Scott Speed had long been viewed as the odd man out at Red Bull Racing in 2011 and Speed confirmed this week on his Twitter page that he and Red Bull Racing have severed ties.
Red Bull Racing had sent Speed a termination letter which wasn’t very surprising. In fact, Speed wasn’t even surprised himself.
[media-credit name=”scottspeed.com” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]With Kasey Kahne driving the #82 next year plus the return of Brian Vickers, Speed was left without a ride for next season. Vickers has been sidelined since May with blood clots in his lung. He is currently scheduled to return for the 2011 season and the 53rd Daytona 500. Kahne on the other hand, drove the #83 for the final five races of 2010 after breaking ties with Richard Petty Motorsports. He will be with Red Bull for a year before making a move to Hendrick Motorsports.
Speed was the first American since Michael Andretti to race in Formula One, but he never scored a point in the series. He did win a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 2008, but as of today that is his only win in NASCAR. He has made 76 Cup starts, but only has three top 10 finishes and one top 5 which came back in 2009. I would like to see Speed get a Nationwide Series ride for 2011 and then from there move on to Cup. Ironically, a lot of the racers with the last name Speed haven’t fared too well.