A.J. Allmendinger to make NASCAR return at Charlotte

Dustin Long, Special to USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

CONCORD, N.C. -- A.J. Allmendinger will drive for Phoenix Racing this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the team's general manager announced Thursday morning on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

This will be Allmendinger's first race since he was suspended for a positive drug test hours before the start of the July 7 race at Daytona International Speedway. He's since taken NASCAR's Road to Recovery program and been reinstated.

Allmendinger is in the Phoenix Racing ride after its driver for this weekend, Regan Smith, was tabbed to drive the No. 88 car in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is out for at least the next two races with concussion symptoms following last week's crash at Talladega Superspeedway.

Allmendinger, who had been fired by Penske Racing after the positive test for an amphetamine that the driver later said was the prescription drug Adderall, talked with Phoenix Racing car owner James Finch last week in regards to replacing Kurt Busch for the rest of the season with Busch's move to Furniture Row Racing.

"If something there happens, fantastic," Allmendinger said last week about that ride. "If not, then it wasn't meant to be and I'll keep working hard."

Allmendinger said last week he was looking for a ride in any series.

"My first priority would be to get back in a competitive Sprint Cup ride," Allmendinger said. "Obviously, that's going to be tough. That's going to take a lot of work and it may not be out there. I'm open to all possibilities.

"I have a lot of unfinished business, a lot of things I want to accomplish still. I don't want to walk away from it. I feel that if I can work hard, I'll get the opportunity to show that again, hopefully, but it's not going to be easy, I'm going to have to do a lot of work for it, but I'm willing to do it."

Allmendinger competed in 17 Cup races this season before his suspension with one pole, one top-five finish and one top-10 finish.