Food City 500 - Brian Vickers Notes

VICKERS AT BRISTOL: Brian Vickers has made four career starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, all in the NASCAR Busch Series. Sunday's 500-lap event will mark the Thomasville, N.C., native's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series debut at the half-mile venue, where he most recently qualified third and finished seventh during last fall's Busch Series race.

NEW '25' FOR BRISTOL: Vickers and the No. 25 GMAC Financial Services team will field a new car for this weekend's short-track race at Bristol. Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 2559 will make its race debut after being introduced by the team at a March 17 test at the .533-mile oval. The car was damaged during the session after a problem with the brakes. Vickers made contact with the outside retaining wall in Turns 3 and 4, requiring the chassis to have its rear clip replaced.

TIME FLIES: Two years ago at this time, Vickers elected to skip his high school prom to compete in the Busch Series race at Bristol on March 23, 2002, finishing 14th in his debut at the half-mile bullring. He was a senior at Trinity (N.C.) High School, just two months away from graduating with honors.

SOLID ON CONCRETE: In the six Busch Series events run on concrete tracks in 2003, Vickers captured one win, two top-fives and five top-10 finishes.

HENDRICK AT BRISTOL: Car owner Rick Hendrick has seven career victories at Bristol, tying him with Richard Childress and Roger Penske for third on the all-time list. Junior Johnson is first with 20 wins, while Holman-Moody ranks second with nine.

BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GMAC FINANCIAL SERVICES CHEVROLETS: (WHAT WAS THE TEAM ABLE TO LEARN FROM ITS MOST RECENT TEST AT BRISTOL?) "The car was quick. We were probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest car there during the test in race trim. Even though we didn't get an entire day of testing in because of the accident, I think we learned a couple of things which really seemed to help the car -- stuff that we can apply to Bristol and other tracks we'll be going to."

VICKERS: (DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE IN THE TIRES AT BRISTOL?) "I didn't notice any significant differences between the tires we tested and the tires we've run at Bristol in the past. The changes in the tire construction have been a lot more noticeable at other tracks where we've already raced this season compared to the Bristol tire."

VICKERS: (CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IT'S LIKE TO RACE AROUND THE HIGH BANKS OF BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY?) "To me, Bristol provides the greatest sensation of speed of all the tracks we race at. It's a place where you really have to hustle the car and experience a lot of 'Gs' (G-force) because it seems like you're always in the corners due to the short straight-aways. You use every bit of the track exiting the corners and run so close to the outside walls that you see the fence posts just zipping by, making it feel like you're going extremely fast."

VICKERS: (YOU'VE NEVER RUN 500 LAPS AT BRISTOL BEFORE. WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING?) "It's going to be a challenge and a new experience for me. Bristol is probably the most grueling track we go to from a physical standpoint. I've never run more than 250 laps in a race at Bristol, so I'll need to make sure I'm rested physically and mentally for Sunday."