He bobbed, weaved and wiggled. He side-stepped one car and snuck past another. Indeed, Scott Speed may look back on an overcast Monday in the Metroplex as a defining moment in his 2010 Sprint Cup season.
With incredibly skilled work at the wheel, Speed slithered his No. 82 Red Bull Toyota through the Big One at Texas Motor Speedway, going from certain disaster to a 16th-place finish in the rain-delayed Samsung Mobile 500.
"That was totally freakin' awesome," Speed said, in near disbelief, moments after navigating through the nine-car wreck 16 laps from the finish.
Getty Images
On lap 318, all hell broke loose on the frontstretch; nine cars collided in the dogleg and spun through the grass into turn one. With the track almost completely blocked, an oncoming Speed slowed and with the help of spotter Tim Fedewa picked a lane and drove through it, narrowly – and we mean narrowly - avoiding two cars drifting down the banking.
Then it was all clear to his best Texas finish in three starts. Speed climbs two spots in the standings to 20th. He's 110 points out of the top 12.
Aside from two tough outings at short tracks in Bristol and Martinsville, consistency is keeping Speed's status in the point standings. He's completed 98.6 percent of the laps this season and has four top-20 finishes in the eight races this season.
Not so fortunate in Texas was teammate Brian Vickers, who endured a day full of tire failures, spins, smoke and fumes. It ended with a 38th-place finish and a trip to the infield care center for a dose of oxygen.
"I can't breathe in here. There is so much smoke.” -Brian Vickers
Vickers' day turned sour on lap 78 as the right-rear tire blew on the No. 83, sending BV spinning. The team pitted four times to fix damage to the right rear, but that was just the beginning.
Soon after, another right-rear tire failed and Vickers retreated to the garage for repairs. He returned to the track 24 laps down in 39th.
A persistent tire rub then forced fumes into Vickers' face to the extent that he could hardly breathe, so he drove the car to the garage again on lap 228.
"I can't breathe in here. There is so much smoke,” Vickers said on lap 219. “I'm coming in. I can't race like this."
Crew chief Ryan Pemberton soon radioed to the crew "We are done," and Vickers bee-lined it to the care center for a breath of fresh air. He was treated, released and later said he was "fine" via Twitter.
Vickers drops two spots in the standings to 19th. He's 106 points out of the top 12.
Up next is the Aaron's 499 on Sunday, April 25, at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Vickers earned his first Sprint Cup victory there in October 2006; he has five top tens there and finished eighth there last spring.
Find out more about Scott and Brian at the Red Bull Racing Team website.
Comments
Add a comment