Californian Scott Speed cemented himself as a promising young NASCAR driver with an impressive 2008 season only months removed from racing across the world in Formula One.

With Red Bull Racing Team guiding Speed through his first season in stock cars cars unlike anything he had ever driven before he took ARCA by storm and was a fixture at the front in the Camping World Truck Series. He drove to four ARCA victories and a series-leading 17 top 10s. On the truck side, he earned his first victory at Dover in only his sixth start and ended the season with eight top-15 finishes in his final 10 races.

It was enough to secure Speed a seat for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, where he's battling for rookie of the year in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota. He'll also run a partial Nationwide Series schedule in the No. 99 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.

ACHIEVING F1 STATUS
After dominating the karting ranks for eight years, Speed stepped up to open-wheel racing in 2001 and won the Formula Russell title in his first try. In 2002, he continued the climb, competing in the Skip Barber National Championship and Star Mazda.

That same year, Red Bull launched the Red Bull Driver Search aimed at putting a United States-born driver in Formula One. Speed, at a still-green 19, won the competition and crossed the pond for British Formula 3, but fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and was forced to return to the U.S. for treatment.

In 2004, he won the German Formula Renault and Eurocup championships. GP2 came calling a year later. Podium finishes were the norm, and Speed ended up third in the GP2 championship. He got a taste of Formula One, too, running a third car for Red Bull Racing in the North American swing through Montreal and Indianapolis.

Speed became the first American in Formula One since Michael Andretti in 1993, and Red Bull gave him one of two full-time seats on its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2006 season. He flirted with points finishes a few times but never scored.

The 2007 season was largely disappointing, punctuated by a mutual parting of the ways with the team. After seven races, Speed was released from his contract at Scuderia Toro Rosso. His relationship with Red Bull, however, remained strong, and Speed turned his attention to landing a seat in the States.

He did for the October ARCA race at Talladega, starting seventh and finishing seventh in his first stock car race.