Gotta Feel for Vickers
Image details: Coca-Cola 600 served by picapp.com
It’s been a trying run for Brian Vickers ever since he departed from Hendrick Motorsports at the conclusion of the 2006 season to hookup with Team Red Bull last year in the inaugural run for Toyota Racing. In their two seasons together, the team has failed to qualify in 13 events (all of which came last season) and has amassed only 2 top-five’s and 7 top-ten’s in 35 starts. They finished 38th in points last year, and currently sit 20th in the 2008 points standings after a 42nd place finish this past weekend at Charlotte. Yet, this is the same driver that won the 2003 [then] Busch Series championship and put together a win, 10 top-five’s, and 19 top-ten finishes in his final two years with the Hendrick organization.
It seemed as though things may have been steering a bit more towards the positive side during the running of the Coca Cola 600. After leading a total of only five laps through the first eleven races of the season, this - the site of Vickers’ only top-five finish in 2007 - appeared to be a great opportunity for Brian to finally have a shot at putting his no. 83 Red Bull Toyota into Victory Lane. He qualified in the third position, and then took the lead from Kyle Busch 34 laps into the race. He went onto lead a total of 61 laps and had clearly established himself as a contender, if not the favorite.
Misfortune reared her ugly head on lap 184 of the 400 lap event, though. After fighting a vibration with his left rear tire for several laps, the lugnuts finally worked their way loose as the tire came completely detatched from the car. The tired bounced off the hood of David Gilliland’s no. 38 Ford before gaining momentum down the track and into the infield. Luckily none of the fans were injured, but as Vickers car lay wrecked up against the Turn 1 inside retaining wall, I couldn’t help but shake my head and wonder what might’ve been.
The no. 83 car was taken out of contention for the win in this same race back in May of 2007 due to mechanical issues. In that race, he’d led a total of 76 laps before his power steering gave way as he ran up near the front of the pack late in the race. He still managed to hold on for a 5th place finish, but he was far from eligible to score the win that evening.
“I’m not exactly sure what caused that, but we started experiencing problems with the left rear lugs coming loose on the last few runs. The wheel would stay on, and I’d just notice a vibration,” Vickers said. “For whatever reason, this time it just let go, and obviously we’ll need to get to the bottom of that problem because we had one of the fastest cars. This is several years now leading a lot of laps in this race and just can’t seem to close the deal.”
In reference to the fans whose camper was hit by the tire, he added, “I guess they wouldn’t let those fans keep our wheel, so we’re going to get them some cool Red Bull stuff to replace it.”
Tags: brian vickers, busch series, coca cola 600, david gilliland, Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Busch, lowe's motor speedway, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, red bull racing, Sprint Cup Series, team red bullRelated Stories
POSTED IN: NASCAR
2 opinions for Gotta Feel for Vickers
Adam C
May 27, 2008 at 8:51 pm
that sucked what happend to vickers sunday night but there was a lot of drivers that got the short end of that stick to!
Tim Zaegel
May 29, 2008 at 8:44 pm
There definitely were. It’s almost like it was a bad omen to be leading that race.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: