#84-AJ 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. “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. The main obstacle Allmendinger faces is teammate Scott Speed, the former Red Bull Formula One driver who has experienced notable success in both the Craftsman Truck Series (he won at Dover earlier this year) and ARCA. Red Bull corporate executives like Speed. His brash attitude is the corporate mantra personified, and he’s escalating rapidly through the stock car ranks.(full story at ESPN.com)(8-8-2008)
