TEAM RED BULL
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOOD CITY 500

ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 Mike Skinner
RACE: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Food City 500”
TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN DATES: March 14-16, 2008

+ MILE AND A HALF TO HALF A MILE
Brian Vickers wasn’t wild about Goodyear’s hard tire compound, either. But that didn’t stop him and the No. 83 from earning Red Bull Racing Team’s first top-10 finish of the season Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With one race remaining before the 2008 owner points take hold, the No. 83 sits comfortably in ninth — far ahead of the go-or-go-home zone. Getting through Bristol affords the No. 83 the luxury of working on race trim rather than focusing solely on single-lap runs during opening practice.

But Red Bull Racing Team isn’t about the top 35. It’s about top 10s, top fives and, eventually, victories.

Vickers drove one of 13 cars that ended on the lead lap at Atlanta, finishing ninth. He led a lap, too. And that’s five bonus points — in case you’re counting — bringing Vickers’ total to 491.

+ CHARTING SKINNER
The numbers don’t lie. The temporary replacement in the No. 84, Mike Skinner, is legit at Bristol.

In Sprint Cup competition, Skinner’s average start at Bristol Motor Speedway is 12.3. His current love is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and in that series he owns one pole and one victory at the .533-mile bullring. Only twice in six truck starts has he finished lower than seventh. He even won the pole in the fall Nationwide Series race there.

Skinner finished 29th in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta — his first start with Red Bull Racing Team.

+ NO. 84 LIVES THROUGH NO. 4
Somehow, AJ Allmendinger finds the strength to roll out of bed each morning. He has been in a deep depression since Brett Favre, the former quarterback of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, called it quits on an illustrious career March 6.

Being the spirited individual that he his, however, Allmendinger keeps pushing through life. No. 4 is done, but that doesn’t mean No. 84 is.

“Losing my ride, that hurts. But I can get over that,” said Allmendinger, who has been temporarily replaced by Mike Skinner in Red Bull Racing Team’s No. 84. “Losing Brett Favre playing football … I pretty much almost committed suicide. OK, it wasn’t that close. It’s a tough day for everybody losing Brett like that.

“I did like his comment about now he knows what it feels like to die, because it is true. We’re like, ‘Oh my god, we did lose Brett Favre forever.’ We just lost Brett playing football, which in the grand scheme is not that big of a deal. It’s going to take awhile to be an Aaron Rogers fan.”

+ BRISTOL, MEET MR. PFEIFFER
Before Sunday’s Food City 500, Red Bull stunt rider Christian Pfeiffer will tackle the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. No, not in a 3,450-pound stock car. The German will do his deal — trick after trick and wheelie after wheelie — on a two-wheel BMW stunt bike. He’ll do the same throughout the speedway grounds Friday and Saturday.

Innovative is the best way to describe the 37-year-old Pfeiffer. He’s constantly pushing the limits, as evidenced by recent championships that include 2007 indoor street bike freestyle, the 2006 Stuntwars, 2004 and ’06 European stunt riding and 2003 stunt riding.

“CP” lives by the motto, “The more you sleep, the more tired you are.”