Catchfence

Who: Scott Speed (82 Red Bull Toyota), Brian Vickers (83 Red Bull Toyota)
What: Pep Boys Auto 500 (Sprint Cup)
When: Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009
Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga.
Results: Scott Speed (start 32, finish 24); Brian Vickers (start 8, finish 7)

+ ONE RACE: 21 POINTS

Here’s the deal: After a seventh-place finish Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brian Vickers sits 13th in points — 20 points out of the top 12 and the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“It’s going to be a battle to the end. It’s going to be wild,” Vickers said. “We’d like to go into Richmond locked into the Chase, but to go in there even in contention, I think for a two-and-a-half year old team, says a lot. I’m really proud of these guys —Red Bull and Toyota — how far we’ve come. Six poles, a win and we’re battling for the Chase. No matter what happens, I think we have to walk away with our
heads held high.”

The defining moment of Vickers’ run in the Pep Boys Auto 500 came under the seventh of nine cautions. The left-rear axel broke as his Red Bull Toyota left the pits on lap 247, but the No. 83 team didn’t panic. They fixed the problem inserting a new axel on one stop and checking the repairs on another — and remained on the lead lap.

Vickers restarted 18th and charged to seventh at the checkered flag — his 12th top-10 finish of the season. No driver has earned more points than Vickers over the past eight races.

“To break an axle in the position we are in the Chase was just devastating,” said Vickers, who led two laps for the always-important five bonus points. “Nobody lost their cool. Calmer heads prevailed. We got the axle changed, didn’t lose a lap and came back to finished seventh.”

Vickers’ crew chief, Ryan Pemberton, left the axle issue in the hands of the overthe- wall guys.

I can’t say enough about the guys that were involved with fixing the axle,” Pemberton said. “When it happened, I was like, ‘Okay guys, you know what to do.’ It went flawless. That was pretty cool to be able to bounce back from that and change the axle. They all knew exactly what to do and how to do it. It was really a cool thing to watch.

No. 82 driver Scott Speed, in this third Cup start at 1.54-mile Atlanta, finished 24th. He fought the handling on his Red Bull Toyota throughout the night — tight and loose, loose and tight — but picked up 21 points on the top 35. He’s 94 points out with 11 races remaining.

“We had issues with getting the car just right,” Speed said. “Sometimes we were loose and then we would be tight. Overall, I am happy with the 24th-place finish here at a track we have struggled with on the Cup side.”

+ UP NEXT

Chevy Rock & Roll 400, Saturday, Sept. 12, Richmond International Raceway

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release