TEAM RED BULL
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
CROWN ROYAL presents THE JIM STEWART 400 ADVANCE

ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 AJ Allmendinger
RACE: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Crown Royal presents The Jim Stewart 400
TRACK: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA
DATES: May 3-5, 2007

+ FROM BUCK TO BV: QUALIFYING PERFECTION
What is now known as Richmond International Raceway started off as a dusty half-mile dirt track. Lee Petty, the father of King Richard, won the first NASCAR race there in 1953. Buck Baker, in an Oldsmobile, won the first pole at 48.465 mph. Times, of course, have changed. And so have the speeds. No stock car driver has gone faster around Richmond’s D-shaped, .75-mile oval than Brian Vickers. His qualifying lap of 129.983 mph on May 14, 2004, in the No. 25 Chevrolet stands as the track record for the spring and fall races.

+ VELOCITY LAB SUMMER SESSION
Matthew Marchiando always had a thing for suspension and setups. For his Red Bull Velocity Lab internship application, he chose the part of the Car of Tomorrow that he wanted to perfect -- “specifically how the front splitter limits front-end travel.” Now, as the winner of the inaugural Red Bull Velocity Lab internship, Red Bull Racing will provide the tools and technical expertise to bring that fantasy to reality.

The 20-year-old mechanical engineering student at the University of California-Davis beat out 113 other applicants from schools like MIT, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Purdue. Brainpower meets horsepower when Red Bull Racing throws Marchiando to the wolves during summer break. He’ll be working with the vehicle dynamics engineers under the direction of Technical Director John Probst at the team’s Mooresville, N.C., race shop.

“I’m sure it will be pretty overwhelming once I’m in there,” Marchiando said of Red Bull Racing. “It’s really a dream come true and it’s where I want to go.”

+ QUOTES
Brian Vickers, driver, No. 83 – “The start of this season has been tougher than I think any of us were prepared for. We knew right out of the gate at Daytona that it was going to be tough for us to make it into the race, especially with the Duel 150's where anything can happen and did happen to both AJ and myself. Some of the other races have been frustrating and tough. When you get to the race track and realize that 52 cars showed up, that you've drawn fourth to go out and a lot of the other go-or-go-homers have late draws when the track will be a lot cooler - that's really tough to swallow. It's been tough, but at the same time it's reassuring to see that everyone is working hard and that no one has given up yet. What's also exciting is that for every race we've been in, except for Atlanta where we dropped a cylinder, we finished in the top 15. We've got good cars, a good team, and good pit stops. We just need to work our way into the top 35. That would make life a lot easier for sure.”

Doug Richert, crew chief, No. 83 – “What are we gonna do at Richmond? Make the race, lead every lap, and win. That's not too much to ask, is it?”

AJ Allmendinger, driver, No. 84 – “We learned a lot at the Richmond test a few weeks ago, and the Iowa test Monday really improved our car. We were finally able to gain more grip with the COT and basically get an overall better feel for it. This is definitely our best shot so far this season of doing well.”

Ricky Viers, crew chief No. 84 – “We were able to work a lot on our COT program at the test this week in Iowa. We went in with a plan and stuck with it, which led to an improvement in the front end geometry. AJ felt the car had more grip and he is a lot more comfortable with the handling of the COT. Overall, we made huge gains. This team is ready to turn the corner. We are going into Richmond with the best COT we have had all year.”