Allmendinger celebrates first start

Allmendinger, who races the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry, had struggled to make the field so far this season.

Despite brushing the wall in his qualifying run, the American finished the session 35th, ahead of fellow rookie Juan Pablo Montoya. His effort was just enough to get himself a place on the grid the first time this season.

"I'm sorry that I made my guys work a little bit harder tonight because I roughed up the side of it a little bit," Allmendinger said after qualifying. "I wanted to get into this race so bad that I ended up brushing the wall on my first lap.

"I'm just happy that we made the race. I was sitting there watching how fast the guys were going before me and it started to get me worried. I can't believe it. These guys are awesome."

As the Red Bull team is new in the Nextel Cup this year, Allmendinger has been forced to qualify for races on pure pace, to get one of the few places available for those drivers who were not in the top 35 in the owner points standings last season.

However, this time the Red Bull driver was able to capitalise on the chance he had to test at the track earlier this month, something he hasn't been able to do at previous races.

"This is the first track I actually got to test at, so I had a little more confidence coming into this weekend," he said.

"We had a great test here last month, but when we unloaded today, practice didn't really go that good for us.

"[The team] kept me pumped up. I was going to use every inch of the racetrack if I had to. I didn't care."

Sunday's race will mark the first time that both Red Bull cars will start a Nextel Cup race.