Allmendinger happy with his decison

The American was a title contender in Champ Car this year, but he says he is certain that he has made the right choice to switch to stock cars.

"At this point it was the right opportunity for me and it would have been crazy for me to turn it down," he said.

"It was a difficult decision, but I was thinking about it before I joined Forsythe in Champ Car."

Allmendinger also admitted that without his success at Forsythe this year, he might not have had the opportunity to switch disciplines.

"Forsythe did so much for me and I know that without them I wouldn't have had the chance to show my ability and make people notice me in NASCAR," he said.

"But I was willing to take this chance because I know the effort that Red Bull and Toyota put in to anything they are involved in."

Allmendinger was unable to make his Nextel Cup debut at Atlanta last weekend, after qualifying was rained off and championship positions decided the grid.

Despite being dropped for the Champ Car finale in Mexico, this weekend's race at Texas will be his only chance to race in the Nextel Cup this year, as Team Red Bull don't plan to compete in the final two events.

But the rookie is prepared to spend 2007 as a learning year, and he is setting himself realistic targets for his maiden campaign.

"We know it is going to be a struggle," he said, "and the goal for the first six or seven races will be just to make each race.

"We want to keep improving through the year though, and if at the end of the year we can say we are a lot better than when we started, then we can say it was a great year."

Allmendinger added that while he will make more money in NASCAR, it was not an important factor in his decision to leave open wheel racing.

"I will make more money, but that is because I will be doing double the races," he said.
"I'm doing more media, I'm doing more things off the track, and because of that I have to earn more money. But that wasn't anything in my decision."