Season Preview: Team Red Bull
After experiencing some success in the open-wheel market, Team Red Bull decided to purge into NASCAR late in the 2006 season. Except, it wasn’t exactly a “purge”, as they failed to qualify in the three races they attempted. Shaking off the disappointment from their trial runs in ’06, the team looked ahead towards the 2007 season after purchasing the old Penske race shop in Mooresville, NC and aligning with the Toyota brand as they, too, made their debut in the NASCAR [then] Nextel Cup Series.
With Brian Vickers driving the #83 car and Cup Series rookie AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel of the #84, the 2007 campaign got off to a horrid start as both failed to qualify for the transfer spots for the Daytona 500. The following week, however, Vickers did successfully qualify at California and finished the race in 10th. It wasn’t until the fifth race of the season that Allmendinger finally qualified.
Between Red Bull’s two race teams, they successfully qualified for only 40 of their possible 72 combined points races, which netted TRB only one top five and five top ten finishes – all via the efforts of Vickers. Neither of the cars finished in the top 35 in owner points, either, meaning that 2008 will start off much like ’07 with both cars having to qualify for every race based on time. Much like their fellow Toyota teams in Michael Waltrip Racing and Bill Davis Racing, though, they will receive a much-needed boost in their efforts with addition of Joe Gibbs’ team to the mix. If the engine packages and the cars hold up the way I think they will, I believe Vickers is a solid enough driver to get his car somewhere in the top 25 in points and take a little bit of the pressure off of this race team.
Cup Series Roster:
83: Brian Vickers – The 24-year-old native of North Carolina got off to a bit of a slower start in the Cup Series than most people had expected recording only four top ten’s and no top five’s in his first full season in the Cup in ‘04. He finally broke out in 2005, though, while racing for Hendrick Motorsports in a season that brought him five top-five’s and ten top-ten’s resulting in a 17th place points finish. The following year he maintained his momentum with another five top-five’s and recording his first Cup victory at Talladega when he took teammate Jimmie Johnson out of the race in the closing laps to secure his victory. He also moved up another two spots in the standings that year as well. Following 2006, though, Vickers made the curious decision to leave Hendrick Motorsports and join Team Red Bull and the Toyota venture as they both made their break into the Cup Series. The transition was a bit rough, as Vickers qualified for only 23 of the 36 races last season and recorded only five top-ten finishes – only one more than in his rookie season. The main goal for Vickers this season will be to get his car qualified for the first five races of the season and then getting his ride inside the top 35 in points to secure future starts, regardless of qualifying. Once he does that, much of the burden should be lifted from his shoulders and we could possibly see Vickers become rather racey once again. Look for him to finish in the top 25 in points this year.
84: AJ Allmendinger – The former Champ Car Series driver didn’t make the transition to NASCAR until last year – his rookie season – and, it was a rather miserable transition at that. He qualified in only 17 of the 36 races, not garnering his first start until five races into the season. He also failed to make the best out of those starts by not only not recording a single top ten finish, but accumulating an overall average finish of just over 31 and finishing the year 43rd in points. His success in the Champ Car Series was a little up and down, and he really hasn’t proven that he’s ready for NASCAR’s highest level. My honest pre-season prediction for Allmendinger is that he will be released by TRB before the end of the season, replacing him with either someone running a full-time Nationwide schedule or one of these mediocre vets still in search of a ride.
Driver Roster: C-
Off-Season: D
2008 Outlook: D+
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