Frye Signs Multi-Year Agreement
Red Bull Racing Team formally announces Vice President and General Manager Jay Frye has agreed to a multi-year contract extension to continue managing its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team.“I’m extremely pleased and quite excited to continue my relationship with Red Bull Racing Team,” said Frye. “It truly is amazing to see the levels of potential, desire and dedication this organization has for wanting to succeed and be a leading force each and every weekend we compete on the track. To be able to continue to see this team achieve its long-term goals is something I’m very committed to.”
Frye joined Red Bull Racing Team in January 2008 and in his short tenure has been integral in leading the team to a successful 2008 NSCS season. Under Frye’s leadership, Brian Vickers’ No. 83 Red Bull team is currently 15th in points, and to date, has seen a season of accomplishments including three top-five finishes and six top-ten finishes. Teammate AJ Allmendinger’s No. 84 team won their first NSCS event with the NASCAR Sprint Showdown feature race, in addition to earning 1 top-ten finish and eight top-20 finishes.
posted by Wise Little Portraits at 11:20 AM
21 Comments:
I am so relieved to see this. I think Jay has allowed Red Bull to make great strides, and I hated the thought of losing him.
I also think this bodes well for them being able to find a sponsor for next season so Scott can at least run a partial schedule. I'm not sure a sponsor would be willing to jump aboard a ship if they're not sure who's going to be at the helm.
Now hopefully AJ's status will be finalized soon and the Red Bull teams can just focus on finishing the year out strong.
Awesome!
That is great for the future of RBRT!!
The best news to come out of NASCAR in weeks! Thank Goodness Tony didn't steal him away!
Great news!!!
YES!!!
I've actually been stressing about this, because I feared what it would do to the team. This is very pleasing. Very pleasing indeed.
Congratulations Jay! Now if we can get a deal for AJ, I'll be able to let out a huge sigh of relief.
Jay Frye is the man.
OH YEAH!!! This is absolutely AWESOME!!! No one knows how excited I really am!!!
According to Yahoo! Sports, Allmendinger's status should be decided by the end of the week. I hope he stays, he has made some great strides, and it will only get better the more he works with Jimmy Elledge.
I also am very relieved that Jay Frye is returning. I did a quick check of Jayski today while at work and saw that. It made my day!
congrats on your new ride SS. AJ good luck in the 41..
cracker, i dont think red bull needs you around man... AJ's got his ride now that jay is staying.
btw... anyone see vettel win the F1 race? RED BULL is gettin there
formula mazda, talk to me tomorrow... better learn to love SS.
Sorry - cant ever learn to love SS.
RB will not give Speed a full time ride next season, and they will not give him the #84. They would be foolish to do so. Speed needs a partial ride to see how he does, then they talk about full time for the '10 season. AJ has to be back, its really their only option.
Frye sticking around is the first sigh of relief for the week.
Now all that needs to be announced is AJ staying with the team and getting a contract extension. Get that done, we'll all be happy and the team can re-focus on getting their momentum back. All this staying/going/signing drama has really thrown them off performance-wise the last couple races.
Frye staying on board is, I think, very good for AJ. Frye has seen two things:
1. AJ's talent
2. The relationship he has with the team.
These are both of utmost importance in long term progress. I think that Frye was in a very very strong position when he went to Austria. He had an offer on the table from Stewart.
We may never know, but I would suspect that he lobbied very strongly for AJ, perhaps even to the point of AJ stayong on board being a condition for him staying.
Think about it. Who else is available out there? SS? Talent yes...but please...ARCA is the bush leagues. He also will never has the rapport that AJ does with people. AJ is very likeable...and I will be polite so as to not get this post deleted...Scott is not as likeable.
All due respect...how do you know SS is not likable? I am a BV fan and I try and look at the #84 situation dispationatley. SS has huge upside potential as does AJ. DM has a special affection for SS and seems impatient with AJ. DM thinks SS is ready for Cup racing-which is all that really matters as he controls the $. IMO it would hurt the team as a whole to fire AJ (as I believe he is starting to "get it" and is almost to the point of being able to help the #83) Brining SS in now would start the #84 back at zero. It would hurt less to start a 3rd full time team (although I am not a big fan of that-at this point) I still don't understand why alot of posters here make this an AJ vs SS deal. The problem is DM doesn't quite get Nascar and doesn't realize how hard it has been for AJ to come from where he was to where he is now.
This isn't AJ vs. SS---
I honestly feel the only fair way this work moving forward is to make this a 3 car outfit-
Here's why...
1. BV is safe and the face of RBRT for time being- that we call agree on...
2. AJ has worked his ass off to get himself to be a competant stock car driver. Which i tihnk he has proven he can definately do. His TEAM has let him down quote a bit this season. To remove him after this amount of preogress would be a kick in the balls.
3. SS is a great talent, there is no denying the guy is a hell of a racecar driver. Now, I am not sure he is ready for the big time, but AJ wasn't, and SS has had quite a bit more seat time then what AJ had, so his transition to what is now a 3rd year team should go pretty well.
But- to replace AJ with SS after all the hard work and chemistry that has been built by the 84 group would truly be cruel. Not that any of this matters, because DM is going to do what he wants to anyway- But, it seems to me that RBRT has enough money, and Red Bull the product is affiliated with so many different neat things, that finding associate sponsorship with the marketbale (all 3 of them are awesome in thier own way, thus why I've been on board since day 1!) should be easier than say a tier 3 team with no marketability (see Paul Menard, Regan Smith, Travis Kvapil et al)
I tihnk they could make it work, but are they willing to see it through? Seeing 3 Bulls in the show weekly would make me a happy happy fan! Put SS in a Black Bull car with associate sponsorship from like Spy and Oakley and Fox racing and a bad ass paint scheme and a fast cat to go along with Blue Bull Vickers and Silver Bull 'dinger and RBRT would be a sight to see =)
Jason - that would be the most awesome thing that could ever happen. Why don't you fly to Austria and sell DM on it.
My take on the situation is that it isn't a SS vs AJ situation. It is a 2 car vs 3 car dilemma. It only becomes SS vs AJ if they decide to pull AJ out to put Scott in.
I like Scott, and while he certainly has a unique personality, I wouldn't call him unlikeable or less likeable than AJ. He will appeal to a different fan base. That's what would make the Red Bull trio a powerful combo.
I think what Jason said is very true about Red Bull having a much better driver base to woo sponsors with than some of the other teams. All very young, very talented, yet very diverse personalities. I think they would feed off of each other while at the same time want to beat each other. That is a powerhouse team in the making.
Tracy-
I'll get right on that, I'm working on my powerpoint presentation for DM as we speak =)
I have always thought that it would be easier for a team owned by Red Bull, a company that dabbles and has its hands in EVERYTHING to find associate spponsorship for the cars. If they can't they should hire me and my degree in marketing to do it for them. I can be bought!!!!
And, as we discussed earlier, the 3 different personalities are also pretty easy to market. I mean is there any other "team" where you root for the whole team and not just one driver? When AJ wasn't making races--- I rooted hard for Vickers. My friend who is a Dale Jr fan (go figure one of those huh?) couldn't understand rooting for the "team" as he could never openly root for Jimmie or Gordon.
If the Bulls had 3, I of course would be an AJ fan first, but would still have love for BV and Speed.
I was at Pocono when Scott Speed was on Trackside live- and he was polarizing personality, real cool, easy going guy- I definately want to pull for him--- as long as he is not in the 84...
Like Jason said, its hard not to cheer for the whole team. Starting last year I was only a BV fan but after the first couple races I became a fan of the whole team. Anf if Scott Speed is up there next year I'll cheer for him also. You cant cheer for one Red Bull driver and not the others! :)
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