Red Bull Leaving NASCAR At End Of Year

So much for that idea...

This makes sense on a couple of fronts...

1) The energy drink market has become so fractured that Red Bull has lost market share in the US- regardless of the amount of competition...

2) The team has struggled since it started in 2007- even as the trendsetter that brought in Toyota as a race car full-time. Brian Vickers failed to qualify for 13 of 36 races in '07. He finished 38th in the final Sprint Cup standings. AJ Allmendinger missed 19 races that year and was 43rd in the final points.

Jay Frye was brought on the next season as GM, and the team improved on the track. But Allmendinger was let go late in 2008 for Scott Speed...

Speed was let go at the end of last year and is currently suing Red Bull, according to ESPN's Marty Smith.

Here's Scott's take...
((HT: SpeedChannel/NASCAR/NASCARImages/youtube))


Vickers won a race in 2009, but was sidelined most of last year with blood clots.
((HT: XERB1090/ESPN on ABC/NASCAR))


The team has Kasey Kahne on loan from Hendrick Motorsports to go with Vickers this year, but Kahne has five top-10 finishes and is 19th in points and Vickers has five top-10 finishes and is 24th in points.

So, then there's stability...

3) NASCAR has been losing audience in the energy drink target demo: 18-34...

Red Bull's success in Formula One goes without saying as Sebastian Vettel has ruled the circuit this year...
((HT: FOM/youtube))


So, what would you do...???
Even with the guys looking for a major sponsor next year, they're still bailing...