NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Red Bull Departure Plans Spin Silly Season
Could Toyota team continue with new ownership?
Mike Hembree  |  Posted June 20, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, makes a pit stop during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
The NASCAR Silly Season got a lot more interesting Monday.

With the news of Red Bull’s impending departure from the sport, the driver/team/ownership landscape for 2012 takes on new colors.

There were rumors Monday that various individuals within the sport, including current Red Bull team manager Jay Frye, are working on a partnership that would buy the Red Bull operation and keep it afloat next season in some form.

Red Bull’s decision to abandon NASCAR also puts driver Brian Vickers – already a name under discussion – front and center in Silly Season talk. He returned to driving this season after missing much of 2010 with blood clots.

Red Bull’s other driver, Kasey Kahne, is driving on a one-year contract with the team and is scheduled to move to Hendrick Motorsports next season.

Kahne responded to Monday’s news on his Twitter account. “All I can say is the 4 Red Bull team is still going to do all we can to win this year,” he said. “We know we can!!”

The Red Bull team released a statement late Monday afternoon confirming that officials are “currently seeking outside investors as we evaluate next steps in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. We are not at liberty to comment on details while negotiations are under way. Red Bull fully supports NASCAR for the remainder of the 2011 season as we fight for victories and a position in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.”

Among the rumors flying around in the aftermath of the Red Bull decision is one involving former Sprint Cup team owner Ray Evernham, who has been mentioned among those possibly looking into buying a portion of the team. Evernham could not be reached for comment Monday, but, according to his spokeswoman, he has no plans to return to team ownership. He also told FOXsports.com that he had no interest in such an arrangement.

Frye has run several Cup operations, and it would not be surprising for him to partner with others in an operation built on the remains of the Red Bull team. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

The Red Bull team has run Toyotas since its arrival in the sport for the 2007 season. Toyota is likely to seek a replacement for the team in NASCAR’s top division, but Toyota officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

Vickers and AJ Allmendinger were the team’s drivers in Red Bull’s first NASCAR season. A major success in other forms of racing and in sports marketing in general, Red Bull sought to sell its energy drink through a tough, hard-edged advertising campaign aimed at NASCAR fans. Vickers and Allmendinger were promoted as “street fighters” who were taking the challenge of succeeding in NASCAR.

The marketing campaign was fine-tuned, but the results were not. There were qualifying failures that first season, and the two drivers produced only one top five between them.

Scott Speed, a driver with past Red Bull ties, came on board in 2008 and eventually replaced Allmendinger, but his run with the team ended in 2010, and he now is involved in litigation with Red Bull.

Red Bull has only one Sprint Cup win – a victory by Vickers at Michigan in 2009.

The energy drink company, which owns and sponsors the team, is accustomed to flashier success and high performance in its sports endeavors, a fact that perhaps led to the decision to leave NASCAR at the end of the season.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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