The writing was on the wall this summer when Red Bull Racing hesitated to re-sign Californian A.J. Allmendinger to keep driving its NASCAR Sprint Cup car next season, and today the team made it official: Red Bull and Allmendinger parted ways.
Allmendinger, who is in his second Cup Series season driving the No. 84 Toyota, is 37th in points and will race in Sunday’s Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Speedway, although the rest of the season is still to be decided.
“A.J. is a talented driver and we really enjoyed working with him,” said Jay Frye, vice president and general manager of RBRT. “He’s come a long way in just two years and we wish him nothing but the best.”
But Allmendinger’s departure might really be more about another Californian in Red Bull’s stable, Scott Speed, a former Formula One driver who has enjoyed success this year driving in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series and in the ARCA series, one of stock-car racing’s minor leagues. Speed wants to graduate to the Sprint Cup level and the betting is Red Bull wants him there, too—the sooner the better.
So what’s next?
Allmendinger could return to his roots, get back into an open-wheel car. He raced on the Champ Car circuit for three years and has gotten word of potential offers from IndyCar teams.
It’s always an option, but that’s not what Allmendinger wants.
“We all know what’s out there right now for rides,” he said. “I definitely want to stay in Cup. I’ve got offers to go back to IndyCar, possibly, but I’ve clawed and scratched way too long and felt like my life was ending so many times over the last year and half that to finally get this and running up front, I don’t want to give up on that.”
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