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...

Scott Speed isn't a happy man...NASCAR fans say "Who's Scott Speed"?

Scott Speed/Courtesy: foxsports.com

Scott Speed would be, to use a pro-wrestling term...a NASCAR "Jobber". By that, we mean he is one of those guys who runs because his team owner needed to have a seat in a car filled and gaining some points.

Scott Speed finished 30th in the Sprint Cup standings, his second year at that level after moving over from Formula One Racing. He's carved out a modest career for himself, driving for the Red Bull Racing team.

However, Scott Speed is not happy. Not because he was dropped from his team because they signed Kasey Kahne. No, he's not happy because he found out when he got a fax notifying him that he was done. That was it.

Read more from SceneDaily.com RIGHT HERE

To his credit, Speed did have a reasonably successful year, with 4 Top 20 finishes in the years first four races. But he kind of fell off the radar after that.

And no, he doesn't totally disagree with Red Bull's decision to drop him, he's pissed off about the way they did it. We get that. Imagine being fired from your job, but not being told, just being handed a fax.

We wish Mr. Speed luck. He certainly has a race car drivers name, just think of the alliteration. We hope he finds a ride next year and has some success. Heck, NASCAR needs everyone to have success right now, with sagging ratings and attendance, they need to figure something out to ignite a sport that just a couple of years ago was the "Hot" event.

Here is Mr. Speed, driving the Red Bull "Taxi" in Chicago earlier this year. Thanks Redbull: