As the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship moves to Dover International Speedway Sunday there are negotiations taking place that seem to have slipped under the radar of most garage watchers. Sun Media has been told that Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has been in discussions to switch manufacturers from Toyota next year. Those in the know say that Mateschitz has been deeply disappointed about the results of both the #83 and #84 Red Bull Toyotas in the team’s inaugural Cup season. And he is not pointing the finger at either A.J. Allmendinger or Brian Vickers. The general feeling among team members is that Toyota has not stepped up with the kind of technological and engineering support that the team expected when it signed on with the Japanese auto giant. With Chevrolet losing Joe Gibbs Racing to Toyota next year, there certainly is room for Red Bull to fill that void in the Bow Tie brigade.(Toronto Sun), however, as of Sept 4th, Elton Sawyer, Team Red Bull’s competition director, said the team would stay with Toyota.(9-18-2007) UPDATE Denied..again: Despite speculation suggesting a switch to Chevrolet to boost its Cup performance, Team Red Bull reiterated its commitment to Toyota. “The rumor keeps coming up, but we are staying with Toyota,” Team Red Bull vice president of competition Guenther Steiner said Friday. “We don’t want to want leave Toyota, we want to stay with them and I hope I have to say it for the last time now.” The season has seen more qualifying misses than hits with the tandem combining to miss 25 starts on speed. While Steiner said he expected some stumbles with the Camry in Toyota’s transition to stock cars, he admitted to not fully grasping the concept of being in the top-35 in terms of qualifying. In time that won’t be an issue with Toyota, Steiner added. “When we get in the race we are not yet decent, far from where we need to be,” Steiner said. “Maybe we underestimated that (top-35), but we are learning and we try to make up for it. We want to win in two years, but we are realistic.”(USA Today)(9-22-2007)
