Allmendinger could be axed by Red Bull
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| Too slow to qualify for many of the early races has put A.J. Allmendinger's NASCAR career in jeopardy |
08/07/08 AJ Allmendinger sits upright on the edge of a couch in his motor home at drizzly Pocono Raceway, rubs his face with his hands for a moment. The air is anxious. He's rather distressed.
Such is the life of a race car driver with an uncertain future.
"As everything falls into place for everyone else, I'm still waiting," Allmendinger said, voice level raised just above the methodical thumping of a knife striking a cutting board as his wife, Lynne, prepares a salad.
Allmendinger's situation is unique to the NASCAR garage. Red Bull not only sponsors his team, it owns the team, too. Executives at Red Bull's Austrian headquarters make the final decision on its athletes, and are rarely around to banter with.
That, in turn, creates a disconnect with its Mooresville, N.C.-based NASCAR team, Allmendinger says, and ultimately leaves him wondering whether Red Bull plans to pick up the option on his current contract.
It has yet to do so, he said, and the window of opportunity in the NASCAR garage is closing. Typically by mid-August drivers must know their fate. Early September is often too late to be looking for work, and Allmendinger fears the "F1 mentality" of Red Bull Austria — i.e. an early fall decision — could leave him without an opportunity.
"The assumption in the garage is that I'm back at Red Bull, but they have the option and haven't picked it up yet," Allmendinger said. "I want to be here. When they put [Mike] Skinner in the car, I easily could've said '[Forget] this, I'm tired of it.' But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to improve, and I feel like I've done that. I want to drive for Red Bull."
If not, he has options. Other teams are pursuing him. Allmendinger's business manager, Tara Ragan, began fielding calls about her client's future back in May, after he raced his way into the Sprint All-Star Challenge by way of winning the Sprint Showdown.
"That was an eye-opener for people," she said. "Those images of him in Victory Lane made people wonder about him." ESPN.com