Frye bringing substance to Red Bull's established style (cont'd)

And then there's the issue of getting in the top 35 in owner points and receiving a guaranteed starting berth, something the Red Bull cars weren't able to do last year. Vickers, now 11th in points, is in position to break that barrier when 2008 points go into effect in three weeks. But Frye wants the organization to aim higher.

"The company as a whole, all people talked about the first couple of weeks was the top 35. Got to get in the top 35," he said. "I'm like, stop. We have to stop thinking about being in the top 35. That's not a goal. If you go do X,Y and Z, you'll be in the top 35. It will take care of itself. Do the things you're supposed to do, the top 35 is a non-issue. You won't even think about it. You try to change the mindset. We're not racing to be in the top 35, we're racing to win races."

At MB2 Motorsports and later Ginn Racing, Frye oversaw organizations that always seemed to overachieve despite their position below the superteams that dominate the sport. MB2 won a race with Johnny Benson in 2002, and Mark Martin nearly won the Daytona 500 last season. Now he's trying to elevate Red Bull, which is both owned and sponsored by the Austrian energy-drink company of the same name. Vickers, for one, likes what he sees.

"He's definitely brought a lot of experience," he said. "He's all about the basics, and that's what we were missing last year. We were trying to reinvent the wheel, and we didn't have the wheel rolling yet. He's brought a lot of stability and confidence to the whole organization. He's a great leader, very motivational. This is the first time I've ever had an opportunity to work with him, but I've been very, very impressed. I'd say the biggest thing is to recognize that we need to go back to basics and build a solid team. We need to go run at least what [other teams] are running to be competitive before we try to run something better. That wasn't the philosophy last year."

To Frye, there are plenty of positive indicators. He liked the muted, almost workmanlike response he saw from Vickers' team after their driver finished 11th on Monday at Auto Club Speedway. He calls Vickers' run in the Daytona 500 -- where the driver spun in a qualifying race, rebounded to make the main event, lost a lap early in the 500, got it back, and finished 12th -- as "almost a defining moment in this company's history." If Vickers never makes it out of the qualifying race, "this thing starts all over again," he said.

And he didn't want to go there, not after all the professional trials he endured last year as the promising shop that had been Ginn Racing fell apart. Even though he had an ownership stake in the team, the eventual collapse -- an absorption by Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- came as a surprise. Months earlier principal owner Bobby Ginn had been talking big, about going after Dale Earnhardt Jr. and expanding the shop and running with the big boys. It never happened. The sponsorship money dried up, and Ginn cut his losses.

Frye took a vacation with his family during an off weekend last July, and returned to the news that the team was being sold to DEI. It was left to the big, amicable former football player to do the dirty work and tell people they no longer had jobs. It was a scarring experience.

"It was devastating. It was bad. I can't sugar-coat it," he said. "And part of the reason was, it happened so quickly. A year ago, we had made an announcement that finally, we were going to be able to take this thing to the next level -- I thought. I was like, yes. And then a year later, it's over. Just that quick. It ended really in a week."

He could have gone to DEI, could have called on his mentor Rick Hendrick, but liked what he saw in Red Bull. Yes, there were performance issues last year. But he thought they were correctable. He knew the sponsor wouldn't bail on him. He liked the promise of Toyota. And he embraces the challenge of bringing respect to Red Bull the only way possible in this sport -- by running well.

"My biggest goal for the company is respect," Frye said. "I want to earn respect, the respect of the competitors and the respect of each other. I'm very proud of the Red Bull logo. I'm very proud to be a part of this company. If you're performing, that's where the respect comes from. That's my goal."