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I got an email from a reader on Monday pointing out something I hadn’t put much thought into. He wrote asking us to talk about the Toyota engine program and how in five years the teams using Toyota built motors, Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull Racing, only had one win not decided by weather or fuel mileage (David Reutimann’s at Chicago last year; Joe Gibbs Racing builds its own engines – they’ve scored 33 wins since switching manufacturers in 2008).

Though I’m not going to talk about that with this post, with Red Bull’s recent decision to exit NASCAR in the news I couldn’t help but think about how connected the two are. Just Marketing CEO and founder Zak Brown told USA Today:

“They never really had the level of success (in NASCAR) that I’m sure they were hoping for. And on the flip side, you have enormous success around Formula One. I’d probably say it’s a combination of both, and I’m not sure there was ever the same level of excitement and passion (for NASCAR). (Red Bull owner) Dietrich (Mateschitz) is a winner, and he’s not going to go on forever if he doesn’t get the results… If Red Bull had won a bunch of races and were competing in the Chase (for the Sprint Cup), I think you’d still see them in the sport.”

I couldn’t agree more.

This issue of performance is interesting because Red Bull never really made serious lasting changes to fix the problem.

Since the team began they’ve had the same guy in charge of competition former F1er Gunther Steiner (UPDATED) The team has been through several competition directors; a string of so-so crew chiefs (Doug Richert, Randy Cox, Kevin Hamlin, Jimmy Elledge, Ricky Viers), and they’ve burned through two drivers, never giving either the time they needed to develop.

And then there is the much lauded Jay Frye who replaced Marty Gaunt pretty early on. He brought to Red Bull a, well, spotty track record. He ran the very mediocre MB2/MBV, and then was at the helm of Ginn Racing. Though the collapse of Ginn wasn’t Frye’s fault, he didn’t always help matters. The team was notorious for its spending and it struggled to find sponsorship. That spending mentality ended up at Red Bull, and was in full effect until this season. To his credit Frye did help drag the team out of the gutter, but with his personnel decisions he’s really done nothing more than turn it into MB2/Ginn 2.0.

Mix the above with the team’s continued commitment to Toyota’s less than stellar engine program and it’s no wonder the team never performed very well.

From Austria to Mooresville, leadership was severely lacking. This is an organization that had a ton of potential to succeed but was never given the time, patience or the right resources to do so.

Red Bull’s demise is surprising, but not completely unexpected – it just couldn’t continue on the same path indefinitely.

Oh, what could have been.

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In the current climate of funded drivers and retreating sponsorship dollars, it’s very uncommon for a young driver without his own money to get a second chance.  What we are seeing with Aric Almirola though, goes against all of that.  JR Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Almirola had signed a multi-year agreement to drive the team’s #88 car in the Nationwide Series.

After getting high profile gigs at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ginn Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and finally Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it appeared Almirola had washed out.  Once at EGR, his #8 team was shut down only seven races into the 2009 season due to lack of funding.  Through those seven races however, Almirola hadn’t exactly set the world on fire.  His average finish was 32.8 and his best finish was a 21st at Atlanta.  Before that, Almirola was best known for his Nationwide Series “win” at Milwaukee in which he started the race, but was pulled part way through and replaced by Denny Hamlin who went on to score the victory.

After leaving EGR in 2009, Almirola spent the rest of the season making sporadic starts for Phoenix Racing, Key Motorsports, Smith Ganassi Racing, and Billy Ballew Motorsports across all three major NASCAR series.  He was one of a small group of drivers who turned to some of the lower seriesto advance his career and get more experience.  And as it turned out, the 16 starts Almirola made for Billy Ballew in which he led 98 laps and had six top five finishes, would turn into a full time Truck Series ride for the 2010 season.

Fast forward to this season, Almirola has two Truck Series wins and sits second in the Truck Series points.  His strong CWTS runs led to him being the backup driver for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon while they were on baby watch, plus he was given the chance to run JRM’s #88 at ORP.  Almirola didn’t disappoint there either, finishing third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.  All of this led up to JRM signing Almirola for the 2011 season and beyond.

Before this deal came about, we’d heard (along with others) that Almirola was a candidate for some Cup organizations, including Richard Petty Motorsports.  Almirola even admitted to ESPN that he’d been offered Cup deals (see the link above).  With that said, I think it’s interesting that he decided to take the Nationwide deal with JRM.  It would seem that in a situation like Almirola’s, especially with his stock being high, that he would have wanted to capitalize fully and take a Cup deal.  Instead, he will continue to have to prove himself and his ability in the NNS with JRM.

If Almirola continues to progress, and has continued success in the future, this should help serve as a lesson to owners about driver development.  Instead of rushing these kids along, and giving them a season or two to prove themselves, why not keep them in lower series longer?  Let them develop their skills, then bring them along slowly.  Almirola is extremely lucky that he’s been given the chances to show that he can improve, and hopefully he will parlay those chances into more success on the track.

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