Following its announcement earlier today that Casey Mears was out as the driver of its No. 83 NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing has revealed that Reed Sorenson will take over the car beginning with the June 27 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“Our unique situation has afforded us the opportunity to try some different things, and we're continuing to do that with Reed,” said Jay Frye, RBRT's vice president and general manager. “We appreciate Casey's work and everything he's done the past five weeks.”
Sorenson, 24, has made 148 Cup starts, including three this season, with five top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. His best season came in 2007 when he earned three top fives and six top 10s, including his first pole at Indianapolis.
DTM ace Mattias Ekstrom will make his NASCAR debut in the No. 83 car this weekend at Infineon Raceway, but the team has not given any indication whether the Swede may be doing any other racing for the team.
Mears took over the ride when team regular Brian Vickers was sidelined by blood clots last month at Dover. Since then, he has had a best finish of 22nd and an average finish of 27.5. The last straw for Mears' future with Red Bull clearly came with last weekend's race at Michigan, where he crashed with teammate Scott Speed and finished 36th.