Red Bull to put Speed in NASCAR
Another possible Formula 1 NASCAR crossover, Scott Speed, won’t be heading to Cup in 2008.
The Californian who was released from his Formula 1 Toro-Rosso Team in July was widely believed to be heading to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series in 2008. Red Bull sponsors the Toro-Rosso Team.
Red Bull’s Helmut Marko recently said the sponsor is interested in putting Speed, who was chosen to drive as part of a company sponsored driver search, into a NASCAR ride. Red Bull sponsors the Nextel Cup teams driven by AJ Allmendinger and Brain Vickers.
Speculation from some said that Speed would attempt a Nextel Cup debut later this year r early in 2008.
Team Red Bull's director of competition, Elton Sawyer nixed all that speculation however.
"I don't think you'll see him over here in a Cup car with our team next year." Sawyer said.
The possibility exists however for the team to develop Speed along the lines of a similar program completed by Juan Pablo Montoya prior to his Cup debut and Jacques Villeneuve is currently undergoing. The program would have Speed competing in either the NASCAR Busch or Craftsman Truck series then making the jump the Cup series. CupScene.com
08/23/07 We are upgrading this rumor to 'fact' today – fact Speed is going to NASCAR and fact that his career is over…….Unless Toyota becomes the dominant player in NASCAR Nextel Cup and the Red Bull NASCAR team makes great improvements, Speed's career will end up much like AJ Allmendinger's. $3 million per year and Sunday's off.
“We are still trying to co-operate with him, but in a different area," Helmet Marko told SPEEDtv.com. “NASCAR is a very special form of racing, and even a guy like Montoya, with all his F1 experience and his Champ Car racing on ovals, can’t just jump in and be competitive. So, they will look maybe at some Busch races and if that is going well, put him up to the Nextel Cup."
08/20/07 His career over before it really began, there is speculation that Speed will make his NASCAR debut in the Busch series in a Toyota sponsored by Red Bull in 2008. The place Speed should be is in the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing seat replacing Sebastien Bourdais. As we have said, Speed has driven rear engine open wheel cars all his life. Like other open wheel drivers who have driven rear engined cars all their life, he will fail miserably in NASCAR and, except for collecting a big paycheck, Red Bull and Toyota are doing Speed a huge disservice.
08/17/07 Scott Speed is here at Michigan International Speedway today, in Team Red Bull's pits. We guess that any questions have been answered as to where he will race next year. Another open wheeler destined for failure – the guy never even drove a car with a roof over his head, or a front engine car. He will fail miserably. Tim Wohlford reporting from MIS
08/14/07 (GMM) Axed Toro Rosso racer Scott Speed will almost certainly switch to the NASCAR series in 2008, it has emerged.
Although his relationships with STR chiefs Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger are over, the Californian remains strongly linked with Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz — who also owns a new team in the premier American tin-top category Nextel Cup.
"Speed drove in formula one against the world's best drivers," the Austrian billionaire is quoted as saying by Motorsport Aktuell, "he is courageous, and his name is a marketer's dream — and with a cowboy hat it is perhaps complete!"
Team Red Bull is a works Toyota-supported NASCAR team.
"He would be an asset for us in NASCAR," Mateschitz said of the 24-year-old.
08/14/07 "Over the past five years I have had the privilege of driving at the some of the most challenging and exciting racing circuits in the world," Scott Speed said on his website.
"It did not always go the way I wanted but Formula One racing has been a great experience for me and I really appreciate the support from all of my fans. It has made me stronger, smarter and a better racer.
"Unfortunately, Toro Rosso's decision to remove me from my racing seat prematurely has left me to consider many other new opportunities in my racing career. As I approach the question of 'what's next?,' I wanted to begin with those who have been the most supportive of my talents and potential.
"As such, Red Bull Austria was the natural choice. I have had a great meeting with Dietrich Mateschitz, who became very excited about the possibility of my racing back in the good ol' USA. We will see where it leads.
"I am coming back to America on a fact-finding, looking at the various racing series, and talking with some of the top American teams. Initial interest has been positive so I look forward to having some productive chats and finding the right fit for me."
08/12/07 (GMM) Ousted Toro Rosso racer Scott Speed is not pursuing a new job in formula one. It is reported in the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten that the 24-year-old Californian, who fell out badly with his team bosses this year before losing his seat, is only pursuing a job for 2008 and beyond in his native North America.
Top of his list, according to whispers, is the front-running Champ Car team Newman/Haas/Lanigan, whose title winning driver Sebastien Bourdais is ironically on his way to Faenza based Toro Rosso next year to replace Speed's similarly job-seeking 2007 teammate, Tonio Liuzzi.
"In the next few weeks I will look around in the States for a new job," Speed is quoted as saying. "I am convinced that in Champ Car and NASCAR possibilities for me exist. I am not trying to stay in formula one, because I know there is no chance for me to move forwards in the way that I want to," he added.
Speed clarified that although his relationships with STR chiefs Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger are beyond repair, his long-standing collaboration with the energy drink Red Bull remains "excellent".
Unlike Speed, meanwhile, Vitantonio Liuzzi still has "some possibilities" to continue his F1 career next year, the Italian's manager Peter Collins said.
Veteran Collins, who was formerly team manager at Lotus, Benetton and Williams, suggested that a move to America for 25-year-old Liuzzi is only plan-B.
"Through our contacts with other teams we have established that Tonio is estimated much more highly than was the case with Toro Rosso," he said, following speculation of possible talks with Williams, for whom Liuzzi tested in 2002.