HOMESTEAD, Fla — AJ Allmendinger is rolling right now. The current part-time and future full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver for Kaulig Racing just finished third in Sundays Dixie Vodka 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s his sixth consecutive top 7 finish on the season including three of his last five being in the top four.

That’s gives him reason to be highly optimistic heading into his foray back into NASCAR’s premiere series a year from now. He’s contending in the playoff races now. Imagine what he can do in a full-time effort next season.

What he’s doing now is exactly why he changed his tune in going from part time to full time again.

“Yeah, we know how it goes in the off-season,” said Allmendinger. “A lot of stuff changes and everybody works on the cars, but it’s all about trying to build a notebook and get ready for next year.

“This is just giving us confidence. This is part of the reason why I made the decision to go full-time Cup, because I felt like the group that we have on the Cup side can be really good. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it can be really good, and I want to be a part of that.”

Allmendinger finished third in both races this weekend as gained 21 points in the Xfinity Series standings on Saturday to go from -16 to +5 with one race left in the Round of 8.

“The short runs it really did. The Ed Morris Automotive Group Chevy was really hooked up on the short runs.

“We still kind of got to work on our long run package just in general. That’s something that’s kind of been weak for us at Kaulig Racing. But when we got that caution with 18 to go I was like, all right, we’ve got a shot at this, and we lost a couple spots on pit road but restarted eighth, and Ross and I had a fun battle.

“I think I needed about 11-lap run to catch Kyle, but overall just proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing to get the Chevy in the top 5 and just have another solid day.”