Speed loses drive with Leavine team

Ex-Formula 1 driver Scott Speed has parted company with his NASCAR Sprint Cup team Leavine Family Racing.

Speed has raced in partial campaigns with the small squad for the past two seasons. Though often a "start and park" entrant, he took a ninth-place finish at Talladega earlier this year.

A team statement announced that Speed had been replaced by series returnee Reed Sorenson "for the foreseeable future" and that it was "in discussions with multiple drivers" about its 2014 seat.

Speed has not had a full-time NASCAR seat since being released by Red Bull at the end of the 2010 season. He raced for the company's F1 junior squad Toro Rosso from 2006 to mid-'07.