Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

Auto Club 500 - Team Red Bull Notes

TEAM RED BULL
CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
AUTO CLUB 500

ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 AJ Allmendinger
RACE: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Auto Club 500”
TRACK: California Speedway, Fontana, CA
DATES: February 22-24, 2008

+ STRONG START FOR BV’S 83
A 12th-place finish in the Daytona 500 gave Red Bull Racing’s No. 83 team exactly what it needed. Momentum this early in the season is a must for Sprint Cup teams trying to crack the top 35 in owner points, and Brian Vickers has plenty of it entering race No. 2 at California Speedway.

Earning the result wasn’t easy. An ailing left-rear tire forced Vickers to pit road in the early going. He fell a lap down, but the No. 83 was plenty stout and hung with the lead draft. It wasn’t until lap 150 that Vickers got his lap back and began his ascent.

Vickers kept the No. 83’s nose clean despite a rash of late caution flags, describing the final quarter of the Daytona 500 as “pretty hairy,” but steering clear of trouble is half the battle in restrictor-plate racing. When the draft’s dust settled, there was the No. 83 in 12th.

Now, Red Bull Racing Team heads to two-mile California Speedway — the site of the team’s first top-10 finish one year ago.

+ BULL CREW: AGE MEETS YOUTH
Red Bull Racing Team’s 14 over-the-wall crewmen come from all sorts of backgrounds. Two, however, hail from California.

One is a veteran in No. 83 gas man Doug Newell. The other is Chad Avrit, the No. 84’s fleet- footed rear tire changer who has minimal experience on pit road. About the only thing their careers have in common is that they began in the Golden State.

The tale of the tape:

         Doug Newell Name Chad Avrit
              No. 83 Team No. 84 
           Gas man Position Rear tire changer 
      May 23, 1958 Birthdate April 18, 1983 
     Oxnard, Calif. Hometown El Centro, Calif. 
  Mooresville, N.C. Resides Mooresville, N.C. 
            6-foot-0 Height 5-foot-8 
          225 pounds Weight 155 pounds 
Showing signs of gray Hair Blonde and cool

Q&A WITH NEWELL, AVRIT
+ What’s your biggest fear on pit road?
Newell: Getting too old to do this job.
Avrit: Just messing up to the point where I wouldn’t have this job any longer.

+ How cool is it being a full-time crewman?
Newell: It’s very unique, and it’s pretty awesome. We have an opportunity change the way the sport’s done. That’s huge.
Avrit: This is only team I’ve been on. But just from what I hear, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

+ The most difficult aspect of your job is?
Newell: One of the benefits of being an old guy is that you’ve done it enough times that you don’t get the stress and butterflies. Physically, the hardest thing is being in a firesuit for four or five hours. It’s hot.
Avrit: Staying focused. You’re sitting there watching cars go round and round. And then all of a sudden, say, you get a flat tire. You have to get on the wall, and your heart’s racing. Then you have to calm down and do your job.

+ During a stop, are you aware of what’s going on around you?
Newell: Yes and no. At some conscious level, you know what’s going on. Typically, I’m on the left side of the car. I will see a guy pitting in front of us. I’ll see him coming.
Avrit: When I’m hitting the lug nuts, I don’t really see anything but that. But then I lean back and can see what’s going on. But I’m not paying attention to anything other than what I’m doing.

+ AJ THE POLITICIAN
No. 84 driver AJ Allmendinger and his California brethren will meet Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday in the Party Zone outside California Speedway. Schwarzenegger will greet the drivers and recognize his state’s strong representation at the Sprint Cup level. Allmendinger, of course, hails from Los Gatos, Calif.

+ WHITT WHIPS UP ON MANZY
Keep an eye on this kid.

A month after racing his way into the feature of the prestigious Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, Californian Cole Whitt came up big again, this time in Saturday’s Copper on Dirt at Manzanita Speedway outside Phoenix.

Whitt, driving Keith Kunz’s No. 71 Red Bull Bullet, moved from 14th place to finish fifth in the USAC-CRA sprint car portion of the Copper on Dirt. In the USAC midget event, the 16-year-old finished second to teammate Darren Hagen.

Whitt will be hanging out with Red Bull Racing Team this weekend at California.