It was a wild day in Talladega, with Brian Vickers helping to set a new NASCAR record for lead changes before a pile-up late in the race eventually dashed his hopes for a top finish.
Scott Speed also sustained some damage, his occurring on lap 182 as cars crashed on the top and into Speed's No. 82 Red Bull Toyota on the bottom. He went spinning through the tri-oval grass, and with only minimal damage the team was able to make quick repairs and get Speed back on the track.
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On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, Speed was 28th. But he persevered through an action-packed series of events that sent the Aaron's 499 into a 12-lap overtime, and Speed squeezed out a 15th-place finish.
"We did what we wanted to,” Speed said after the race. “We stayed out of the big ones. We did get caught up in one but nothing major, and we stayed on the lead lap. The green-white-checkers made me more nervous because you felt something coming."
Speed drops a spot to 21st in the standings, 133 points out of the top 12. He has finished in the top 20 in five of the nine races this season. By comparison, he had only four top 20s in all of 2009, his rookie season.
Brian Vickers led four times for 13 laps and had one of the cars to beat. Then came lap 189, the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Joey Logano's car made contact with Ryan Newman's in turn four, and all hell broke loose. The incident collected nine cars, including Vickers’ No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, which sustained heavy damage to the front and right side.
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The team made three stops for repairs and Vickers stayed on the lead lap, but soon after Vickers came over the radio and said, "We are blowing up, guys." He shut it down for good on lap 195 and finished 29th. BV drops six spots in the standings to 25th, 166 points out of the top 12.
"I'm very disappointed,” said Vickers. “We ran up front all day and have nothing to show for it."
Vickers' name will go down in history as one of a record 29 leaders that made a record 88 lead changes. The previous highs were 75 lead changes (May 6, 1984) and 28 lap leaders (Oct. 5, 2008). Both previous records also were set at Talladega.
Up next is the Health Calhoun 400 on Saturday, May 1, at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia.
Follow the team at their official site, or track Brian on Twitter.
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