If there is one thing Red Bull Racing has shown over it’s short time in the sport, it’s that they have yet to create a decent strategy for properly developing racing talent. AJ Allmendinger was bounced right as it appeared he was making strides, and the team is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Allmendinger’s replacement, Scott Speed, over his ouster from the team. Journo wrote recently about RBR’s driver situation for 2012, and whether or not young Cole Whitt might be next in line for a Cup ride when Kasey Kahne departs. But recent comments from Whitt show that Red Bull may not be doing everything necessary to give him the best chance to succeed.
On March 29th, NASCAR.com ran an interview Joe Menzer did with Whitt as he competes in his first full season of the Camping World Truck Series. Menzer covered a few different topics with Whitt, but one of the questions and the subsequent answer has to be a bit disconcerting if you are a RBR fan:
Q: Have you been able to interact with some of the veteran drivers from Red Bull and elsewhere? Whitt: Not too much, really. We’re all kind of off doing our own thing. I didn’t even get to talk to Kasey at Darlington, and our trucks were lined up starting right next to each other. I’ve pretty much been doing it by myself, I guess.
Q: Have you been able to interact with some of the veteran drivers from Red Bull and elsewhere?
Whitt: Not too much, really. We’re all kind of off doing our own thing. I didn’t even get to talk to Kasey at Darlington, and our trucks were lined up starting right next to each other. I’ve pretty much been doing it by myself, I guess.
What?! How is this even possible?
When a team has drivers like Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers on their roster, how are they not facilitating time for these guys to mentor a development driver? You would think the insight and advice that these guys could offer would be huge for a young driver like Whitt. And you have to think it would help Whitt’s confidence to know that if he ever had a question, he’s got two solid resources that will be available to him.
What’s worse, is if this is how they are approaching Whitt’s development, you’ve really got to wonder if they did everything they could for ‘Dinger and Speed. Maybe if they would have done more with the drivers they had, they wouldn’t be in situations where they become desperate enough to take on lame duck drivers. There is just too much at stake with these kids to not do everything possible to help them be the best they can be.
Hopefully it’s not too late for RBR’s management to rectify this situation, and get these guys involved with bringing Whitt around. Because I know that if it was me that was in charge over there, I’d have this kid hanging around the drivers and teams as much as possible at the track and at the shop. I’d tell him to pay attention, listen to everything, and not be afraid to ask questions. Whitt appears to have a ton of talent and potential, and if Red Bull plays their cards right, he could be the face of their race team well into the future.
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Entering its fifth season Red Bull Racing yet again finds itself with an uncertain future. Brian Vickers returned to the team this year after spending most of 2010 sidelined with health issues and Kasey Kahne joined the team on a one-year visa.
With a couple of promising runs so far this season, 2011 could shape up to be a good year for Red Bull Racing. But with only one driver in place for 2012, what happens at the end of the year is anybody’s guess.
The potential of Red Bull was abandoned last year in favor of Kahne. Scott Speed lost his job at the end of 2010 after months of speculation about his future. He joined AJ Allmendinger in the category of Red Bull drivers pushed too soon and abandoned too early.
Now when Kahne jumps ship for Hendrick next year, what are the odds Red Bull does it again? Consider the options for the team. They could sign up a driver already in the sport – not too many great free agents available though. Or, they could tap the existing talent they have. Does the name Cole Whitt ring a bell?
The young driver, a former USAC champion, has 16 NASCAR starts to his name (10 of which came in the K&N Pro Series East last season). He’s currently running the full Truck Series schedule for Turn One Racing. If this sounds familiar, you’re not going crazy.
Scott Speed, a former F1 driver, ran a full ARCA and Truck schedule before being thrust into AJ Allmendinger’s seat. And lest we forget, Allmendinger had three starts in a Truck before being pushed into a Cup car with the new Red Bull team. Both drivers had two full Cup seasons with the team before being booted.
To say Red Bull has a bad track record developing its talent would be an understatement. While I have yet to hear anything substantive about the future of Red Bull, a scenario where they plop Cole Whitt into a Cup car is not completely out of the realm of possibility.
With Whitt they have a talented young driver with a world of potential in front of him. Whether they allow that talent to grow and prosper remains to be seen. So you tell me, what does Red Bull do next year?
Filed under: Sprint Cup, Scott Speed, Red Bull Racing, NASCAR
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I’ve written here before about my affection for lawsuits – and so long as your not involved, who doesn’t? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the prolonged nature of them, or all the ill-will they no doubt create – and as I said, I don’t want to be involved. But the information that they generally dispense is wonderful!
Want to know how much a mid-level Cup crew chief makes? There’s a lawsuit for that. Want to know how little money the sport’s back markers will take from sponsors? There’s a lawsuit for that. Want to know the questionable stuff one of the sport’s safety manufacturers is up to? Guess what? There’s a lawsuit for that.
This season has had no shortage of those lawsuits and the interesting insights they provide.
Robby Gordon v. Extenze:
I’ll call this Extenze lawsuit number two. We’ll get to number one in just a moment. After losing his ride at Front Row Motorsports at Michigan (something we told you first), Kevin Conway and his sponsor Extenze found a new home at Robby Gordon Motorsports. Conway ran seven races for RGM, finishing no better than 30th. Thanks to lackluster performance, Gordon had to step-in to keep the car in that very valuable top-35 position in owner points. Robby says he got the greenlight from Extenze to replace Conway – they claim otherwise. Robby is now suing Extenze’s parent company for $690,000.
This one’s interesting for it’s contract specifics. $230,000 to sponsor a car for one race. That’s not much. And we saw what that gets you at RGM – a start and park ride.
Front Row Motorsports v. Extenze/Kevin Conway
This is Extenze lawsuit number one. And tack Kevin Conway onto this one. Front Row Motorsports sued Extenze parent company Biotab and Conway for $2.754 million shortly after the team booted them out the door. They allege non-payment on part of Biotab and Conway’s $5.4 million, 15 race deal.
The most surprising part of this one is that Conway was getting paid $540,000 plus 10% of any sponsorships he brought in. Oh and if you’re curious, Front Row did slightly better than RGM, pulling in $360,000 per race for those first 15 races – still though, not much.
Scott Speed v. Red Bull Racing
We don’t know a whole lot about this one yet, but it’ll be interesting if/and when it becomes available. Speed was released by Red Bull Racing shortly after the end of the season, a move that everyone has been expecting – Speed may or may not have been aware. After a seven and a half year relationship Speed said he was fired through fax – a move that did not sit well with him. It’s not exactly clear what Speed wants out of the deal – money or a ride, maybe both – but I’d assume we’ll find out soon.
Jeremy Mayfield v. NASCAR
Did anyone watch Lamb Chop as a child? They had the song that never ends, and NASCAR has the lawsuit that never ends (at least it feels that way).
Judge Graham Mullen dismissed Jeremy Mayfield’s suspension related lawsuit against NASCAR in May, but Mayfield has fought on. In an October request asking Judge Mullen to reconsider his ruling, Mayfield made claims NASCAR Chairman Brian France had a vendetta against him. He cites an incident in 2006, where France supposedly made a drunken phone call from California to the tower at the Brickyard 400 demanding Mayfield be black flagged. NASCAR says France was in Orlando at that time, and Mayfield’s team owner, Ray Evernham, says he was the one who called Mayfield in, a story corroborated by crew chief Chris Andrews.
As this lawsuit seeps into another year, I think I speak for many when I say I can’t wait for this to be over.
NASCAR v. Access Marketing & Communications
Add the Drive For Diversity program, an outside marketing agency, and apparently some bad record keeping and you’ve got yourself a good, old-fashioned dispute.
In March NASCAR filed suit against Access Marketing & Communications as it sought to determine how much it owed the company. NASCAR alleges it owes nothing, while company owner Greg Calhoun says he is owed “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The interesting thing with this one is the disclosure that NASCAR spent in the neighborhood $2 million a year administering the D4D program. That’s a lot of coin – and there hasn’t been much to show for it. Kind of makes you wonder what’s being spent on the current effort with Max Siegel.
In recent years, layoffs at the end of the NASCAR season have become the norm. And this season hasn’t been any different (though the extent of the layoffs has been less severe than in recent years). Joining the rank-and-file employees on the unemployment line in 2010 are two drivers from prominent programs. I doubt either of them though were surprised.
Enter Scott Speed and Colin Braun.
During his three seasons at the various levels of NASCAR, Scott Speed found some success and quite a bit of struggle.
2008 was a banner year for the flamboyant former F1 driver. He scored four ARCA Series wins, one Truck Series win, and he nearly won the ARCA championship. He was a promising prospect for Red Bull Racing that, at the time, had Brian Vickers and a struggling AJ Allmendinger.
And so began the trouble for Speed, who was thrown into the Cup Series in 2009 with little stock car experience under his belt. Like so many before, Speed wasn’t given much time to develop and was never able to do much in a Cup car. Add on top of his lack of development time, the fact that Red Bull is, at best, a mid-tier team, Scott never really had much of a chance.
Braun got his first full NASCAR season in 2008, running for a Roush Truck team that had a lot of success behind it. In two seasons in the Truck Series though Braun scored one win, and didn’t do much else. It’s of note that in those two seasons (a total of 50 races) Braun had 10 DNFs as a result of wrecks.
Despite a less than successful run in the Truck Series, Roush moved Braun to the Nationwide Series this season with plans to run the full schedule. Eight races into the season though Braun was yanked from the ride after five wreck related DNFs and a severe drop in the points. He was allowed to run 16 more races this season – his highest finish was seventh.
For these two guys, their individual releases were a long time coming. Neither lived up to expectations. For Speed the lack of development time is likely what hurt him the most. With Red Bull’s questionable performance however, more development time may or may not have made a difference.
With Braun, development time wasn’t an issue. In fact, he was given far more opportunity to showcase his skills and talent than most drivers in similar situations. After 82 NASCAR starts, and little to show for it, Jack Roush probably made the right decision cutting him loose.
What stinks for both of these guys at this point is the lack of time they now have to find another ride. Something tells me neither will find much opportunity in NASCAR for 2011.
Ever since this story first leaked out over the weekend, there has been a ton of discussion about Kasey Kahne’s move to Red Bull for the 2011 season. While the official announcement from the team answered a few questions for Kahne and Hendrick going forward, it created a bunch more for Red Bull. Looking over what we know about the deal, it appears to me that the only party who is benefiting from this move is Hendrick Motorsports.
Think about it. Hendrick found a way to bring Kahne in when the team was ready for him, supposedly not pay a dime for Kahne’s temporary seat, and keep Mark Martin in the #5 for the remainder of his deal. Put a nice big red bow on it, and you’ve got yourself a nice little package.
Here is why this deal doesn’t really help anyone else out.
First, what exactly is Red Bull getting out of having Kasey Kahne for one season? Red Bull’s GM Jay Frye attempted to compare this deal to when the Vikings brought in Brett Favre, saying the team will benefit from having a proven winner driving for them. That would be all well and good if Red Bull actually had the pieces in place to win. From what they’ve shown all season though, it appears as though that isn’t the case. The #83 team had a very solid 2009 season, winning a race with Brian Vickers and making the Chase, but that success from last year did not equate to continued performance this season. In the 11 races Vickers drove before the blood clots forced him out, his average start and average finish were down significantly from the previous year. He did have two top ten finishes, but he also had four finishes of 29th or worse, including two DNFs. And with Scott Speed’s struggles, and the driver merry-go-round in the #83, it will be very difficult to gain any momentum or make gains for 2011.
I also think it’s important to note what this means for Red Bull’s teams and drivers for the future. If Vickers cannot return and Kahne fills the seat in the #83, where does Red Bull go after 2011? If Speed is released, and Kahne takes his ride, who replaces Speed for 2012? In both cases, Red Bull loses a year of developing a driver and his chemistry with the team for the future. If Red Bull starts a third team specifically for Kahne, what happens to that bunch after Kahne leaves? Is it really worth opening a team for one year, just to shut it down?
For Kahne, the whole reason for him leaving Richard Petty Motorsports was to join a team that would make him a perennial contender. Obviously HMS is an upgrade from RPM; but Red Bull arguably is not. So what good does this deal do for him if he gets in a Red Bull Toyota next year and struggles worse then he did in RPM equipment? With the way the #83 and #82 have performed this season, it’s difficult to believe this team will make the quantum leap into real contention next season. And don’t expect Red Bull to get any support from HMS. While Kahne could certainly use the help, it would be a very bad deal for Hendrick to give Red Bull anything, seeing as how they are competitors and they don’t share a manufacturer. So what Kahne ends up with is a throw away season that is just serving as a place holder until he moves to HMS. Not good for a driver’s confidence or his brand.
It’s also not good that Kahne is essentially under contract with HMS, but is going to work for a team that has ties and partners that conflict badly with those at HMS. Most notably Red Bull vs. Pepsi and Toyota vs. Chevy.
So while I do give kudos to Mr. H. for finally finding a spot for Kahne, and doing it to his advantage, on the other side I think it’s a mistake. This deal just doesn’t make a ton of sense, and it appears it could be another in a long line of questionable calls made by Jay Frye and Red Bull’s management.
The Watkins Glen road course provided some great racing this weekend, but while the action on track was interesting, so were some of the rumors floating around the garage. We heard a few different bits this weekend that we wanted to share, and I figured I’d weigh in on them with some of my own thoughts.
First up, we reported on Twitter (follow us @nascarinsider) yesterday that we’d heard NASCAR took a box of lugnuts from Marcos Ambrose’s Nationwide Series team during the race. Word is that they were illegal in some way. Don’t be surprised if the team is penalized this week. I don’t expect NASCAR will take the win away however. Quick Update: Scenedaily.com’s Kenny Bruce reported via his Twitter page that NASCAR did indeed take lugnuts from the #47, but later decided there was no issue.
The most ridiculous rumor that we’ve heard on a few different occasions recently, is that Red Bull Racing is shutting down at the end of the season. I know the team’s performance has been abysmal this season, and question marks surround both of the team’s normal drivers, Brian Vickers and Scott Speed, but this is one I just don’t believe. There was even a report late this evening that Red Bull may be where Kasey Kahne ends up for the 2011 season. Some major changes are probably in order for this team internally, but don’t expect them to close down any time soon.
While Red Bull’s future is probably safe, we have heard that Kevin Conway’s days might be numbered at Front Row Motorsports. It sounds like the team has grown tired of Conway’s poor performance, and this group will struggle mightily to make races if the #34 falls out of the top 35 in owners points. They are currently 35th in the standings, only 182 points ahead of 36th. A few more bad finishes, and Conway will be on the outside looking in. To this point in the season, Conway has had a guaranteed starting position in every race, due to some fancy number wrangling by owner Bob Jenkins. With one team already outside the top 35 however, thanks to the tire debacle at Pocono earlier in the year, Jenkins can’t afford to have another team fall out. Word is that Extenze would continue sponsoring the team, but another yet-to-be-named driver would be brought in.
Richard Petty Motorsports officially announced on Friday that AJ Allmendinger had signed a multi-year agreement to remain the driver of the #43 Ford. With that settled, a number of other questions still plague this organization; namely sponsors and other drivers. With the rumblings that Paul Menard is taking his family sponsor to RCR, Kahne’s known departure for Hendrick, and Elliott Sadler’s apparent dissatisfaction, Allmendinger is short a few teammates for 2011. We are still hearing that Ambrose will probably end up in either the #9 or #19 next season, and a deal may be close between the two parties, pending sponsorship. Another name that has popped up as a potential replacement for RPM next season is Aric Almirola. Almirola has revived what appeared to be a fading career this season with a strong NCWTS campaign to this point that currently includes two wins. The young driver also impressed folks a few weeks ago with a third place finish at ORP driving for JR Motorsports #88 NNS team. If the team can find sponsorship, Almirola would be a decent addition.
Like I wrote on Friday, it’s certainly been a crazy Silly Season, and there are still plenty of dominoes left to fall. It will certainly be fun to see what plays out.
I wonder if we will ever quit referring to driver and sponsor movements as the Silly Season. It was initially called that because it referred to a specific part of the season when all this started happening. Now it seems that it starts in February at Daytona. Sorry, I digress…
Has the 2010 Silly Season not been extremely odd? Looking at what we know and still don’t know about who will be where in the future is really interesting. We’ve had all kinds of crazy things happen already, and it’s only August!
Let’s review. First, it was announced in April that Kasey Kahne would leave Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of 2010, and that he’d signed a deal to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2012. The move certainly raised a ton of questions, namely, where in the heck Kasey would be driving for the 2011 season. In the four months that have followed, we’ve heard everything from Kasey to Stewart Haas, Kasey to stay at RPM, Martin out at HMS early, and so on and so forth. As it sits today, we still don’t have a single answer about where Kahne will be in 2011. With other teams having open seats, and some considering adding teams, was this move the best for Kahne? Should he have waited to make a move? The ball is in Mr. H’s court.
A few weeks after the Kahne announcement, we learned that Shell-Pennzoil would be leaving the Richard Childress #29 and Kevin Harvick to join Penske Racing and Kurt Busch for 2011 and beyond. It was an interesting move at the time, as trouble was brewing and it appeared Harvick was on his way out at RCR. Besides the chance to sponsor a NASCAR Cup champion, a big reason for the move on Shell’s part was the chance for rights to sell their oil in all of Penske’s auto dealerships. Shortly after the initial announcement however, Harvick won at Talladega, and later decided to re-sign with RCR. Even with the business opportunities for Shell at Penske, this move was still an odd one. You don’t often see a sponsor leave a team at or near the top of the points standings. It may be a little awkward at season’s end if Harvick ends up winning the championship.
The strangest driver change of this season though, just might be the most recent one. On July 27th, Marcos Ambrose announced he would leave JTG Daugherty Racing after the 2010 season. The move ended a five year relationship with team owner Tad Geschickter that took Ambrose from the Truck Series to the Cup ranks. JTG wasn’t driver-less for long, as only a few short days later they announced that Bobby Labonte would replace Ambrose for 2011. What’s odd here though, is Ambrose is now without a ride for the future. We’ve seen plenty of lame duck situations with drivers over the years, but how often has the lame duck driver not had a spot for the next year already locked up when he made his announcement to leave? I can’t think of one off the top of my head. The persisting rumor is that Ambrose is headed over to RPM to replace one of their vacating drivers in either the #9 or #19, but no announcement has come and there are indications that RPM doesn’t have a sponsorship deal lined up. Some have floated that Ambrose may be wanting to return to Australia, but I feel if that were the case, he would have already told us that. He may just be caught in the middle right now waiting for a deal to come together. Either way, the whole situation is very odd.
Besides the situations and questions that I mentioned, there are plenty of other holes to fill for 2011. There are strong indications that Paul Menard is bailing from RPM and taking his family sponsor money to help RCR restart their fourth team for next season. The deal may already be done. If that happens, where does that leave RPM? What happens to Elliott Sadler, who by most indications appears to finally be on his way out? With Brian Vickers health still in question, and Scott Speed’s unflattering 2010 performance, who will drive the Red Bull cars next season? Is Sam Hornish going to be out at Penske at season’s end, or does Roger keep him on? Could Justin Allgaier be bumped up to the third or possibly fourth team for Penske next season?
Where’s the Advil, my head is spinning…
Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup, Scott Speed, NASCAR
Week in and week out I continue to be surprised by the performances of the two Red Bull Racing cars – it’s not a good surprised though. Despite its position as one of the better funded teams in the sport, in its fourth season Red Bull continues to struggle consistently performing well – and from what we keep hearing, team owner Deitrich Mateschitz is starting to lose his patience.
The man answering the tough questions to Mateschitz back in Austria is team GM Jay Frye – the architect behind the current iteration of Red Bull. In the years before his ascension to the helm at Red Bull, Frye worked as an executive at the now defunct MB2/Ginn Racing. When he joined Red Bull, Frye was heavily touted as an answer to Red Bull’s woes – and after an abysmal first season, Frye’s leadership was a change.
Through 2008 and 2009 the performance of the team looked to be improved. Brian Vickers scored the team’s first win last season and made the Chase. Despite the improved performance, 2010 hasn’t been good to the #83 (or the team as a whole).
This season Vickers struggled through the opening weeks scoring only three top-tens in 10 races. With him now sidelined Casey Mears has been in the car the last two weeks, but he hasn’t been able to finish on the lead lap. For as mediocre as the #83 has run, Red Bull’s second car has performed worse.
Scott Speed, in his second season in the Cup Series, has only finished on the lead lap in five of 13 races. While he is improved over last season, Speed has only one top-10 to his credit in 2010.
As a GM, Jay Frye has struggled to make Red Bull a contender in NASCAR. Where other Toyota teams were able to overcome bad first seasons (Michael Waltrip Racing most prominently), Red Bull still hasn’t found the success of many of their counterparts.
And it’s no surprise. What’s been Frye’s answer to improving the team? Bring on many of his former MB2 employees (including Ryan Pemberton), and maintain the Red Bull extravagance. Oddly enough their performance has been about as good as MB2’s. Strange how that works.
This weekend two of the Front Row Motorsports cars actually finished better than the Red Bull cars. That’s a problem for Frye and those in charge of performance. Things need to change very quickly or those rumors we’ve been hearing will become reality.