FanHouse Red Bull Racing

The tone in Brian Vickers' voice over the in-car radio was all crew chief Ryan Pemberton needed to know.

"I think he yelled at me, told me not to give him lap times any more," said Pemberton of the closing laps in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway while Vickers stalked leader Jimmie Johnson. "I knew right then he knew what he was doing, how he was doing it. He was just managing."

Manage, he did.

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Get in the groove for today's race with FanHouse Warmup.

Veteran Brian Vickers couldn't have been less of a Red Bull Racing team player during Saturday afternoon's Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while his teammate Scott Speed handled a dicey situation beautifully.

The two Sprint Cup Series teammates tangled while battling Mike Bliss for fourth on the last lap, sending Vickers into the wall. On the cool-down lap, Vickers bumped Speed numerous times in retaliation.

What Vickers said, though, likely will have some lasting repercussions on the team.

It's been a good week to be Brian Vickers.

First, he completed what was likely the first-ever live-action pit stop in New York City's Times Square (gotta love the Red Bull marketing ideas; video here) and then ESPN reported that he had signed a multi-year contract extension with Red Bull Racing.

Friday, he won the pole for the LifeLock 400 and figures to be a huge favorite come Sunday's race.

Leader of the Outside the Top 35 Pack
Brian Vickers was the top qualifier of all drivers outside the top 35 in owner points.

As predicted, the red bull had no trouble qualifying on the Pocono tri-oval. He'll start in the 9th position, a season best.

For now, Vickers is pleased with his team's progress and the direction in which it is headed:

"We seem to be really good in the races and I'm really proud of Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development). They've been working real hard and it has shown in the last couple races with how well the Toyotas have been running. I'm real proud of our entire Red Bull team that's building these race cars -- our intermediate program has really been improving week after week. We've been doing a good job in the race and Doug (Richert) has been calling great races. I'm just excited to race Sunday and hopefully we can be just as good when we get to Michigan."

Following the Leader
Dave Blaney returns after sitting Dover out. He starts 14th. Ward Burton 20th. Paul Menard starts his first race with a new crew chief in the 21st spot.

David Reutimann will be the sole representative for Michael Waltrip Racing, starting in 23rd. Vickers Red Bull teammate A.J. Allmendinger will pull off 28th. Scott Riggs 31st.

Bill Elliott was forced to used a championship provisional this week and will start 43rd.

Losers of the Week (DNQs)
Mike Bliss (10), Dale Jarrett (3), Kevin Lepage (11), Jeremy Mayfield (9), Kenny Wallace (6), Michael Waltrip (12)

Despite having only started six races this season, Brian Vickers has given the manufacturer the most stats to write home to Japan about.

His old ride, the #25 HMS Chevrolet driven by Casey Mears, kept him out of victory lane, but Vickers had the "car to beat" Sunday.

His 5th place finish--with a new engine and a car that lost its power-steering at some point during the race--was a season best for the driver and Toyota. Their second best? Vickers' 10th place finish at California Speedway in February.

Vickers has also led more laps than all of the Toyota drivers put together. Prior to the Coca-Cola 600, Toyota had led a cumulative 14 laps, 8 of them Vickers'. He added a healthy buffer to that lead after tacking on another 76 laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The red-headed Red Bull gained two spots in the owner points standings this weekend but still sits four positions and 200+ points out of the top 35.

In his fifth effort, Vickers' Red Rull teammate, A.J. Allmendinger, scored his best finish of 31st and is holding down the 47th position for his owner.

Toyota Teammates
Jeremy Mayfield ran in the top 15 for much of the day, even leading 3 laps. He said the new engine "made all the difference in the world." And so it did. Until it crapped out. Mayfield was relegated to a 25th place finish--he gained one spot for owner Bill Davis Racing and now sits in 45th.

Dave Blaney, who has failed to maintain a position in the top 35 despite being the only Toyota driver fortunate enough to start the season there based on last year's owner points, turned in another lackluster performance for BDR, leading no laps and finishing 18th. He remains 36th in the points.

Michael Waltrip Racing driver Dale Jarrett lost a spot. Ditto for David Reutimann, who failed to qualify. As for Mikey ... Do I really need to go there?

Leader of the Outside the Top 35 Pack
Kenny Wallace raced his Furniture Row #78 Chevrolet into the show for the seventh time this season. He will start 6th tonight at Darlington Raceway, matching his best qualifying effort of the season last week in Richmond.

Good thing, too, because Kenny really wants to race in Charlotte and now he gets another chance to remind fans to vote for him:

"The 'Vote for Kenny' campaign has grown its own legs and developed into a huge deal. I am very appreciative to Furniture Row for being such a supportive sponsor by getting behind the 'Vote For Kenny' campaign. I don't think that many other sponsors, if any at all, would give up the hood of their racecar for a weekend to promote voting their driver into the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. Being voted into this race would be a huge deal, not just for me, but for my Furniture Row Racing team too!"

Following The Leader
Ken Schrader also starts in the top 10 in the 8th position. David Reuitmann starts 14th.

Both Red Bull racers are on track this weekend for just the second time this season, the first being Bristol. Brian Vickers starts in the 15th spot and A.J. Allmendinger starts 20th.p>Paul Menard starts 23rd in his eighth race of the season, Dave Blaney starts 27th and Ricky Rudd 40th.

Kevin LePage will start his first race of the season after attempting to qualify for 9 of the previous 10 races.

Losers of The Week (DNQs)
Scott Riggs, who has been outside the top 35 since the beginning of the season, failed to qualify for his first race in 2007 in Darlington.

Michael Waltrip (10), Jeremy Mayfield (8), Mike Bliss (7), Dale Jarrett (2), Ward Burton (6)

Brian Vickers is at home in Charlotte, N.C. recovering from first and second degree burns received on his butt and the bottoms of his feet yesterday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Mid-way through the running of the Food City 500, Vickers radioed to his crew that his engine was running roughly and that smoke and fumes were entering his cockpit. The team initially suspected an engine malady, but it was subsequently revealed that a section of exhaust pipe directly beneath Brian's seat had failed and separated, affecting the engine's performance.

Left with the choice of suffering burns, blisters and fumes or sacrificing a lead lap finish to pit the car for repairs, BV took one for all 140+ hard-working employees of Team Red Bull. The 83 team slipped Brian various ice packs and heat-insulating shields on later pit stops in an attempt to help improve the situation.

Vickers requested medical attention following the 500 lap race, including oxygen. Representatives of BVLLC reported Monday afternoon that Vickers is doing well and plans to address TRB business obligations Tuesday, test at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on Wednesday and is expected to be ready for this weekend's race at Martinsville.

Brian Vickers was Toyota's top finisher today in 15th place. He and Mayfield's Bill Davis Racing teammate Dave Blaney, who finished 23rd, are the only two Toyota drivers that completed all of todays 504 laps.

Vickers led laps for Red Bull Racing today for the second time this season and Jeremy Mayfield, in his first season outing, also led a lap.

Mayfield cut a tire on lap 227 causing damage to the right side - he finished 18 laps down in 34th.

Red Bull's A.J. Allmendinger and Michael Waltrip Racing's Dale Jarrett were both involved wrecks and finished 40th and 42nd respectively.

Dale Jarrett blamed his misfortune on Matt Kenseth:

"I was trying to pass Kyle Petty and get in under him and then Matt Kenseth just turned me going into the corner. The car was good; I was having a good time. It's fun racing, but it's not fun when somebody does something like that. It's not the first time, but it will be the last .. You have to show some patience and here we are only 60 laps into the race and somebody does something like that ... This is not the first time that he's done something like this. Everybody has this great vision that Matt Kenseth is this nice guy on the race track, he is a nice guy away from the track, but he's a rough driver on the race track when he doesn't have to be. We'll have a discussion."

Michael Waltip and David Reuitmann failed to qualify.

The Harsh Reality
Toyota left Bristol today without a single car in the Top 35.

Red Bull Racing's A.J. Allmendinger is tired of hearing, "When are you going to qualify for a race?"

Now he won't have to for awhile--at least for a week.

The former Champ car driver finally qualified for his first Nextel Cup race.

"Oh my God, I'm just so happy. Sitting out there watching how fast everybody went was freaking the heck out of me."

His PR rep should be happy, too, as she is under orders from Red Bull to issue post-race press releases whether her driver actually runs or not.

With Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney starting inside the top 10, BDR's Jeremy Mayfield also qualifying for the first time, Red Bull's Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip Racing's Dale Jarrett, Toyota has five cars in the show and is the success story of COT qualifying this week, save for MWR, whose other two cars didn't qualify.

Starting Monday, new question: "When are you going to qualify for another race?"

Jeff Gordon will be out front on Sunday when the cars of tomorrow take the green flag.

All four manufacturers have at least one car starting inside the Top 10.

Toyota drivers A.J. Allmendinger (Red Bull Racing) and Jeremy Mayfield (Bill Davis Racing) both made the field for the first time in five attempts. Brian Vickers also made the field for his third race of the season.

Michael Waltrip Racing's #55 (Waltrip) and #00 (David Reutimann) both failed to qualify. Dale Jarrett qualified the #44 on time and still maintains two championship provisionals.

Top 35 bubble driver Paul Menard (DEI) failed to qualify, as did Kevin LePage (0-5). Joe Nemechek and Johnny Sauter both failed to qualify for the first time in 2007.

Food City 500 Starting Lineup