ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 AJ Allmendinger
RACE: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Food City 500
TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN
DATES: March 23-25, 2007
+ COT GIVES AJ WINGS
This weekend in Bristol marks the premiere of the new Car of Tomorrow (COT) that features a larger car body shape, more safety, a front splitter, and most importantly for us, a rear wing. AJ claims he feels a little more "at home" having a wing on his car again like back in his Champ Car days. What won’t feel at home to AJ are 43 cars crammed into the banking of the .533-mile oval that is surrounded by grandstands. At last month’s COT testing at Bristol, AJ was heard muttering ‘Oh, my God…Oh, my God…Oh, my God’ louder and louder as he walked into the track for the first time. Little does he know that a race here is “out of this world” and quite fitting for the COT debut. Like the COT, AJ is ready to turn Tomorrow into Today.
+ THE MAN CAN DRIVE
Despite starting from the back of the field due to an engine change at Atlanta last week, and then encountering another engine problem that limited his RPM’s and made the No. 83 the slowest car on the straightaways, Mr. Vickers still led five laps (the first ever by Team Red Bull and first ever by a Toyota, not counting the two laps Brian led during the Bud Shootout). Plus, he also topped the loop data charts with the most green flag passes in a mere 227 laps.
+ QUOTES
Brian Vickers, driver, No. 83 - “I like all of the short tracks we go to, but Bristol is definitely one of the best. You can't beat racing inside a tiny fishbowl. It will be cool to race the Car of Tomorrow for the first time and see how it performs. We've had some bad luck this year racing our Red Bull Toyota so maybe switching it up will be a good thing.”
Doug Richert, crew chief, No. 83 - “Our Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol didn't go very well. We just couldn't get the car to turn in the center, but we've done a lot of R&D since then and we're hoping we'll have a better car. This weekend will be interesting to watch how things shake out; which teams can get the COT up to speed and which ones are still trying to figure it out.”
AJ Allmendinger, driver, No. 84 - “We had a pretty decent test in Bristol a few weeks ago and were able to turn a lot of laps there. So I'll be able to go out and attack the track instead of having to learn it, as I have had to do in most practice sessions so far this season. I really feel we will be in the race Sunday. I am getting tired of watching everything on TV!”
Ricky Viers, crew chief, No. 84 - “AJ did a great job being at Bristol for the first time in the Car of Tomorrow test a few weeks back. The wing on the car makes him feel more at home, I guess you could say.”
