In the first few races of the season, it seemed like Brian Vickers couldn’t find good luck if it were stuck to his windshield and staring him straight in the face.
But after avoiding two big wrecks in the past two races and going on to post top-15 finishes in both, maybe things are looking up. Sunday’s Food City 500 at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway was a case in point.
At about two-thirds distance, Vickers was running a strong 12th in a small pack of cars that caught a slowing Mark Martin, who was limping back to the pits after tagging the wall. Vickers arrived just as Martin lost front grip and moved back up the track into traffic. He slammed on the brakes and avoided a collision, but David Ragan could not shave off enough speed and rear-ended the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota. The car emerged with a severely damaged right rear, which spewed sparks as Vickers limped to the pits for repairs.
"On the last pit stop, we gambled for track position." -Brian Vickers
“We were involved in the incident on Lap 341 and sustained rear damage and the rear bumper was dragging,” Vickers said. “The guys did a series of pit stops and fixed the car and after that it was the best it had been all day.”
When the race went green again, Vickers was back to 24th, but he recovered from the near disaster to climb back up the leaderboard and finish 15th after 500 laps on the Tennessee oval. The result pushed Vickers up to 14th in the standings with 584 points, just 17 out of a top-12 Chase position and only 37 out of eighth place overall.
Unfortunately, Vickers missed an opportunity to finish even higher after the team opted for speed in his final pitstop, hoping to gain spots on the track rather than take the time to install four new boots.
“On the last pit stop, we gambled for track position and took right side tires only,” Vickers said.
“Unfortunately it made the car tight and we didn't gain anything. But all in all it was a decent day and we moved up two spots in points.”
But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Although inside the top-20 for most of the race, Vickers found himself fighting an uncooperative car in the early stages. Only several tweaks by the crew helped dial the car in and find more speed.
“For the first part of the race we were loose all the way through,” he said. “After the first pit stop, we made a wedge adjustment and our Red Bull Camry was tight in the center. The pit crew made adjustments through the race and it got better as the race went on.”
In the end, Vickers ended the day on the tight, high-banked, and unpredictable Bristol Motor Speedway with a smile after a race that could have easily gone the other way.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
Luck too seemed to be with Scott Speed in Bristol. He was running solidly in or near the top-20 all day and stayed out of trouble until a late race incident threw a monkey wrench into his plans to continue his hot hand in 2010. Maybe it was the racing gods' way of showing disapproval for his latest look, after Speed spent part of his week off dying his hair jet black with blue streaks.
Whatever the reason, a great run for the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota was ruined when he blew a right front tire with 25 laps to go and hit the wall hard between turns three and four. Speed was running 20th when the incident happened. He ended the race 31st.
Until the problem arose, Speed looked to hold onto the Chase position he earned following the last race in Atlanta.
Instead, he dropped seven spots in the points standings after Bristol, and now sits 18th with 552 points, having been a career-best 11th going into the race. But to put that in perspective, Speed is 217 points ahead of his last year’s pace and 17 spots higher in the standings after five starts in 2010.
The good news is that he’s well within the top-35 owner’s points needed to guarantee a grid spot and Speed no longer needs to qualify on time for each race. While the list of cars locked into the races is set by 2009 owner points for the first five starts, the series reverts to 2010 performance after Bristol and Speed is well within that target.
And the importance of arriving at races knowing you are locked into the field is simple: Drivers who don’t have to worry about getting into the field work on setups, race trim, and tuning the car for long-run performance from first practice rather than devoting valuable time to simply finding speed over one qualifying lap to get into the race.
So, those who need to get in on speed tend to be on the back foot for the rest of the weekend because they have lost an entire day to the top-35 drivers, who started their race preparation as soon as they took their car off the truck.
A top-35 points spot is important for the No. 82 Red Bull crew too, who will now do less walking due to a preferred spot in the paddock reserved for the teams who know they are racing no matter what happens in qualifying.
Stay on track with the latest from NASCAR.com, or go to the home of the Red Bull Racing team. You can also follow Brian Vickers on Twitter.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
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