Alex Bowman, the driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, leads AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, during the weather-delayed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 26, 2018, in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

AJ Allmendinger couldn’t run with the contenders in Monday’s STP 500, but at least he could see them through his windshield.

Allmendinger hadn’t sniffed a top-ten since running tenth in the Daytona 500, but in the snow-delayed race, he had a strong enough No. 37 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet to fight his way toward the front, even after losing spots to comparable cars on pit road.

Allmendinger, who has two runner-up finishes at the 0.526-mile short track, once again demonstrated he has a knack for the tricky paper-clip-shaped circuit. He finished eighth, second-best among Chevrolet drivers.

On the final green-flag run, Allmendinger complained that his car was bouncing, but he persevered.

“We still got a top-ten out it, ran in the top 10 all day and were able to start 25th and pass a lot of cars,” Allmendinger. “Solid day, what we needed at one of our better racetracks.

“These are the places we know that we have a better chance at, and we have to take advantage of it. So I would say I’m OK with eighth. I wish we could have got a little bit more at the end of the race there, but a solid day all around.”