Team Red Bull in NASCAR-Part II (2009-2011)

The first article written covered the birth of what we now know as Team Red Bull in the NASCAR Cup Series, covering 2006-2008. The demise of Red Bull’s involvement in NASCAR quickly followed afterwards, resulting in the infamous BK Racing team that lasted for several seasons. How did this all happen?

2009

Team Red Bull arrived at Daytona in 2009 with a somewhat new look. With the departure of A.J. Allmendinger to Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, Red Bull brought in development driver Scott Speed to wheel the new #82 Toyota, while Brian Vickers returned to the seat of the #83 entry. 

#83 (Vickers)

For Vickers and his #83 crew, 2009 was a career year for the team. Having hired veteran crew chief Ryan Pemberton, the team quickly turned around from a dismal 2008 season. Beginning with 3 Top 10 finishes in the first 5 races of the season, the team proved they belonged now, collecting their first win at Michigan and scoring multiple poles during the season.

The combination of Vickers and Pemberton proved to be a key to success for the 83 team, as they would end 2009 with the Michigan win, 4 Top 5’s and and 13 Top finishes en route to placing a respectable 12th in the final standings.

#82 (Speed)

Red Bull’s #84 team was rebranded to #82 in 2009, with promising development driver and former Formula 1 driver Scott Speed taking over the reigns of the team’s second Toyota. Speed did struggle a bit in his rookie season missing 3 races, but overall performance did quickly improve, with Speed scoring his first career Top 5 finish in race 9 at Talladega. 

By season’s end, Speed would compete in 33 of 36 races, and have an average finish of 29th. While his average finish did include the Top 5 at Talladega, it also included 8 DNF’s which earned Speed a 35th place in the final rankings.

2010

The 2010 season began what could be the demise of Red Bull’s presence in NASCAR. While the team aimed to start strong in the new season, bad luck seemed to come calling in many ways throughout the campaign. 

#83 (Vickers / Substitute Drivers)

Vickers returned to his familiar #83 Toyota for 2010, with high hopes that the team would improve even more. The season started with a bang, as Vickers would collect 5 Top 15 finishes in the season’s first 6 races (including Top 10 runs at Atlanta and Martinsville). Following race 7 in Phoenix, the team hit a bit of a slump with 2 DNF’s in a row, followed by a Top 20 run in Richmond and a 10th place finish in Darlington. Unfortunately after Darlington is when the bad luck would set in. 

Vickers would have to leave the seat of the 83 car for the remainder of the season due to medical issues (which would later be announced as blood clots). With Vickers on the sidelines, Red Bull-owner Dietrich Mateschitz was forced to fill Vickers’ seat for the rest of the season.

 Casey Mears would take the wheel of the 83 from race 12 in Dover through Michigan. Mattias Ekstrom would get his turn for Sonoma and race 26 in Richmond, while Boris Said would fill in at Watkins Glen. Reed Sorenson would then take over the car until the newly-released Kasey Kahne became available to finish the season, starting at Martinsville. 

2010 Race by Race Results (w/driver):

#82 (Speed)

For 2010, Scott Speed would return for his sophomore season in 82 car, but results would unfortunately not be much better than 2009.

While Speed would make all 36 races, performance drop off drastically. Despite a pair of 10th place finishes at Atlanta and Daytona, Speed would end the season with a rough average finish of 25th and 2 DNF’s. This landed Speed in 30th place in the standings by year’s end. Following such a rough 2010, Speed was released…and subsequently filed a lawsuit. 

#84 (Cole Whitt-NASCAR Nationwide Series and K&N East)

Red Bull also made their NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in 2010, fielding a #84 Red Bull Toyota for rookie driver Cole Whitt in the last two races of the season. Whitt would go on to finish 15th in Phoenix, and 17th in Homestead.

Whitt would also compete in the K&N East Series for Red Bull in 2010 (using the #84), finishing 4th in the final standings, with 6 Top 5’s and 7 Top 10’s in 10 starts. 

2011

For the 2011 season, Team Red Bull debuted with a new look again. Kasey Kahne would return to the organization, this time driving a #4 Toyota (formerly #82). Brian Vickers also returned to his familiar #83, while Cole Whitt would make his Cup Series debut as well. 

In late June of 2011, Team Red Bull announced they would be leaving NASCAR at end of the year, leaving all three drivers searching for opportunities in 2012.

#4 (Kasey Kahne)

Red Bull yet again rebranded one of their cars for Kahne, shifting the #82 Toyota to the #4. Up to this point, performance has been far less than expected…which led to Red Bull hiring Kahne’s former crew chief at Gillett-Evernham, Kenny Francis. Francis and Kahne experienced a decent amount of success together in the 9 car, which would somewhat translate to the new team. 

 The pairing seemed to pay immediate dividends as Kahne and Francis would place the #4 Toyota in the Top 10 3 times during the first 5 races. The improvement continued for the team as they would score a pole at Atlanta, and score what would be Red Bull’s final win in NASCAR in Phoenix.  By season’s end Kahne would finish 14th in the final standings on the strength of the Phoenix win, along with 8 Top 5 finishes and 15 Top 10’s.

#83 (Vickers)

Vickers would return to the 83 car for 2011, but results did not improve as the team had hoped. Vickers and crew would somewhat struggle during the season, only collecting 3 Top 5’s and 7 Top 10’s, and lead only 7 laps all season. As mentioned above, it would be a disappointing end to Vickers’  tenure with Red Bull as the team was shutting down. Vickers would finish 25th in the final points.

#84 (Cole Whitt)

Red Bull would also field a third Cup car for two races in 2011, with Cole Whitt behind the wheel of the #84 Toyota. Running the seasons last two races at Phoenix and Homestead, Whitt would finish 25th at Phoenix and 37th in Homestead (due to a crash).

The Aftermath

With Red Bull officially shutting down in December 2011, former TRG Motorsports executive Ron Devine would purchase the team and owner points, forming the now infamous team known as BK Racing.

Kahne would move to Hendrick Motorsports’ iconic #5 Chevrolet, while Brian Vickers would run only 8 Cup Races in 2012 in Michael Waltrip’s #55 Toyota. Cole Whitt would move to JR Motorsports’ #88 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series, while also making 5 Cup Series starts for Turn One Racing and Circle Sport in 2012.