AJ Allmendinger expects this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway to be his last with Red Bull Racing. Allmendinger and Red Bull announced earlier this week they will part ways at the end of this season, and Allmendinger did not drive the #84 during the two-day test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I’m racing this weekend at Kansas, but I’m almost 100 percent sure I won’t be with Red Bull after this race,” Allmendinger said in his biweekly diary for Yahoo. “Hopefully I’ll have something and I’ll be in a car next week. Whether it’s the team I’m going to be with for next year, and we can start working on that, or what … that’s kind of where we stand.” Red Bull general manager Jay Frye said Thursday he expects to know at the start of next week what the # 84 team will do for the remaining seven races this season. Allmendinger said he expected to be released from Red Bull the past month, and even though he wanted to stay with the team, he passed on an opportunity to sign a one-year contract extension to stay with the team because it would have put him in the same position this time next year.(Associated Press)(9-26-2008) UPDATE: A.J. Allmendinger will split from the Red Bull Racing Team possibly as early as next week, opening up a seat in the organization’s # 84 car that will presumably go to current Craftsman Truck Series driver Scott Speed in 2009. The former rookie of the year in the defunct Champ Car series said Friday at Kansas Speedway that a return to open-wheel racing is a possibility, but he clearly doesn’t want to give up on a NASCAR odyssey that he began in late 2006. Although the announcement [of the driver/team split] said Allmendinger and Red Bull would part for the 2009 season, the separation will likely happen much sooner than that. Allmendinger is in the #84 at Kansas, but said nothing has been decided beyond this weekend. In addition to the 10 starts Speed has made this season in the trucks, he’s also the points leader in the ARCA series, which will compete as a companion event to the Sprint Cup tour next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. But Speed has never driven in a restrictor-plate event, and is only approved by NASCAR to attempt Sprint Cup events on 1.5-mile tracks or smaller. That makes Skinner, who replaced Allmendinger for four races earlier this season, a more viable option for the Alabama track. Red Bull executives will meet Monday to formulate a plan for Talladega. Could we see Speed in a Sprint Cup car before the year is out? “It’s possible,” said team vice president Jay Frye.(NASCAR.com), NOTE: Speed did run the Daytona ARCA race earlier this year. He was in an accident and completed 29 laps. For more information on the #84 ride see my #84 team page.(9-27-2008) UPDATE 2: Red Bull Racing Team announced Mike Skinner and Red Bull development driver Scott Speed to replace AJ Allmendinger in the #84 for the rest of the 2008 Sprint Cup Series season. The #84 currently sits 33rd in owners’ points. “The schedule we put together is in the best interest of both Red Bull Racing Team and AJ’s plans for the future,” said RBRT Vice President and General Manager Jay Frye. Allowing Mike Skinner and Scott Speed to share the #84 for the balance of the season helps our team continue developing our program for the future.” Mike Skinner, who drove the #84 Red Bull Toyota for five races earlier in the 2008 season, will take the reins of the #84 at the NSCS races in both Talladega and Charlotte. Red Bull development driver Scott Speed will drive the #82 Red Bull Toyota at Charlotte on October 11 – the same weekend he attempts to clinch the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship in Toledo. Speed will then take over driving duties of the #84 at Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.(RBRT PR)(9-30-2008)
