BRIAN VICKERS NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

VICKERS A ROAD WARRIOR: In the most recent NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series road course event, held at Watkins Glen, N.Y., last August, Brian Vickers and the GMAC Racing team posted an eighth-place finish. It was the best road course result for the team since 2001, when driver Jerry Nadeau notched a sixth-place effort at Watkins Glen.

VICKERS DRIVING WEST SERIES WITH SPECIAL PAINT: Along with running Sunday's NEXTEL Cup event at Infineon Raceway, Vickers will enter Saturday's NASCAR Grand National West Series race at the 1.99-mile road course. Making his first-ever start in the series, Vickers will drive a No. 17 GMAC Chevrolet with a paint scheme identical to the Busch Series car driven by the late Ricky Hendrick.

PIT CREW HONORED: For its effort at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, the GMAC Racing pit crew was selected as this week's winner of the Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge. The No. 25 group became the third Hendrick Motorsports team to receive the award in 2006, joining the No. 5 and 48 teams. The honor goes to the pit crew that finishes on the lead lap and spends the least amount of time on pit road.

HENDRICK ROAD READY: Team owner Rick Hendrick has four NEXTEL Cup victories at Infineon Raceway, putting him first on the track's all-time win list. Each of those performances has come with the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet team of driver Jeff Gordon.

ROAD TEST: In preparation for Sunday's 110-lap NEXTEL Cup event at Infineon Raceway, the No. 25 GMAC Racing team visited Virginia International Raceway last month to shake down its road course package.

PREPPING AT MILWAUKEE: All four full-time Hendrick Motorsports teams -- Nos. 5, 24, 25 and 48 -- will test The Milwaukee Mile on June 27-28 in preparation for the July 16 NEXTEL Cup event at New Hampshire International Speedway.

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BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLETS: (WHY IS INFINEON RACEWAY LOOKED AT AS BEING MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE WATKINS GLEN ROAD COURSE?) "Infineon is a technical place. It's like a short track, being that you can very easily get caught up in an accident. There are a lot of tight, short, slow turns. The same kind of problems we run into at Bristol and Martinsville are some of the same problems we run into at Infineon."

VICKERS: (WHAT WAS THE DECISION BEHIND ENTERING SATURDAY'S WEST SERIES RACE?) "It's just another way to get more track time. There aren't too many road course races on our schedule, so I think it's a great opportunity to get some more experience. We were fortunate to have been able to run both the Busch and Cup Series races at Watkins Glen last year and it worked out well for us. The extra track time helped me out a lot for Sunday. Hopefully, the same will happen this weekend."

VICKERS: (SHOULD THERE BE A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?) "I think the Chase is laid out well right now with the combination of tracks already in the final 10 races. Our cars aren't really built for road course racing. They're built more for oval track racing and we do most of our racing on ovals. I can definitely see the argument for not having a road course in the Chase, but since we do have two road course races on the schedule, I can see the other side of it, too."