Top 35 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers: No. 35, Scott Speed
Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed (left) talks with crew chief Jimmy Elledge earlier this season. // Mark Sluder, NASCAR Scene
Scott Speed didn’t have the kind of rookie season he likely wanted in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
The former open-wheel driver’s relative inexperience in full-bodied stock cars showed as he failed to qualify for three races with his Red Bull Racing team and wasn’t a factor on most weekends.
Paired with crew chief Jimmy Elledge, the Manteca, Calif., native’s struggles were magnified by the success of teammate Brian Vickers, who gave Red Bull its first entry in NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup in the team’s three-year existence.
Speed finished a distant second to Joe Gibbs Racing driver Joey Logano in the battle for 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors and, unlike Logano, failed to win a race.
The 26-year-old former Formula One driver will have his work cut out for him once again when the 2010 season begins since his team’s 36th-place finish in the 2009 owner standings could force him to qualify his way into the first five races, depending on whether all the team's in front of his remain in competition next season.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 35 in 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup driver points. Here’s how Speed’s season unfolded:
By the numbers: Speed scored just one top-10, a fifth-place finish at Talladega in April. The rookie driver finished in the top 20 just four times in 35 starts. He led 19 laps and had eight DNFs. His race winnings totaled $3,495,219.
Season highlights: The highlight of Speed’s season was undoubtedly the fifth-place finish at Talladega, which came in just his 14th Cup start. Speed led a season-high 12 laps at Martinsville in March but finished 39th in the race. His only other top-15 was a 15th-place finish at Bristol in August. He finished 18th twice. Speed qualified in the top three on three occasions in the last 18 events but didn’t win a pole. He enjoyed more success in his part-time Nationwide Series schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing, netting a pole and eight top-10s in 13 starts.
Key setbacks: Speed struggled out of the gate, finishing no better than 21st in his first eight starts. He failed to qualify for three races, but only missed one race as he switched and drove Joe Nemechek’s Nemco Motorsports entry at Darlington in May and at the Infineon Raceway road course in June. The only race that Speed didn't compete in was the spring event at Texas.
Newsworthy moment: Speed largely flew under the radar in 2009 and wasn’t the subject of much on-track or off-track chatter. Thus, the career-best fifth-place finish at Talladega in the season’s ninth race was the driver’s most newsworthy moment.
In his words: “Ever since I came back over the pond and started racing these things, every time I get into it, there’s something big that I learn. And honestly, it has been a lot more exciting having done that just because I physically can see so much more progress in myself, you know, from where I started out, say from my first Cup race, to where I’m at now. It’s really fun and exciting for me to be able to make those improvements and be able to better myself as a race-car driver. That’s honestly the most rewarding.”
