Ford 400 - Brian Vickers Notes

HENDRICK SPOTTING FOR VICKERS: Ricky Hendrick, owner of the No. 5 NASCAR Busch Series team, has assumed Winston Cup spotting duties for Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 25 UAW-Delphi Chevrolet. Hendrick made his spotting debut last week at North Carolina Speedway and will continue at Homestead.

QUITE THE QUALIFIER: The No. 25 UAW-Delphi team qualified on the outside pole position at North Carolina Speedway on Friday, giving Vickers a pair of second-place starts in his last two Winston Cup events. The performance marked the third outside pole for Team 25 this season, with the other coming at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in May. In three Winston Cup qualifying attempts in the No. 25 Chevy this season, Vickers has earned starts of fourth, second and second at Atlanta, Phoenix and Rockingham, N.C., respectively.

LAST RACE COULD BE A FIRST: Homestead, the site of Sunday's season finale, is one of just two tracks on the Winston Cup circuit where Hendrick Motorsports has yet to score a pole position or race win (the other being Chicagoland Speedway). A victory would be the 118th Winston Cup triumph for a Hendrick-owned team since 1984.

DOUBLE DUTY FOR VICKERS: At Homestead, Vickers will take part in both the Busch Series and Winston Cup Series races for the fourth consecutive week. The youngster continues to gain experience in the No. 25 Chevy, which he will drive on a full-time basis next season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

CHASSIS NO. 2550 FOR VICKERS: Team 25 will race Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 2550 this weekend in the Winston Cup finale at Homestead. The car most recently started 40th and finished 31st at Lowe's Motor Speedway in October.

DELPHI FAST FACT: Since 1975, Delphi emissions control technology has prevented the release of an estimated 50 million tons of hydrocarbons, 229 million tons of carbon monoxide and 44 million tons of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere.

BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 UAW-DELPHI CHEVROLET: (HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOUR RECENT QUALIFYING EFFORTS IN THE NO. 25 CAR?) "The guys on the UAW-Delphi team won a race this year and had some really strong runs both in qualifying and in races before I was given the chance to drive. A lot of it stems from the communication in place within the Hendrick Motorsports organization. Everyone shares information and no one is afraid to ask questions -- especially me. If I have a question about a track, I'll go ask Jeff (Gordon), Jimmie (Johnson) or Terry (Labonte), knowing they've got a ton of experience and will shoot straight with me. The guys on the No. 25 team talk a lot with the guys on my Busch Series team and that helps them zero in on what worked well or didn't work well on the Busch car. Sometimes we're pretty close on setups, other times we're not."

VICKERS: (ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED THE SEASON IS COMING TO A CLOSE?) "A little. This has been an unbelievable year for me. So much has happened in such a short amount of time, it's hard to believe this season is almost over. I think we've done some things with this team in the last few races that will carry into next season. It's all about getting experience and building some momentum for next year."

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