A.J. Allmendinger Shifts Gears From Champ Car To NASCAR
 |
Allmendinger Leaving Champ Car
For NASCAR Nextel Cup Series |
Champ Car World Series driver A.J. Allmendinger has signed a multi-year deal with
Team Red Bull to drive a Toyota in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, joining a “growing
parade of open-wheel racers who are either moving to NASCAR or giving it serious
thought,” according to Jim Peltz of the L.A. TIMES. Allmendinger is scheduled
to attempt to qualify for this Sunday’s Bass Pro Shops 500 in Atlanta. He will
drive a Dodge for that race, since Toyota will make its Nextel Cup debut next
season. Bill Elliott was scheduled to drive Sunday’s race for Red Bull, but Elliott
has “agreed to let Allmendinger take the wheel” (L.A. TIMES, 10/25). In
San Jose, Darryl Matsuda writes losing Allmendinger, one of the few American drivers
in the series, “will hurt Champ Car.” Champ Car Series co-Owner Jerry Forsythe
is “said to have offered Allmendinger a multiyear contract extension with a sizable
raise and options,” but Allmendinger received “considerably more guaranteed money”
to go to Team Red Bull. Allmendinger has had a “personal sponsorship deal with
Red Bull throughout his Champ Car career” (MERCURY NEWS, 10/25).
 |
Red Bull Toyota Will Begin Running
On Nextel Cup Circuit In ‘07 |
PICK-UP LINE: In N.Y., Dave Caldwell writes, “Toyota does not need much
help selling the passenger version of the Camry, the No. 1-selling passenger car
in the United States. But Toyota would like to sell more pickup trucks, and the
company thinks that NASCAR fans are an ideal target.” Toyota Motor Sales VP/Marketing
Jim Farley noted, “We’re not racing Camrys to sell Camrys.” Caldwell adds the
’08 Toyota Tundra will be unveiled in February at “about the time of the Daytona
500,” and Toyota will have “already started a marketing blitz aimed at NASCAR
fans” by then. Toyota said that it hoped its presence in Nextel Cup racing could
also “generate more teamwork among the estimated 400,000 Americans who have jobs
with Toyota or one of its suppliers.” Farley: “We need something like NASCAR to
connect with each other as a family” (N.Y. TIMES, 10/25).
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