VICKERS RECORDS CAREER-BEST FINISH:
Brian Vickers and GMAC Racing recorded a fifth-place result Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway, marking the team's first top-five performance of 2005. The effort now ranks as Vickers' top NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series showing to date, besting his sixth-place finish March 20 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
MAKE IT A HALF-DOZEN:
Car owner Rick Hendrick has five Cup Series victories at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, tying him with Bud Moore, Junior Johnson and the Wood Brothers for third on the all-time list. Only Richard Childress (9), Ranier Racing (6) and Dale Earnhardt Inc. (6) have more. The NEXTEL Cup Series will visit Talladega this weekend.
'25' OUT FRONT:
Driving a No. 25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevy, the 21-year-old Vickers led 50 laps Saturday at Phoenix -- six more than his previous single-race best in Cup Series competition. He paced 44 circuits in September 2004 at California Speedway after starting from the pole position.
VICKERS, BUSCH AT RACE FEVER:
Vickers and Busch will greet fans and sign autographs Friday evening at the annual Race Fever Night hosted by the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the event is the largest yearly fundraiser for the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind. Visit www.racefever.org for more information and a full appearance rundown.
VICKERS AT SUPERSPEEDWAYS:
Vickers led his first-ever superspeedway laps in his most recent visit to Talladega in October 2004, which followed a top-10 superspeedway effort by the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports team at Daytona in July. The NEXTEL Cup tour makes its first of two annual stops at the 2.66-mile Talladega facility this weekend.
UNRESTRICTED AT SUPERSPEEDWAYS:
Looking back over the five most recent NEXTEL Cup races at restrictor-plate tracks, Hendrick Motorsports has posted three victories, including three of the last four. In those same five events, Hendrick teams have amassed seven top-five results and 10 top-10 finishes -- the most in both categories amongst any team.
CHASSIS 332 FOR GMAC RACING:
Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 332 will make its second appearance of 2005 when GMAC Racing unloads Thursday at Talladega. The car has been outfitted with new sheet metal since competing in February's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, where Vickers finished 19th after his No. 25 Chevy was forced to retire early with rear-end problems.
BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GMAC/ditech.com CHEVROLETS:
(ON HIS CAREER-BEST FINISH AT PHOENIX.) "It felt great to lead some laps and finally make it through a race without being caught up in an accident. Our car was good all night long and the guys in the pits did a great job keeping us toward the front. We faded a little at the end, but only because some of the other guys were on fresher tires than us."
VICKERS:
(WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR TALLADEGA?) "Some drivers don't necessarily care for restrictor-plate racing, but I enjoy it and always have. There's a lot of strategy involved when it comes to places like Daytona and Talladega -- and I like that. We've had some good runs in plate races and I expect our car to be better than what we brought to Daytona. If we can keep our nose clean, which has kind of been a challenge for us at plate races, we'll be just fine."
LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 25 GMAC/ditech.com CHEVROLETS:
(ON WHAT SATURDAY NIGHT'S PHOENIX PERFORMANCE MEANT FOR THE TEAM.) "I think our finish at Phoenix solidified what we already knew. We're a solid team and we've had excellent cars already this year, but don't have the results to show for it. Our sport is based upon the bottom line and, unless you pay particular attention to our team or any particular team, you may not know the whole story. All you see in the box scores is that until Saturday night we only had one top-10 finish this season and not that we've been better than what the results show."
