TEAM RED BULL
NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
SYLVANIA 300

ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 AJ Allmendinger
RACE: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, “Sylvania 300”
TRACK: New Hampshire International Speedway
DATES: September 14-16, 2007

+ CHASE WITHIN THE CHASE
There’s THE Chase, the top 12 racing for a championship. And then there’s OUR Chase, the final 12 racing for their 2008 lives.

NASCAR rules say any car in the top 35 in owner standings is guaranteed a spot in the upcoming race, regardless of qualifying effort. For 2008, the top 35 after this season’s 36 races — slow as they might be come Daytona in February — are automatically handed a grid position for the first five events. That gives Red Bull Racing 10 tries to get there.

Brian Vickers’ No. 83 sits 38th in the owner standings — 233 points behind the No. 21 in 35th. Red Bull Racing is a mere 32 points from 37th but 214 from 36th. No one has any room for error, as only 549 points separate positions 32 through 40. A good place for Vickers to start is in Friday’s qualifying at New Hampshire, where he owns two top-three starts including a pole in July 2005.

Rookie AJ Allmendinger moved from 47th to 45th in driver points when he finished 23rd at Richmond, six days after a career-best effort of 18th at California. The quest for more seat time takes Allmendinger back to the Craftsman Truck Series, where he’ll drive the Darrell Waltrip-owned and Red Bull-sponsored No. 00 Toyota at New Hampshire.

+ QUOTES
Brian Vickers, No. 83 driver – “This weekend is the start of the Chase for 12 drivers, but for us, we’re in our own Chase trying to get into the top 35. We’re sitting 233 points outside the top 35 right now and only have 10 weekends to break through. It’s been important all year for us to make races and bring home good finishes, but now it’s really crunch time. We can’t miss races, and we can’t make mistakes that are going to cost us points in a race. It’s been an interesting and challenging year for me. Having been outside the top 35 this year, I have a new appreciation and view of what it means to be sitting on this side of the bubble. Fridays can be your best day if you make the race or ruin your weekend if you don’t.”

Doug Richert, No. 83 crew chief – “Last time we went to New Hampshire, we had a pretty good car and qualified 28th, which we were happy with. Unfortunately, we had some issues during post-qualifying inspection getting through the height sticks, so we’re hoping that doesn’t happen to us again. We’ve struggled a lot with our COT program, but we’re learning more each time we get to race and test the COT. We learned some things at Richmond that we’re hoping will help us have a good race car when we unload at Loudon.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 84 driver – “We have gotten our two best finishes of the year the past two weeks, so I think momentum is definitely on our side right now. All the extra time in the Busch car has definitely helped. We didn’t make Loudon in July, but our cars have improved since then — and so has the driver. I am looking forward to going back and proving ourselves this weekend. It’s been a few weeks since I have raced the truck, too, and that is always a good time.” Ricky Viers, No. 84 crew chief – “As a team we are coming off our second-best finish of the year in Richmond where we finished on the lead lap. I am looking forward to coming back to Loudon, even though we missed the race the first time around. After testing in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago and racing in Richmond last weekend, we can show up in Loudon and do what we know we are capable of doing — and that is making the race and racing competitively.”