AJ Allmendinger hoping to take last year's learnings to improve at Phoenix Raceway this season

When NASCAR racing goes to the arid deserts of Arizona this weekend, AJ Allmendinger will be one driver particularly looking forward to this Sunday. The Kaulig Racing driver will be seen driving the #16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Phoenix Raceway. He will look forward to a good showing for his team on the 1-mile-long track.

The 41-year-old driver has a decent record at the upcoming track, which marks the end of the NASCAR Cup Series' West Swing Races. He has 21 career starts and two top-12 finishes in his two previous visits to the track.

United Rentals Work United 500 will mark the sport's first visit to Phoenix Raceway this season. AJ Allmendinger will look forward to making the most of his and his team's previous experiences at the track, which can also help the #16 crew for the next race at the venue.

Allmendinger elaborated on how Kaulig Racing and the Los Gatos, California native are preparing to adapt to the new low-downforce aero package at the track this weekend:

“Phoenix will be interesting with the new, lower downforce aero package they are coming out with. Practice will be very important to go out there and get a good feel for it with the new car. I felt like we learned a few things in the fall race last year, so hopefully we can take what we learned and match it up with the aero package and try to make our short track program better."

AJ Allmendinger also touched upon how he thought the team lacked in performance on shorter oval tracks such as Phoenix:

"I felt like that (short track program) was our weakness last year, so we are definitely going to focus hard on that to get ready for the short tracks we have coming up.”

United Rentals Work United 500 goes live this Sunday at 3:30 pm ET on FOX Sports.

AJ Allmendinger's performance in the NASCAR Cup Series Las Vegas race

AJ Allmendinger's performance in last weekend's Pennzoil 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was filled with ups and downs for the Kaulig Racing driver. Stage 2 of the race saw the caution flag come out after the #16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver spun out and made contact with the inside wall on the backstretch of the 1.5-mile-long track.

The 41-year-old ultimately managed to finish the race in P18 after recovering from the incident and managing to carry on. Watch AJ Allmendinger drive this Sunday during United Rentals Work United 500.