Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger was charged with misdemeanor DWI early Thursday morning.
According to police in Mooresville North Carolina, Allmendinger was pulled over just before 1:30 a.m. and was given a field sobriety test that registered a .08, which is the legal limit in North Carolina.
Allmendinger was not booked into jail but was issued a citation, signed a promise to appear for a court date of December 18th and released.
Later Thursday the former open wheel driver issued an apology.
"I made an error in judgment last night for which I take full responsibility," Allmendinger said in a statement. "I went out to dinner and I had a couple of drinks. I honestly felt fine but I obviously should have erred more on the side of caution, particularly given what I do for a living.
"It was a bad judgment call and I apologize for that to my fans, sponsors, team and NASCAR. If anything good can come of this then hopefully I can be an example of being more aware of drinking responsibly and if even if you feel fine, take a cab, call a friend - just don't risk it. I will do my best to make it right and use this to learn myself and hopefully educate others."
Allmendinger is scheduled to move to the No. 43 for RPM next year with sponsorship from Best Buy.
The Allmendinger incident comes a week after driver and team owner Michael Waltrip was involved in a minor accident that Mooresville police suspected involved alcohol. According to the police report, Waltrip also took a field sobriety test. He registered a .06, under the legal limit, and was only charged with a traffic offense. Waltrip has not spoken publicly about the accident.
NASCAR does not have a history of penalizing drivers who are arrested for minor offenses.
Comments
We'll have to wait and see if NASCAR holds AJ to the same standard as JC France who not only was a driver in the Grand America Road Racing Series but the grandson of Bill France and was arrested earlier this month in Daytona for DUI. They suspended him "immediately and indefinitely" for his arrest. Of course JC France had cocaine in the car and was street racing at the time, which begs the questions: Will both of these incidents for these two drivers be delt with in the same way? And what message will they send about how NASCAR feels about it's drivers drinking and driving?
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