Vickers Races His Way Into the Chase

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Vickers Races His Way Into the Chase

Vickers Races His Way Into the Chase

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He was in then out, out then in. Indeed, the race to the Chase went the full distance - down to the last couple of miles Saturday night - and Brian Vickers' seventh-place finish at Richmond International Raceway gave him the final spot in NASCAR's postseason.

Vickers nipped Kyle Busch by eight points for the tightest margin since NASCAR began the Chase format in 2004. Heíll will enter the Chase seeded eighth based on a 10-point bonus from Red Bull Racing Team's first victory last month at Michigan.

Joining Vickers in the 12-driver field will be Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, race winner Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya. The Chase begins Sept. 20 at New Hampshire.

"It was team determination," Vickers said. "We really picked a good night to figure this place out. The guys did a tremendous job, and this was probably the best car I've ever had. Real proud of everybody at Red Bull and Toyota. This is not just one race - this has been a culmination of 26 races, nobody giving up."

"Two-and-a-half years ago we started this program and we never would have believed that we would have been this far along - six poles, a win and now we're in the Chase. I'm so proud of everybody. I'm genuinely going to party hard tonight, I'm not kidding. Next week the focus is to move on and win the championship."

The 25-year-old Vickers, who hadn't finished better than eighth in 10 prior starts at the .75-mile short track, entered the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 needing to gain 21 points on 12th-place Matt Kenseth, at the same time holding off 14th-place Kyle Busch. The first end he had covered, as Kenseth struggled much of the night before finishing 25th. Battling Busch was a different story.

Busch beat Vickers off pit road during the decisive stop with 17 laps to go, but Vickers held his ground on the track and used what he described as "determination" to pick up a position in the final laps. It ended up being the difference, as Vickers finished eight points ahead of Busch at the checkered flag.

"Kyle raced me very hard and very clean tonight," Vickers said. "We had a great battle a couple times racing each other. He raced me with the utmost respect and I appreciate that. At this race track he is probably not the person I would have picked to have to battle to get into the Chase. They're really good here as a team."

The Chase berth capped an impressive run for third-year Red Bull Racing Team. Vickers hasn't finished worse than 12th in the past nine races and no Sprint Cup driver has earned more points in that stretch. The end result is a chance to win the championship.

"Our goals for the year were to win a race, win a pole and get into the Chase so we've got that," said Jay Frye, the team's vice president and general manager. "When Red Bull came into this sport in 2007, they came in a big way. Their expectations were high. Weíre very fortunate that they give us the opportunity to do what we do. They give us a chance to compete at a high level."

Teammate and rookie Scott Speed finished 36th after his Red Bull Toyota went spinning into the wall during the opening laps. His No. 82 ranks 36th in the car owner standings - 115 points from the top 35.

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