Monday
Scott Speed, Brian Vickers, Post-AAA 400 NSCS Race Recaps
Press Release
What: AAA 400 (Sprint Cup)
When: Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
Where: Dover International Speedway, Dover, Del.
Results: Scott Speed (start 39, finish 25); Brian Vickers (start 12, finish 18)
+ HIGH BANKS BITE THE RED BULLS — AGAIN
In May, a “green” race track gave Red Bull Racing Team fits at Dover International Speedway. That same story repeated itself four months later, as overnight rain washed off Dover’s surface and brought about the unknown for Sunday’s AAA 400.
The No. 83 team, just as it had done in the season’s first trip to the high-banked, concrete oval, tried everything to dial in Brian Vickers’ Red Bull Toyota. Little worked, however, and Vickers finished 18th to drop to 10th place in the Chase — 151 points behind championship leader Mark Martin.
“The car wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be,” said Vickers, who made the 200th start of his Sprint Cup career. “We made some wholesale changes (Saturday) night. Some I think helped. Some hurt us. We were probably better center off, but worse in. We fought that all day.”
Vickers started 12th and fell outside of the top 15 by the 100-lap mark as he fought a loose-handling car. Air pressure adjustments, turns up and down on the trackbar, spring rubbers … nothing seemed to work. The crew opted for no fuel on its final two stops to tighten up the car, but that strategy went a little too far.
After no fuel and right-side tires only, Vickers restarted 11th after the ninth and final caution period. And while he was “trying not to wreck” a car that suddenly turned tight, he faded to 18th over the last 27 laps.
“In the last two stops we didn’t take fuel hoping that would tighten us up — and it did. It tightened us up a little bit too much,” Vickers said. “The last stop we took two tires and no fuel and we were just way too tight at the end.”
Teammate Scott Speed’s day could’ve ended early if it weren’t for some nifty driving. On lap 32, fellow rookie Joey Logano began his barrel roll of a ride just ahead of Speed in turn three. Speed, in heavy traffic, quickly picked a lane, blew through it and motored away as Logano’s car tumbled down the banking.
As the race wore on, Speed, a former winner at Dover in the Camping World Truck Series, fought the same battle as his teammate. His No. 82 Red Bull Toyota was as loose as could be, and no series of adjustments made a difference. Sliding sideways at times, Speed ended up 25th at the checkered flag.
“We were really good for about 10 laps and then we just went away. We don’t really know why,” Speed said. “If we were able to maintain that pace the whole time we would have had a great day. We were just falling off a lot.”
The No. 82 ranks 36th in the car owner standings — 124 points out with eight races remaining.
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- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release
Article Tags: AAA 400, Brian Vickers, Dover International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NSCS, Red Bull Racing Team, Scott Speed, The Monster Mile
