Loy Allen Jr.

Loy Allen Jr.
Born April 7, 1966
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Achievements 1994 Daytona 500 Pole Sitter
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
48 races run over 6 years
Best finish 39th (1994)
First race 1993 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Last race 1999 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 3
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
4 races run over 3 years
Best finish 80th (1998)
First race 1995 All Pro Bumper To Bumper 300 (Charlotte)
Last race 1998 MBNA Platinum 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 27, 2012.

Loy Allen Jr. (born April 7, 1966, in Raleigh, North Carolina), is a former NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series driver. He found his best results however in the ARCA series, with a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1992 and two second place finishes at Talladega and Daytona in 1993.

Winston Cup career

Allen Jr. made his Cup Debut at Daytona in July 1993. Driving his father's #37 Naturally Fresh Ford which was an old Robert Yates Racing Car, Allen Jr. started 40th and finished 29th. He ran three other races for his father's team in 1993, the best being a 26th at Talladega. In addition, Allen Jr. made his first start for Tri-Star at Phoenix, matching that 26th in the #68 Country Time Ford.

Allen was hired for Tri-Star's #19 Hooters Ford in 1994. He won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500 (the first rookie to ever do so), finishing 22nd. He won two more poles at Atlanta and the Michigan, as well as the outside pole for that year's running of the Pepsi 400. However, Allen's team missed twelve races due to a tight budget. He only had a best finish of 11th at Charlotte. In addition, he only had two more top-20 finishes, and had a DNF count of seven. It kept the team from making a serious bid at NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors, and Allen Jr. finished 39th in points that year.

In 1995, Allen Jr. ran just eleven races, splitting time with Junior Johnson Motorsports team and the Tri-Star team. He had been hired to run the new #27 Hooters Ford. However, he was released and went back to Tri-Star for the remaining seven races. In his first start back with that team at Talladega, Allen started second and went on to finish tenth, the only top ten of his career. However, Allen continued to struggle, and was put to a part-time schedule.

After suffering a neck injury at Rockingham Speedway in early 1996, he lost hold of his career, and only made sporadic starts after that. He did manage to return to the team at Pocono, with a 23rd, but in six more starts in 1996, he only managed a best finish of 21st at Talladega.

Allen Jr. made two starts in 1997, driving for Tri-Star, making the first two races at Daytona and Rockingham. He was 26th and 43rd respectively. Gary Bradberry took over and Allen Jr. was rideless after that.

His last ride came in 1999, two years later, when he qualified for two out of four races for the SBIII Motorsports team before being replaced by Hut Stricklin. Both of those starts (Michigan and Daytona) ended with 40th place DNFs. After he could not find a ride, he retired.

Busch Series career

Allen Jr. did make periodic appearances in the Busch Series throughout his career.

Driving a #19 Chevrolet at Charlotte in May 1995, Allen qualified 21st for his debut. However, he crashed on the 27th lap, and finished 43rd in a field of 44.

His next run was in 1997, where he started the inaugural race at California. This time, Allen would pilot the #48 Unifirst Ford Thunderbird for Randy Porter. He barely made the race, starting 42nd and last on the grid. Unfortunately, his struggles persisted on race day, as Allen would wind up 35th, 27 laps behind winner Todd Bodine.

Allen attempted three races and started two in 1998, his last year in this series. Driving the #78 Church's Chicken Chevy at Talladega, Allen managed a 7th place finish, a career-best. However, his final race culminated in a last place finish at Dover, completing only 18 laps before a broken rear end gear sent him to the garage.

See also

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