Allmendinger may return to IndyCars

AJ Allmendinger. Will he stay in NASCAR or head back to open wheel?

AJ Allmendinger says he has spoken with several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams about potential rides for next season and has even entertained offers from one or more IndyCar teams.

It was announced earlier this week that Allmendinger and Red Bull Racing, the Cup team he's in his second year of competition with, will part ways. The group may part company prior to the end of this season. Allmendinger, days after that announcement, says he has not settled on which team he will compete with in 2009 and beyond.

“I’ve definitely been fortunate enough to have been contacted by a lot of teams," Allmendinger said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “We all know what’s out there right now for rides. I definitely want to stay in Cup. I’ve got offers to go back to IndyCar, possibly, but I’ve clawed and stressed way too long and felt like that my life was ending so many times over the last year-and-a-half, that finally to get this and start running up front, I don’t want to give that up. So I’m definitely looking at staying here and I think I will. We’ve just got to find the right situation."

Allmendinger, who is considered a candidate to replace Reed Sorenson in the No. 41 Dodge next season at Chip Ganassi Racing, says he has talked with the Ganassi group but made no commitments to this point. Allmendinger says he has come to know team owner Chip Ganassi over the years.

“He’s one of the teams that I’ve talked to," he said of CGR. "He’s one of those guys that I look at that’s a real racer. He’s got a lot of great race teams, a lot of great background in auto racing. I’ve talked to him, but he’s one of several team [owners] I’ve talked to." Scenedaily.com