Fontana test challenging

The Red Bull Racing Toyota Camry cars joined the Sprint Cup field for their second open test of the week at California Speedway. Unlike the week’s earlier test at Las Vegas, Thursday and Friday proved a bit more challenging for 83 and 84.

AJ’s Camry hovered in the top-25 for Thursday’s morning session, turning in a best time of 40.186-seconds (179.176-mph). Despite putting him further down the charts than he had been, Allmendinger was still the 5th fastest Toyota driver. The team worked on the list of test items, slowing slightly in the afternoon session to a top time of 40.649-seconds (177.126-mph).

Friday was about the same, according to AJ, with the No. 84 in the top 30 of 50 cars.

“We just really struggling with overall mechanical grip,” said AJ at the end of the day. “I think if I had to pick just one thing, that’s where we’re hurting the most.”

AJ will hit the Supercross at Anaheim Saturday night before heading back to Charlotte then on to Daytona next week.