August 12, 2010
By Doug Demmons
Rick Hendrick never figured it would take this long or be this hard to find a temporary ride for Kasey Kahne.
"The process went on longer than any of us anticipated,” Hendrick said Tuesday in announcing that Kahne would drive for Red Bull Racing in 2011. “But I'm glad that we took our time to make sure it was right. And although I'm not looking forward to racing against him next year, I'm comfortable knowing this is the best situation for Kasey.”
Kahne was clearly the hottest free agent on the market when Hendrick signed him earlier this year. The only problem was that Hendrick already had the maximum allowable four drivers, all of whom were under contract for 2011.
No problem. Just send Kasey over to Hendrick West, aka Stewart-Haas Racing, for a year and then slot him into the No. 5 when Mark Martin’s contract is up.
But that proved problematic. Apart from sponsorship issues, why would it make sense for Stewart-Haas to add a third car for a year with no guarantee that the team wouldn’t have to downsize again in 2012?
So how about James Finch and Phoenix Racing? That was a Hendrick car that Brad Keselowski drove at Talladega for Finch to his and Finch’s only Sprint Cup win so far.
It’s not Stewart-Haas, but it’ll do for a year, right?
Apparently not. Finch is barely hanging on in the Cup Series.
So it only made sense that Hendrick would turn to his old friend Jay Frye at Red Bull Racing. It was a marriage made of necessity if not in heaven.
And it puts Kahne in line to do something that, as far as I can tell, no other driver has done -- drive for four different manufacturers in four consecutive years. Kahne drove a Dodge in 2009. He’s driving a Ford this year. He’ll be in a Toyota next year and he’ll be in a Chevy in 2012.
Red Bull was supposed to be a contender this year. After making the Chase last year they had high hopes for 2010, all of which are a pile of smoldering ruins now.
Brian Vickers’ health problems have turned the No. 83 car into the Driver of the Week program. Scott Speed’s slow progress in figuring out how to drive stock cars makes the No. 82 car a work in progress.
That’s kind of embarrassing for a team that is currently hitting on all cylinders in Formula One.
So Red Bull has one driver who may or may not be healthy by Daytona and one driver who may or may not have it all figured it all out by Daytona. And along comes Hendrick with an offer Red Bull can’t refuse.
Red Bull gets a proven winner for a year, a highly marketable name that fits its extreme sports image. Speed fit that image perfectly, except for one thing -- he hasn’t won in Cup. The on-the-edge, blue-toenails image is great as long as it is backed up with performance.
That’s not a problem with Kahne. He’ll win next year for Red Bull.
The question now is what will Red Bull do in 2011. Will they add a third car for Kahne and keep Speed or will they stay at two cars and give up on Speed?
Speed is in his second full Cup season and it hasn’t been pretty. It hasn’t been all his fault. He finished dead last at Watkins Glen but only because his gearbox broke.
And Red Bull has to be haunted by the ghost of AJ Allmendinger. Red Bull blew it with Allmendinger. They brought him straight to Cup without a year in ARCA or Nationwide and then dumped him after two seasons. Richard Petty Motorsports was only too happy to sign Allmendinger, who next year will be the alpha dog on that team.
Will Red Bull make the same mistake with Speed? Will Speed be dumped only to be picked up by another team only too happy to have a driver with two years of training at someone else’s expense?
We’ll see if Red Bull has the patience to give Speed that third year that seems to be so magical in figuring out Sprint Cup racing. To do so would require looking beyond 2011, which is a difficult thing to do in a sport where winning now is paramount.
Running a third car for one year would seem to be the ideal solution for Red Bull. Having Kahne and Vickers as teammates couldn’t be anything but beneficial for Speed.
And Red Bull will need a driver for 2012. They could hope for a first-class driver to be on the market or they can cash in on the major investment they have already made in Speed.
Either way, it’s a win-win for Red Bull for 2011.
By the way -- what happens if Kahne wins 10 races next year and wins the Sprint Cup championship for Red Bull? Does he leave that to go to Hendrick?
I’m sure he’d love to have that dilemma.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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