TEAM RED BULL
CHICAGOLAND RACEWAY
USG SHEETROCK 400
ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 AJ Allmendinger

RACE: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, “USG Sheetrock 400”
TRACK: Chicagoland Raceway, Joliet, IL
DATES: July 13th-15th, 2007

+ NOTHING LIKE AN INTERMEDIATE
Intermediate tracks, as defined by NASCAR, are tracks that are one mile or more — but less than two miles — in length. It is a loosely used term, however, one that often disregards one-mile flat tracks and encompasses the wide, sweeping two-milers. Either way, Red Bull Racing has performed rather well on the so-called intermediates.

Red Bull Racing’s first top-five finish came at 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway with Brian Vickers at the wheel of the No. 83. The first-year team’s first top 10 came at two-mile California Speedway. Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile venue outside of the Windy City, falls into the intermediate category. Chicago is the next stop on the Nextel Cup schedule, and there’s no doubt Brian and teammate AJ Allmendinger will ride the rail just like the “L” trains do through downtown Chicago.

AJ heads to Chicago for the first time, but Brian has been there and done that. He has never started outside the top five, nor has he finished outside the top 15, including a fourth-place showing in 2005.

+ ROUNDING THIRD, HEADING FOR HOME
Brian will be among the many NASCAR drivers and industry types to participate in Thursday’s fourth annual Racin’ the Bases Celebrity Softball Game — a joint charity effort between Chicagoland Speedway and Victory Junction Gang Camp. The game has raised more than $140,000 for Victory Junction, a resort of sorts that gives chronically ill children an all-expenses-paid place to play in Randleman, N.C. BV and Co. will give autographs before the first pitch at 6:15 p.m. CT at Silver Cross Field in Joliet, Ill.

+ QUOTES
Brian Vickers, No. 83 driver - “I like racing at Chicago because it’s both a fun race track and a fun town. I’ve raced there three times in the Cup Series and have qualified in the top five every time, so hopefully that will help us get a good qualifying spot this weekend. Chicagoland Speedway is a multi-groove track and a pretty fast mile-and-a-half track. We’ve had some of our best finishes on intermediate tracks this year, so I like going to these tracks. I’m just hoping we can get a good qualifying setup and then a good result in the race on Sunday.”

Doug Richert, No. 83 crew chief – “We’re going to take the same car we raced at Charlotte to Chicago, so we’re hoping it’s a lucky car for us because it’s the one we earned our top finish with. (fifth). We had to fix a little bit of right-side damage on the car from the Charlotte race, but other than that, we’re hoping for a fifth-place finish or better. We had good setups at Michigan and Charlotte, so we think we can do the same in Chicago and hopefully things will go our way.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 84 driver - “I’m looking forward to going to another intermediate track because those types of tracks have been where we’ve run best on all year. I’d say I’ve never raced on this track before, but that’s the case for almost every track we’ve gone to this year, so it’s always a challenge. I’m definitely hoping to get rid of this streak of bad luck we’ve had over the last three races. We’re going to work really closely with the No. 83 team this weekend and try to apply their notes to our setup to get a good qualifying lap in.”

Ricky Viers, No. 84 crew chief - “We’re taking a brand-new race car to Chicago, one that’s never been tested and never been raced. We’re going to draw from our qualifying experience at Michigan and try to apply that in Chicago. The No. 83 crew did really well at both Charlotte and Michigan, so we’re planning on pulling from their notes and running a similar setup to help us find some speed. We’re hoping we can get up to speed when we roll off the trucks and find ourselves racing again instead of packing up and going home.”