TEAM RED BULL
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY
COCA-COLA 600 ADVANCE

ENTRIES: Red Bull Racing No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull Racing No. 84 AJ Allmendinger
RACE: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Coca-Cola 600
TRACK: Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
DATES: May 24-27, 2007

+ SIT DOWN AND STAY AWHILE
Tickets … check! Something to read … check! Red Bull … check! Better bring every bit of it and more to make it through NASCAR’s longest race. Consult this week’s cartoon for the proper survival gear. The Memorial Weekend marathon race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway starts in the day and ends at night. In between are about five hours and 400 laps that test a fan’s dedication, a driver’s endurance and a crew’s knack for adaptation because LMS and its asphalt are known to change moods when the sun goes down and the lights come on. Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers has started the 600 three times before and once labeled it … well, use your imagination. Rookie AJ Allmendinger has seen no more than 500 miles in one sitting in his very short Nextel Cup career, but based on his second-place finish in last Friday night’s truck race, AJ has got that competitive feeling once again.

+ ATHLETE SWAP
Brian Vickers wasn’t done yet with All-Star weekend last Saturday when he made his way Sunday to the U.S. National Whitewater Center outside Charlotte for a crash course in kayaking. BV’s instructor was none other than Red Bull pro kayaker Tao Berman, who you might recognize as the daredevil that once dropped a world-record 98.4 feet from the top of a waterfall canyon. Tao taught Brian the rigors of a roll and the essence of an eddy, and they went on to paddle through man-made rapids all afternoon. Only twice did Brian bail from his submerged boat. Not bad for a beginner. Later that evening, Tao entered the realm of NASCAR racing. Tao, this time guided by Brian’s tutelage and tips, topped 141 mph in a Richard Petty Driving Experience stock car at LMS. Not bad for a beginner.

+ RED BULL’S CLASS CLOWN
Northview Elementary School has a lot of little NASCAR fans, and for that, kids earned a day with Red Bull Racing’s class clown. AJ goes back to school this Wednesday in Statesville, N.C., to speak to Northview students, who finished second in a contest to see which school could sell the most NASCAR Day pins at five bucks a pop. Half of the profits go to Stocks-for-Tots, which, along with the NASCAR Foundation, teamed up with Iredell-Statesville Schools for their annual NASCAR Day celebration. The school with the second-highest percentage won a Q&A session with the Red Bull Racing driver. The top-selling class within Northview gets AJ all to itself for laughs and autographs.

+ QUOTES
Brian Vickers, driver, No. 83 – “The All-Star race was a good test of how good our race setup is at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We think we'll have an even better race car for the 600, which makes me happy. What's most important for us this weekend though is to first qualify into the race. After that, we need to make sure our car is good during long runs and we need to still be running at the end of the race. This is the longest race of the year and so many things can happen during those 600 miles.”

Doug Richert, crew chief, No. 83 – “We're taking back a different race car to the 600 than we used for the All-Star race last weekend. It's actually the same car that we took to Texas and ran well. We tested this car at Lowe's Motor Speedway and focused mainly on qualifying runs, because for us, that's the biggest hurdle we have to overcome. Once we claim a spot in the race, I think we'll be able to setup a good car for the race. We learned a lot during the All-Star race, so we're going to take that knowledge and try to apply it for the 600. We just need to finish the race and collect points.”

AJ Allmendinger, driver, No. 84 – “Man, it felt great to run second in the truck race last Friday night. Mainly, it was just nice to be competitive again. Our chances this weekend look pretty good, I think. I’ve put in a lot of laps here the past couple of weeks with the test and truck race, so I feel pretty comfortable racing around here — which is more than I can say for most tracks. I hate that we were spun out on lap one in the Open because our car was pretty good. The good news is we are bringing an even faster one back this weekend.”

Ricky Viers, crew chief No. 84 – “We are taking the same car to Lowe’s this weekend that we tested there a couple of weeks ago — the same car that ended up fourth quickest in the final testing session. I feel really strongly about our chances to qualify into this race. We specifically saved this car for the 600.”