After a five-race hiatus, NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger is set to return to the No. 83 this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Associated Press Photo.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger had his heart broken twice in a 10-minute span earlier this season.

First, Red Bull Racing told the second-year driver they were temporarily pulling him from his ride.

Then Brett Favre, his hero, announced his retirement.

“I swear I almost burst into tears when they told me about Favre,” he remembered. “I was like, ‘This just ain’t my day.’”

Nor were the next six weeks.

Allmendinger was forced to watch from the pit box as Mike Skinner took over the No. 84 Toyota to help Red Bull correct the struggling program. Allmendinger had failed to qualify for the first three races of the season, leaving the team at the bottom of the standings and unsure how to fix it behind Allmendinger’s limited NASCAR knowledge.

A former star in the now-defunct Champ Car Series, Allmendinger struggled through his rookie season last year. He made 17 of 36 races, finished 30th or lower in 13 of his starts and never got enough seat time to get a proper feel for stock cars.

New general manager Jay Frye said he believed the best fix was putting an experienced veteran behind the wheel.

“Mike was able to help fix it, and it has AJ postured to come back in a better situation than he was in before,” Frye said. “The team has made six races in a row, so it has data, a playbook, so to speak.

“And he did a terrific job of coaching and mentoring and showing AJ the ropes. AJ should be better, too, because sometimes you have to take a step back and watch and understand to figure out what you need to do going forward.”

Allmendinger’s scheduled to make his season debut this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I’m pumped up, bouncing around like a little school girl, and I think I’ve been quite annoying to the entire team,” Allmendinger said.

“Absolutely, I’d agree with that,” Frye said. “But it’s in a good way.”

Although Allmendinger struggled with the emotions of being benched, the experience helped build his confidence and assured him he wasn’t as clueless about the cars as he had feared.

Because Red Bull entered NASCAR the same time as Allmendinger, the team wasn’t fully prepared to provide the driver with the learning curve he needed.

It became a maddening cycle of futility as the car missed races and neither Allmendinger nor Red Bull knew how to help each other fix it. But as Skinner found similar problems with the car, Allmendinger’s confidence began to improve as he learned how to communicate with crew chief Ricky Viers.

“It really gave me a peace of mind because I learned more about what each adjustment does, what Ricky likes to hear and I felt better with Mike saying some of the same things I had been saying,” Allmendinger said. “When you are new to the series and you get on a new team, you have nothing to judge off of. It’s not like jumping in the 24 car after watching Jeff Gordon run up front and win races.

“When you are brand new, you wonder how much of it is me? Is the team lacking? Am I lacking? Who is the problem here?”

Frye insists the past six weeks was never about assigning blame. Red Bull’s other car is piloted by Brian Vickers, who brought three years of Cup experience from Hendrick Motorsports to the startup team.

Although the No. 83 also struggled last season, Vickers and crew chief Kevin Hamlin were able to correct many of their problems at the start of this second season. The team’s now solidly inside the top 35 and out of danger of missing races.

Allmendinger just didn’t have the same experience. Frye points to qualifying day in Las Vegas, where the No. 84 team was far off the pace it had set during preseason testing. Not understanding what had happened or how to fix it, Allmendinger was unable to offer insightful feedback.

Fast-forward to two weeks ago in Phoenix, where the car again struggled on the first day of practice. Skinner was able to guide the crew through the necessary fixes that helped qualify the car.

Allmendinger was able to watch, listen and learn from the experience.

“When we did this, there wasn’t a blame being put on anybody. But with AJ’s experience, we didn’t know if what he was saying was correct,” Frye said. “So for him to listen to practices and test with Mike and see what Mike did to help fix things, it gave AJ confidence with the team. He’s still got a long way to go, but he’s got a good jump on what he needed to learn.”

The rest of the season still may be a struggle for Allmendinger, but he has no regrets about the move to NASCAR. Even in the wake of open-wheel’s unification, he’s confident he can make it in stock cars.

“This is where I should be,” he said. “You look at it, and my team that I left (Forsythe Racing) doesn’t exist anymore. Paul Tracy (former teammate), he doesn’t even have a ride right now. Obviously, we want things to be a lot better, and this six weeks has been tough.

“But I’m ready to go and can’t wait to get back in the car.”