NASCAR AT DAYTONA
Allmendinger back in 1st Cup race since 2018
BY JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
— A.J. Allmendinger is back,
racing for wins this time, and
eager to help young Kaulig
Racing reach the big show.
Allmendinger will run his
first Cup race since the 2018
season finale in Kaulig’s first
Cup race not at a superspeed-
way. The team last week made
its second Daytona 500 — a
critical first step in trying to
become a full-time Cup team
— and now its dusted off ol’
‘Dinger to take another shot
Sunday on Daytona’s road
course.
Allmendinger is a ringer
with 15 appearances in the
Rolex 24 sports car race in
Daytona. Nearly everyone
else? The bulk of the Cup field
ran it for the very first time last
August, when the pandemic
pushed Daytona’s winding 14-
turn, 3.61-mile circuit onto the
calendar for the first time.
His familiarity with Day-
tona made Allmendinger the
smart pick for Matt Kaulig
to take another step forward.
NASCAR added Sunday’s
road course race to the sched-
ule in December and Kaulig
persuaded his “trophy hunter”
Allmendinger to help pull the
team to the top level.
“I am pumped to be racing
in the Cup Series for Kaulig
Racing,” Allmendinger said.
Allmendinger was weary
of the grind when he lost his
job at the end of 2018. He had
no desire to drive for medio-
cre teams just to have a seat.
He decided to move on with
his life.
He planned to do television
work and maybe moonlight
for team owners he consid-
ers friends. Kaulig kept All-
mendinger engaged in 2019
by giving him quality cars that
could win in five Xfinity races.
The program swelled to 11
races last season and the “Tro-
phy Hunter” had three victo-
ries in 16 starts.
Allmendinger was helping
Kaulig grow a program. The
team started in 2016 and this
season Allmendinger will run
full time for the Xfinity cham-
pionship as one of three Kaulig
contenders. He’ll also drive
select Cup races as part of
Kaulig’s development.
Having a central role in
Kaulig’s push to the top has
made NASCAR enjoyable
again for Allmendinger. He
remembered last week when
Kaz Grala made his first Day-
Osaka
Continued from B1
She never has been past the
third round at the All England
Club or Roland Garros.
Even more revealing was
Osaka’s response.
Asked whether her first non-
hard-court Slam trophy will
come on clay or grass, she said:
“Hopefully clay, because it’s the
one that’s sooner.”
She is not about biding her
time or patient improvement.
And she’s been thinking
about where she needs to im-
prove.
“It was one of her goals this
year to play well outside of
the hard courts. She’s still very
young. It’s time to grow on
those surfaces. She also believes
she can do well and, I’m sure,
with the right preparation, with
a few, maybe, tactical (and)
technical adjustments, we’re go-
ing to do well,” said her coach,
Shiffrin
Continued from B1
One good moment was this:
Having just seen her record
streak of four straight slalom
world titles ended by Austrian
upstart Katharina Liensberger
in emphatic fashion, Shif-
frin was the first racer to run
over and congratulate the new
champion.
“If this was last year, I would
be maybe disappointed but
not as grateful for the good
moments in the day,” Shiffrin
said, referring to her nearly
two-second deficit behind
Liensberger.
This season, though, is a
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Bend’s Joey Jannsen was named Route Setter of the Year for 2020 by
USA Climbing.
Rocking
Continued from B1
Nell Redmond/AP file
A.J. Allmendinger climbs out of his car in victory lane after winning a NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Con-
cord, North Carolina, in October.
tona 500 start just how spe-
cial the sport had once been
to him.
“I was standing next to Kaz
by the car during driver intros
and I think veterans some-
times, we lose sight of how big
the 500 is,” Allmendinger said.
“When you are just standing
there and you see somebody
who has made his first 500, his
eyes lit up — it made me feel
good.”
Track change
NASCAR this week
tweaked the backstretch chi-
cane on the Daytona course
after dirt and grass played a
pivotal role in the Feb. 9 messy
Busch Clash.
Drivers in that exhibition
learned the hard way not to
cut that chicane because in
short-cutting some asphalt
they were dragging debris all
over the speedway. Martin
Truex Jr. wrecked while lead-
ing when he drove through
dirt; others complained about
windshield visibility.
NASCAR, based on driver
suggestions, added rumble
strips to the backstretch chi-
cane to prevent drivers from
using the grass. The rumble
strip to the driver’s right is
about 36 feet long; the strip to
the driver’s left is about 30 feet.
NASCAR champion Chase
Elliott wasn’t convinced the
strips were necessary.
“If there’s dirt on the track,
don’t run through the dirt,
that’s pretty simple,” Elliott
said. “As long as there’s grass
there, I’d say there’s going to be
dirt underneath.”
Wim Fissette. “She’s the person
that wants to grow.”
Part of what makes Osaka
special is embracing challenges
and knowing what she stands
for.
That’s been the case off the
court and on.
With a racket in her hand, it’s
about, as Fissette put it, being
able to “love big matches and
big moments.”
Osaka wanted to face 23-
time major champion Serena
Williams in the semifinals, for
example.
No fear there.
“She was like when I bring
my kids to the toy store: They
are very excited. And Naomi
was excited to go on court with
Serena. It’s just beautiful to see,”
Fissette said. “At the end, this
is what you train for, right? To
be on the biggest stage with the
best player of all time, Serena.”
Away from the game, Osaka
says, it took time to find her
different one for Shiffrin. She
took a 10-month break from
racing last year after the death
of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, then
had her comeback slowed by
the coronavirus pandemic and
a back injury.
No wonder she wasn’t about
to commit to taking the same,
more relaxed approach to next
year’s Beijing Olympics.
“I would like to,” she said.
“It just totally depends on how
next season is going leading
up to that. Because I can feel
amazing now, with a good
mentality and then that totally
changes. I feel like this past
year lasted like 20 years. So I
don’t know what’s in store for
Going for 5
Elliott has won the last four
points-paying Cup road races
dating to 2019, a streak that
includes NASCAR’s debut on
Daytona’s course last August.
He fell short in the Clash af-
ter spinning good friend Ryan
Blaney in the 13th of the 14
turns as the two raced for the
victory. Kyle Busch cruised
past Elliott and Blaney for the
win. Blaney had words with
his buddy as they stood along-
side Blaney’s wrecked car.
Elliott was remorseful for
ruining Blaney’s race, but the
Cup champion said he prob-
ably wouldn’t change how he
raced.
“If I’m not trying to win,
then what am I doing? And I
think that’s pretty cut and dry,
right?” Elliott said.
Elliott is bound to be just
as aggressive Sunday when he
looks for a fifth consecutive
road course victory. It would
be his sixth overall and tie
him for third on the career list
with — get this — NASCAR
greats Bobby Allison, Richard
Petty, Ricky Rudd and Rusty
Wallace.
Elliott in just five years has
filled NASCAR’s vacancy for
king of the road. Jeff Gordon’s
record nine wins and Tony
Stewart’s mark of eight are
within reach for the 25-year-
old.
McDowell’s momentum
Daytona 500 winner Mi-
chael McDowell has a strong
opportunity Sunday to give
Front Row Motorsports the
best start in team history.
The team has always con-
centrated on its road course
and superspeedway programs
because those circuits give
small teams a competitive
chance. These are the exact
tracks where FRM thought
it would do well, and a pan-
demic scheduling change gave
FRM a legitimate two-week
chance.
The longshot Daytona 500
win earned McDowell his first
playoff berth and FRM now is
positioned to build a once un-
thinkable cushion. McDowell
was 10th in NASCAR’s debut
on Daytona’s road course last
August.
This road course race was
added to NASCAR’s sched-
ule in December because
COVID-19 restrictions would
not allow a stop at Fontana,
California. It took maneu-
vering to make it work and
Homestead-Miami Speedway,
the original second race of the
season, was pushed back one
week into Fontana’s original
dates.
The Daytona road course
was wedged into the open
slot, creating two weekends of
very different racing that very
much suits Furniture Row.
The team can now take gam-
bles it never would dare before,
and now McDowell can seri-
ously attempt another upset.
This one would make him just
the sixth Daytona 500 winner
to also win the next race.
NASCAR goes next to
Homestead to begin a stretch
of oval racing — typically the
time the top teams begin to
pull away.
“They were appreciative of
that. It’s a big event for a small
community, and it was quite an
honor to have that for a couple
of years.”
The USA Climbing website
(usaclimbing.org) noted that
the Bend Rock Gym consis-
tently hosts local and champi-
onship events.
“Not a year goes by that BRG
doesn’t host at least one cham-
pionship, and they will often
host two, including stepping up
on short notice when hosting
at another gym fell through for
logistical reasons,” the website
noted. “Everyone with BRG is
ready to step up when they’re
needed. From the setting team
to the front desk workers, BRG
is a family that is always look-
ing out for others.”
Bend Rock Gym’s Joey
Jannsen was also honored as
route-setter of the year by USA
Climbing. Jannsen designs the
different routes — positioning
the hand and foot holds on the
wall at varying levels of diffi-
culty — for events and compe-
titions, both for youth climbers
and adults.
“He has to be in the mind
of a 9-year-old, and then on
up to 17 and 18,” Stone said of
Jannsen. “It’s a different skill
at each age level. And it’s im-
portant to them to be able to
say at the end of the day, the
top climber was really the top
climber. He’s a tremendous as-
set. He’s been all over the coun-
try setting national events.”
USA Climbing said that
Jannsen — who has worked at
the Bend Rock Gym for about
10 years — is an integral part
of both setting and organizing
championship events.
“He displays a love of setting
and competition, always bring-
ing new levels of creativity to
his route-setting,” usaclimb-
ing.org noted about Jannsen.
“His creativity and artistry in
stacking volumes, color-coding
problems by age category for
easy navigation, makes every
event memorable for competi-
tors and spectators.”
Like many businesses, the
Bend Rock Gym shut down in
March 2020 as the COVID-19
pandemic swept through the
country. Stone said he laid off
much of his staff. But the gym
reopened in June at about 25%
capacity and business started
to pick up by September. No-
vember was looking to be the
first month since the spring
shutdown that the gym would
break even, but then came the
shutdown the week before
Thanksgiving.
When Deschutes County
was moved down to high risk
by the Oregon Health Author-
ity earlier this month, the Bend
Rock Gym reopened at 25%
occupancy, or 50 people total,
in each of its three buildings,
which total 30,000 square feet
just off Reed Market Road in
southeast Bend.
“It’s been a breath that was
much needed,” Stone said. “We
need more. I need to be able
to continue to stay open and
increase our volume. I’m hope-
ful. We have a much skinnier
operating budget and profile
than we had before COVID. I
think it’ll be five years before
I’m back to repairing the dam-
age that has been done.”
The gym has started offering
two-hour sessions to members
by reservation only but does
not currently offer walk-ins.
“We’ll start slowly,” Stone
said. “We have to get the sys-
tems all back up and get the
employees back. Some of
them have gone on to other
jobs. Many of them — they’re
climbers — are on road trips.”
He added that most mem-
bers of the Bend Rock Gym
will take whatever climbing
they can get at this point.
“People are stressed to the
max,” Stone said, “and they re-
ally need an outlet.”
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
voice and express her views.
She was born in Japan to a
Japanese mother and Haitian
father, and she moved to the
United States when she was 3.
Last August, she was the first
tennis pro to join athletes from
other sports in walking out to
protest the police shooting of a
Black man in Wisconsin.
“Before I am an athlete,”
Osaka tweeted at the time, “I
am a black woman.”
On her way to the U.S. Open
title in September, Osaka wore
masks bearing the names of
seven Black victims of violence
to draw attention to racism and
police brutality.
On Saturday, Osaka was
asked whether there was a mes-
sage she wanted associated with
her latest triumph, which made
her 4 for 4 in Slam finals.
“Honestly, for me, when ev-
erything happened in New
York, I got really scared, because
I felt like it put me into this light
that was a non-athletic light that
I’ve never been in before,” she
said. “So I feel like there is a lot
of topics that people suddenly
started asking me about that I
completely didn’t know about
at all. For me, I only like to talk
when I’m knowledgeable about
the subject or at least know, like,
one tiny grain of what I’m about
to start talking about. So for me,
I just came into this tournament
just thinking purely about ten-
nis.”
And yet, in the aftermath of
winning the trophy, she was
the next year. But I imagine it’s
going to be eventful.”
Having never before entered
so many races at a worlds or
Olympics, Shiffrin leaves Cor-
tina with gold in combined, sil-
ver in giant slalom and bronze
in super-G and slalom.
Perhaps even more remark-
able is that Shiffrin has now
medaled in 10 straight races at
worlds — and in 11 of her 13
career starts at her next biggest
event after the Olympics.
“I do have a safe now,” she
said. “So I’ll probably put (the
medals) in there. Or maybe
hang them up.
“I like to put the globes (the
crystal globes for World Cup
titles) around the house, be-
cause they’re super pretty. But
people ask to see the medals
and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, sure, I’ll
go get them.’ But otherwise it
just seems like a whole lot of
value for me to possibly lose.
So just put them somewhere
where you just don’t touch it.”
While Shiffrin showed im-
pressive speed last week in her
first super-G race in more than
a year, she won’t be competing
when the World Cup resumes
next weekend in nearby Val di
Fassa with two downhills and a
super-G.
“No, I’ve got to go shave two
seconds off my slalom,” she
said with a smile.
Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the slalom at the World Championships in
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Saturday. Shiffrin took bronze.
Andy Brownbill/AP
Naomi Osaka celebrates after defeating Jennifer Brady to win the Aus-
tralian Open in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday.
ready to think about a larger
role, too.
Many looked at her win
against Williams as a passing
of the mantle. Osaka also won
their meeting in the 2018 U.S.
Open final — who could forget
that one? — and has eclipsed
the 39-year-old American as
the highest-earning female
athlete because of millions in
sponsorship deals.
But to Osaka, Williams is
still, and always will be, an idol
and an inspiration, a player
whose example she wanted to
follow.
And the best way to repay
that, Osaka figures, is to hold
that role for others.
“Hopefully I play long
enough to play a girl that said
that I was once her favorite
player or something,” Osaka
said. “For me, I think that’s the
coolest thing that could ever
happen to me. … That’s how
the sport moves forward.”
Gabriele Facciotti/AP