Catchfence

Who: Scott Speed (82 Red Bull Toyota), Brian Vickers (83 Red Bull Toyota)
What: Pepsi 500 (Sprint Cup)
When: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009
Where: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif.
Results: Scott Speed (start 21, finish 21); Brian Vickers (start 32, finish 29)

+ THE (INLAND) EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

If Brian Vickers couldn’t wait to get out of Kansas after a bad day, he may never want to go back to California.

Vickers’ struggles in the Chase picked up even more steam Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, as a carload of problems plagued the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota before the end result — a 29th-place finish that followed a 37th seven days earlier.

“The Chase has been brutal for us so far,” Vickers said. “The last two races have probably been our two worst of the season.”

Vickers qualified 32nd and twice charged into the top 15 while trying to diagnose why the No. 83’s loose condition kept getting worse. Under caution on lap 117, Vickers radioed, “I think there may be a problem with the shocks.”

Indeed there was. During a green-flag stop on lap 160, the crew determined the right-rear shock tower was broken as Vickers fell a lap down. They made three stops over the next 31 laps to correct the problem, but the only option to compensate for the lack of a shock was to stuff the right rear full of spring rubbers.

Vickers had hoped to ride out the remaining quarter of the race but got sucked into an eight-car accident five laps from the finish that triggered a red flag of nearly 22 minutes. He retreated to the garage, and after the crew went to work on the fenders and patched the radiator, Vickers returned to the track. The crew’s quick fix helped Vickers gain six spots to 29th.

“I’m looking forward to getting to Charlotte where we usually run well,” Vickers said. “Hopefully we can catch a break there.

Vickers heads into Saturday night’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway 12th in the Chase standings — 351 points behind championship leader Jimmie Johnson but only 45 points behind 11th-place Kasey Kahne. Vickers has led 234 laps with two top-five finishes in the past four races at LMS.

Earlier this year in February, rookie Scott Speed never got the chance to fully get accustomed to the 2-mile, D-shaped oval under race conditions. He pulled his No. 82 Red Bull Toyota into the garage inside 75 laps to go because of a broken exhaust system.

On Sunday, Speed started and finished 21st. Like his teammate, Speed fought a loose-handling car, and through a series of stops, adjustments and a free pass worked his way to 22nd with 100 laps to go. He again fell a lap down as the car tightened up, but benefited from the accident that brought out the red flag.

As cars spun and smoke swirled ahead, Speed dove to the apron and roared past the wreckage unscathed for his best result since finishing 15th on Aug. 22 at Bristol.

The No. 82 ranks 36th in the car owner standings — 122 points out of the top 35 with six races remaining.

+ UP NEXT

NASCAR Banking 500, Saturday, Oct. 17, Lowe’s Motor Speedway

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release