The Hot Pass: Vickers bullish about future

BROOKLYN, Mich.

Brian Vickers is still on the outside of the Chase looking in, but with Sunday's win in the Carfax 400, he is now just 12 points outside of a spot in NASCAR's title playoff. Vickers entered the weekend 14th-place in the standings and 99 points out of the Chase Zone. He kicked the weekend off by winning the pole for both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races and then settled for second best in Saturday's Nationwide tilt. But with his first shot at the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship on the line, the driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota came through with a victory when it really mattered. When Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel with two laps remaining, Vickers was second and capitalized on the No. 48 team's mistake. For Vickers, 25, his second-career victory ended a 100-race winless streak. But this was also a milestone for Red Bull Racing to experience since its inception three years ago. Vickers remembers the demoralizing moments from 2007 "like it was just yesterday." The No. 83 Toyota missed the field by fractions of a second during time trials and was forced to go home in 13 of 36 races that season. Relief isn't a strong enough word to describe the sensation Vickers felt crossing the finish line at Michigan. "It really is like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders to finally get this win for Red Bull, Toyota, TRD and myself," Vickers said. "The past three years have been a struggle at times. There's been a lot of ups. That's what has made it worthwhile. "To win a race at an organization where you're one of the first employees, you were one of the first people there, to see it grow from the bottom up, from the ground, it gives it a little something extra." General manager Jay Frye has been instrumental in turning the program around. His back-to-basics philosophy — along with enlisted his friend and crew chief Ryan Pemberton to oversee the flagship operation — has paid dividends in the shop and at the racetrack. Now, Frye must re-sign Vickers (which he admits should happen any day now), finalize his contract with Toyota and focus on the next three races to ensure a berth in Chase. "Right now I'm pretty happy," Vickers said. "I definitely consider this a success. We've (won) six poles, and we won a race. Hopefully, we're going to win more. Hopefully, we're going to be in the Chase. "But if we miss the Chase, obviously I'm going to be very, very disappointed."

Defining moment

It's not often the defending three-time championship crew chief Chad Knaus takes a gamble and loses. He did at Michigan Speedway for the second time this season. In June, Jimmie Johnson led 148 laps before posting a 22nd-place finish. On Sunday, he did not finish nearly as well. The No. 48 Chevrolet had the horsepower to lead six times for 133 laps. Johnson took the lead for the final time with 34 laps remaining but did not have the fuel mileage to get 51 laps out of a tank of gas. Johnson ran out of fuel with two laps to go and finished 33rd. "We won one race on fuel mileage ever, it it just not what we are good at," Johnson said. "I think it is a little too risky for us to even try it." Tony Stewart's 17th-place finish enabled the No. 14 team to pick up 24 additional points on Johnson for a 284-point advantage.

Numbers game

Kasey Kahne collided with Juan Pablo Montoya on Lap 141 resulting in the No. 9 car's splitter cutting the No. 42 car's tire and brake line. Montoya, who qualified third and ran in the top 10 before the incident, restarted 34th and climbed to a 19th-place finish. It was the first finish outside the top 12 in the last nine races. Montoya and Kahne, who finished 11th, maintained seventh- and eighth-place, respectively, in the point standings. Mark Martin, who won the June Michigan race while running on empty, wasn't so lucky this time around as he lost the fuel mileage gamble. Martin led four times for 26 laps but was on fumes with three to go. He was forced to pit and finished the day 31st — his worse finish since the July 4 race at Daytona. Martin swapped point positions with Matt Kenseth for 12th-place and is currently 12 points inside the Chase. "This is completely on my shoulders today," said Martin's crew chief Alan Gustafson. "There's no way to make it pretty. We had a great race car and ran out of fuel. I made the call and I knew as soon as I did it that I shouldn't have. We lost a lot of points but I'm by no means giving up. We have great race cars, we're just going to have to have three great races."

Say what?

After several altercations on the track with Kyle Busch this season, including Saturday when the drivers had to be restrained on pit road, Brian Vickers gave his best impression of Dr. Phil McGraw: "In a lot of ways I feel sorry for Kyle, that he lives that angry about stuff, something so small," Vickers said. "I hope that he can get past it. I don't have any hard feelings."