Red Bull Racing, 2009 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup Race Preview

Press Release

Who: Scott Speed (82 Red Bull Toyota), Brian Vickers (83 Red Bull Toyota)
What: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Sprint Cup)
When: Friday-Sunday, June 24-26, 2009
Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.

+ NO. 83’S CHASE BEGINS NOW

The scheduling gods must have a crush on New Hampshire Motor Speedway, because the “Magic Mile” is the starting point of two Chases. The 10-event Race to the Chase begins with Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301, and the championship-deciding Chase to the Sprint Cup begins with the season’s second trip to New England in September.

If Brian Vickers and his No. 83 team want to be part of the latter, “We need to get moving,” he said. “We need to catch a few breaks in the upcoming races. It seems like all we’ve had lately are bad breaks.”

The No. 83 Red Bull Toyota is coming off another bad break in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Vickers (above left) earned his series-leading fourth pole of the season and led the first 16 laps, but he got caught up in a mid-race accident that was not of his doing. The incident cut the right-rear tire and damaged the exhaust pipes, Vickers pitted and dropped from ninth to 39th. He rallied to finish 16th and kept is 17th-place position in the standings — 123 points from the Chase’s 12th and final berth.

“The weekend as a whole was OK,” Vickers said. “We started great with the pole and had a great Saturday, a great final practice. The race was going well until the 18 (Kyle Busch) wrecked the 77 (Sam Hornish Jr.), and we just got collected in it. The car was never the same. We were down on horsepower, and every time I’d make a pass in turn 11 and hit the gas, they would just pass me right back down the frontstretch.”

Vickers has nine starts at flat, 1.058-mile New Hampshire. He won the pole there in July 2005 and has a best finish of fifth in September 2006.

Sprint Cup rookie and California native Scott Speed (below left) had a rough go at his home track of Infineon Raceway.
The No. 82 failed to qualify for the season’s first road race, and Speed instead drove the Nemco Motorsports No. 87 in Saturday’s two practice sessions and the race.

He finished 37th, but it was mission accomplished: seat time at another new track. Speed led two laps and completed all but one, this after the No. 87 sustained damage to the right front midway through the race as well as being spun around on the final lap.
Speed’s No. 82 Red Bull Toyota remained 36th in the car owner standings — 95 points from the top 35.

+ BV ENTERS TRIPLE DIGITS

Brian Vickers will reach another milestone in his NASCAR career on Saturday when he makes his 100th Nationwide Series start in the Camping World RV Sales 200. The 25-year-old was last a Nationwide regular in 2003. He won the championship that year to ago along with three victories and 21 top 10s in 34 starts.

“The Nationwide Series was a critical point in my career,” Vickers said. “It helped me a ton and was a great steppingstone for me and a lot of others going into Cup. I gained valuable experience racing in the Nationwide Series.”

In 99 starts, Vickers owns three victories, three poles, 25 top fives and 45 top 10s. And driver No. 83 in Sprint Cup has led 883 laps in Nationwide competition.

This weekend at New Hampshire, Vickers will drive Braun Racing’s No. 32 Toyota. He’s finished in the top 10 in six of seven races this season.

“The Nationwide Series has changed a lot, but in some ways it’s still very much the same,” Vickers said. “There were a lot of Cup guys racing in the Nationwide Series then, and there are still a lot now. And the series has definitely grown. What it takes to run the series now — as far as the level of car and equipment — has risen. It’s the best way for young drivers to get experience.”

Scott Speed will also take to the flat banks of New Hampshire in a Nationwide car. He’ll drive Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 99 Red Bull Toyota — a car he’s piloted to a pole (Las Vegas) and two top-10 finishes (Bristol and Dover).

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release

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