Even in a 1-year deal, Kahne will help Red Bull

Even in a 1-year deal, Kahne will help Red Bull


By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(August 15, 2010)

BROOKLYN, Mich.—Even though the structure of the deal is unprecedented, Red Bull Racing plans to take full advantage of Kasey Kahne’s one-year stay with the organization.
You can liken it to John Wall spending one season in the Kentucky basketball program or to a Major League Baseball team trading for a pitcher short term to bolster a playoff run.
“You look at the Texas Rangers this year,” Red Bull general manager Jay Frye said. “They went out and traded for Cliff Lee. They have no expectation, from what I’ve read, that they’re going to re-sign him for next year. But they know he can help them this year get to the playoffs and possibly a World Series.
“We think we have a good team, and if you bring a Kasey Kahne-type talent and put him with our team, and then we have a really good season next year like we fully expect to, that will help whoever the next person is come in and say, ‘Hey, this is a good team—I want to go drive for them.’ It’s a very unusual situation, but we couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Red Bull has had its share of unexpected reversals since driver Brian Vickers qualified for last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The team lost Vickers in mid-May when he was diagnosed with blood clots and began treatment with blood thinners. Vickers expects to return to the team for the 2011 Daytona 500.
Kahne recently signed his one-year deal with Red Bull as a bridge to driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in 2012. Mark Martin will complete his contract in the No. 5 next year.
AJ Allmendinger, Kahne’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports and a former Red Bull driver, believes Kahne will help the organization. Though Allmendinger and Kahne have had run-ins on the track—most recently at Pocono in June—Allmendinger acknowledges that his teammate is one of the elite wheel men in the sport.
“I know Kasey and I—we’ve had our ups and downs together when it comes to it—but just as a competitor and a teammate, I do think he’s one of the best out there,” Allmendinger said. “It’s definitely going to make that (Red Bull) race team better, but it’s interesting in terms of what’s going to happen. You know you’re only going to be there for a year. I don’t think you can build a ton of team chemistry, because you’re not staying—and you know that.
“I think it’s one of those things where it’s definitely more of a win for Red Bull, because they are struggling. You can really see that, when Brian had his illness, it hurt that race team really bad. They’ve been really struggling since then.
“Kasey’s one of the best out there, so he’s going to go in there and raise the game of that team. It’s just a matter of how much. Will he win races? Will he be in the Chase? We’ll have to wait and see next year. But he’s definitely going to be fast—that’s for sure.”
Frye would prefer to look at the positive side of the one-year contract.
“We understand what the deal is,” Frye said. “There’ll be no hard feelings next year in Miami when he gets out of the car. We know exactly what the program is. We think he’s going to do spectacular things for us, and we’re going to try to do spectacular things for him. It’s different. This model hasn’t happened before, but I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
There are unanswered questions. Will Kahne try to bring his RPM crew chief, Kenny Francis, with him to Red Bull? Frye says he feels no rush to settle personnel questions but expects to address the crew chief issue within 30-45 days.
Will Scott Speed, driver on the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota, perform well enough in the final 14 races to keep his job? Will Red Bull compete as a two-car or three-car team next year? Those are details that have to be settled.
Nevertheless, Frye says Kahne’s signing already has had a positive effect on the organization.
“It was amazing … when we announced the Kasey thing in the shop the other day—the applause, the instant morale boost within our company,” he said. “It’s August, and this isn’t going to happen until next year, but people had a little different bounce in their step. This announcement helps us get through the rest of the season. We’ve got something to work on. We’ve got a goal. We’ve got something to look forward to.
“He’ll help make us better. It’s invaluable. And hopefully we’ll maintain that going into 2012 with whoever his replacement will be—and wish him the best.”