it was an "energy pill". Allmendinger was reinstated by NASCAR on September 18 after completing the Road to Recovery program. In October 2012, Allmendinger returned to NASCAR at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving for Phoenix Racing, substituting for Phoenix's intended driver Regan Smith, who had been hired by Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 88 for Charlotte and Kansas while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sidelined with a concussion. 2013: Nationwide success, part-time in Cup On June 1, 2013, Roger Penske announced that Allmendinger would drive for his team at Road America and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In his first race of the season, the Johnsonville Sausage 200 on June 22, he won after winning the pole position and leading 29 laps, which was the most of any driver. At Mid-Ohio in August, Allmendinger dominated the race, saving fuel through a green-white-checkered finish to win and sweep the year's Nationwide Series road-course races for Penske Racing. Sprint Cup Series Allmendinger drove part-time for Phoenix Racing in the No. 51 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series. He had several strong finishes in the first part of the season: 11th at Phoenix, 13th at Bristol, 16th at Fontana, and 14th at Richmond. His first finish worse than 20th was at Pocono, where he finished 33rd. Afterward, Allmendinger moved to the No. 47 Toyota at JTG Daugherty Racing in place of Bobby Labonte for two races, with a 19th-place finish at Michigan and 22nd-place finish at Kentucky. At Daytona, Allmendinger returned to the No. 51 and was running near the top-ten for almost the entire night until lap 148, when he was part of a wreck in the tri-oval with Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and David Reutimann, reducing Allmendinger to a 35th-place finish. Returning to the No. 47 at Watkins Glen, Allmendinger had another breakout run, qualifying fourth, and running in the top fifteen for most of the day, finishing in 10th place. On August 29, 2013, the Sporting News reported that Allmendinger would be the full-time driver for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2014. This was confirmed a month later with Allmendinger signing a multi-year deal with the team. 2014: Breakthrough Cup victory Allmendinger had a few poor opening races, but did well at Fontana, recovering from a late speeding penalty to finish eighth, as well as having top-tens at Richmond and Talladega. At Sonoma, Allmendinger qualified on the front row with