On Monday morning the news broke that Red Bull would be stepping away from NASCAR at the end of this season.
While nothing formal has been announced by the Austrian ownership group of Red Bull Racing, a team official traveled to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday to announce the move on Sunday (Read more here, from Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AiULGOllTxbM1WwIftZDhHbov7YF?slug=ap-nascar-redbull-out).
Red Bull, the energy drink company, is the owner and sponsor of two NASCAR Sprint Cup teams and two Formula 1 teams.
Jay Frye is the general manager of the NASCAR teams, and he’s been around since his job at Ginn Racing ended in 2007. Frye was key to putting together a part-time ride for Mark Martin in 2007 at Ginn Racing. Martin nearly won the Daytona 500 in his first race in a Ginn Racing Chevrolet.
Before the Brickyard 400 in 2007, Ginn had to fold due to sponsorship woes, and was bought by Dale Earnhardt Inc. Martin shared his ride that season with Regan Smith and Aric Almirola.
So what does this all mean?
In 2009 Mark Martin was asked if he felt that more drivers would turn to the plan of being owner/drivers or just owners, kind of like what Tony Stewart had just begun in that season with Stewart-Haas Racing.
Martin answers the question about Tony Stewart in 2009 before the Brickyard 400
Martin said, “I see additional opportunities there or going forward but not every driver can do what Tony Stewart has done. Many of the drivers who are capable of doing what Tony has done are set for the remainder of their career.”
Is Martin set right now? Not really.
Is Jay Frye ready to lure the 52-year-old back to drive for him again? We’ll see.
It could be an interesting few weeks once everything gets sorted out for the team known currently as Red Bull Racing.
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By the way, there are only 19 days until the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. I’ll ramp up coverage heading into the big weekend, so be sure to check back multiple times each day and follow me on twitter (@adamniemeyer) for more info and links.
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