PREVIEW: BRIAN VICKERS (NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET)
VENUE: WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL (2.45-MILE ROAD COURSE)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES (RACE 22 OF 36)
EVENT: SUNDAY, AUG. 13 (90 LAPS, 220 MILES)

'25' STEADY OVER PAST EIGHT: With a 17th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, the No. 25 GMAC Racing team earned its eighth consecutive top-20 finish. Driver Brian Vickers has averaged a 13th-place result during the stretch, which dates back to the June NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway.

HITTIN' THE ROAD: Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet, started 22nd and finished eighth at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in August 2005. It was his best-ever road course finish in NEXTEL Cup competition.

CHASSIS 282 FOR GMAC RACING: Crew chief Lance McGrew will call upon Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 282 for Sunday's NEXTEL Cup event at Watkins Glen. Vickers most recently raced the car to a 14th-place finish at Infineon Raceway in June.

HENDRICK AT THE GLEN: A victory Sunday would be Rick Hendrick's seventh at Watkins Glen. No other car owner has more than three wins at the 2.45-mile road course.

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VICKERS SIGNING FOR FANS: Following the completion of Saturday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series final practice, Brian Vickers will greet fans and sign autographs at the GMAC Racing souvenir hauler located on the inside of the Watkins Glen road course.

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BRIAN VICKERS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET: (WHY DO YOU ENJOY THE ROAD COURSE EVENTS SO MUCH?) "Road courses are fun. I like unique, I like different. Every level I've raced on throughout my career, I've always traveled to different tracks and moved around a lot. I believe my dad kind of did that intentionally to get me accustomed to going to a different track each week. Any big league series goes to a variety of places. You can get bored and get into a rhythm going to the same place every week. You learn more having to adapt to various surfaces, sizes and shapes of tracks."

VICKERS: (INFINEON RACEWAY VERSUS WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?) "It's a short track versus a bigger track, like comparing Martinsville (Va.) to Chicagoland. Sonoma is a short-track road course -- real slow, tight turns, a lot of stop-and-go and not many passing zones. The field usually gets jammed up and gets in wrecks, which is frustrating toward the end of the race when there are a lot of cautions -- like a short track where cautions breed cautions. Watkins Glen to me is more of road course. It's fun, with some good elevation changes, tight corners, good passing zones and a lot of fast corners."

VICKERS: (HAS THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP CREATED MORE AGGRESSIVE DRIVING?) "There's always been aggressive driving in NASCAR. I just think everything gets magnified more now. Look at the very first televised NASCAR race -- there was a fight in it. The increased level of competition in our sport is probably the biggest factor in my opinion. Nowadays, the cars are built so much better and the components are so much more durable, which allows us to race hard each and every lap. Years ago, cars weren't as durable and you had to take care of your equipment until the end of the race before going after it. That's just not the case now. You can race hard from the green flag to the checkered flag."