Brian Vickers Notes & Quotes -- June 1, 2005
VICKERS LEADIN’ LAPS:
Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolets, led five different times for a race-best 98 laps in Sunday’s 600-miler at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, marking his career high in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series competition. With 12 races in the books, the 21-year-old has paced 150 laps in 2005. That’s 115 more than this time last year.
‘25’ LIKES THE FRONT AT DOVER:
GMAC Racing earned consecutive top-five starts at Dover International Speedway in 2004, posting two third-place qualifying efforts. In his five combined starts at “The Monster Mile,” Vickers owns an average starting position of 5.2, with a lowest qualifying effort of 13th in the May 2003 Busch Series event. At Dover, he has made three Cup-level starts and two in the Busch Series.
HENDRICK GOING FOR 10 AT DOVER:
Car owner Rick Hendrick has nine Cup victories at Dover International Speedway, with the last two coming courtesy of Jimmie’s Johnson’s 2002 season sweep at the track. The Wood Brothers are second all-time with seven total wins.
VICKERS LAST VICTORY:
Vickers earned his most recent NASCAR win at Dover in September 2003, taking first in the Busch Series event at the one-mile oval.
‘5’ FLASHBACK:
Geoff Bodine won two races in 1986 while driving the No. 5 Chevrolets of Hendrick Motorsports -- the season-opening Daytona 500 and the May 18, 1986 event at Dover. Ricky Rudd was the next (and most recent) wheelman to drive a No. 5 Chevy to Dover’s Victory Lane. His first-place finish on Sept. 20, 1992 marked the only win of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.
DARLINGTON-TO-DOVER FOR CHASSIS 249:
Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 249 will be the primary option for Sunday’s 400-mile NEXTEL Cup event. The race will mark the second appearance of the car in 2005 following its May introduction at Darlington, S.C., where it qualified fifth and finished 16th.
BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GMAC/ditech.com CHEVROLETS:
(WHAT PROGRESS HAS THE TEAM MADE SO FAR THIS SEASON?) “I’m happy with how things have been progressing lately. We don’t have the results to show it, but I think the Nos. 5 and 25 teams have come a long way. And we’re just getting started. People have overlooked the changes that took place in the off-season. Our team this year is almost brand new compared to 2004. There are new guys in the shop, new guys at the track and Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and I have just started hitting our stride together.”
VICKERS:
(WHAT CAN YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE RACE LAST WEEKEND AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY?) “Our team opened a lot of eyes to the fact that we’re capable of winning a race in 2005. I made a mistake and became impatient late in the race, which cost us a shot a closing the deal. I hate it, but we have to move on and I can learn from that experience. What happened on Sunday reminds me a lot of what took place in the Busch Series at Texas in 2003, when we had a dominant car and circumstances prevented us from getting the win. The good part is we came back to win three times in 2003 and I think this team can win in 2005.”
