Thursday, September 17, 2009

Red Bull Stays With Toyota

Red Bull Racing will remain a Toyota team in 2010 and beyond, after announcing a renewed manufacturer alliance for its two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams.

Red Bull had negotiated with Chevrolet, before team management elected to remain in the Toyota camp. Team General Manager Jay Frye said Toyota has been a critical element of Red Bull's success, and that he is looking forward to continuing the relationship.

In other manufacturer news, published reports today say that Rusty Wallace Inc., will convert its two-car NASCAR Nationwide Series team from Chevrolet to Ford next season. Sources close to the team say the move results from Chevy’s recent reduction in financial support to the series, and that the team’s current inventory of cars – driven by Steven Wallace and Brendan Gaughan – are currently for sale. RWI jumped to Chevrolet from the Dodge camp in 2008.

From The "We Told You So" File: ESPN.com reported today what Sirius Speedway first told you Monday, that Richard Petty Motorsports has fired Vice President and Managing Director of Competition Mark McArdle in the aftermath of last Friday’s verbal confrontation with team co-owner George Gillett, Jr.

McArdle was suspended immediately following the incident, and was given his outright release Monday. Officials of Richard Petty Motorsports have not commented on McArdle’s dismissal this week, but Petty himself said Saturday that he believed McArdle had already been fired.

ESPN.com’s David Newton reports that a recorded message on McArdle's cell phone said that it has now been repossessed by the team.

No Double-Dip For Seuss: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour star Andy Seuss will not attempt to do double duty at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway Saturday, after all.

The opportunity to run the ironman doubleheader arose after a Southern Modified Tour event at Caraway rained out earlier this season and was rescheduled for Saturday; the same day as the Northern Tour is set to compete at NHMS.

Seuss initially considered attempting both events, but travel concerns have prompted him to turn the wheel in his #70 modified over to Camping World East Series driver Eddie MacDonald, in order to concentrate on the Caraway event. Seuss and MacDonald are longtime friends who began their racing careers at the Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire, a track owned by MacDonald's family. MacDonald has only one career Modified start, but won both Camping World East Series races at New Hampshire last season. He will now do triple-duty in the Granite State, running tomorrow’s Camping World East race, in addition to Saturday’s Modified and American-Canadian Tour Late Model races.

In other Modified news, Kasey Kahne has withdrawn from Saturday's race at New Hampshire to concentrate on his Sprint Cup effort. He was scheduled to drive the same H&H Motorsports car he ran last month at Bristol Motor Speedway.

No comments:

Post a Comment