Brian Lee Vickers is an American NASCAR driver, from Thomasville, North Carolina. Vickers was the 2003 Nationwide Series champion, and at age 20, the youngest champion in any of NASCAR's three top-tier series. He currently drives the #83 Red Bull Toyota Camry for Team Red Bull. is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Largest metro area Charlotte metro area Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (900 km)  - % water 9. ... The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs minor league circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations big league circuit, the Nextel Cup. ... Jeff Burton (99), Elliott Sadler (38), Ricky Rudd (21), Dale Jarrett (88), Sterling Marlin (40), Jimmie Johnson (48), and Casey Mears (41) practice for the 2004 Daytona 500 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... For other uses, see Red Bull (disambiguation). ... The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season began on February 10, 2007 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and will end with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18 of that same year. ... The UAW-GM Quality 500 is a NASCAR race that is hosted annually at Lowes Motor Speedway in the United States. ... Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a speedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. ... The 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season started at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 12 with the Bud Shootout and ended on Sunday, November 19 with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ... The UAW Ford 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. ... Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Talladega, Alabama. ... The 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season started at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 12 with the Bud Shootout and ended on Sunday, November 19 with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ... The UAW Ford 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. ... Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Talladega, Alabama. ... is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... Jeff Burton (99), Elliott Sadler (38), Ricky Rudd (21), Dale Jarrett (88), Sterling Marlin (40), Jimmie Johnson (48), and Casey Mears (41) practice for the 2004 Daytona 500 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, USA. The population was 19,788 at the 2000 census. ... The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs minor league circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations big league circuit, the Nextel Cup. ... For other uses, see Red Bull (disambiguation). ... The Toyota Camry is a mid-size car assembled by Toyota in Tsutsumi, (Japan); Georgetown, Kentucky; Altona, Victoria, Australia and most recently Guangzhou, China. ... Team Red Bull is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team that is owned and sponsored by Red Bull Energy Drink. ...

Career

Early Years

Vickers began running go-karts in 1994. Over the next three years, he won eighty races in the World Karting Association, and won three championships. In 1998, he moved to the Allison Legacy Series, and won five races during the course of the season. After competing in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series in 1999, he moved to USAR ProCup, winning Rookie of the Year and two races in 2000. The next season, he won five more races and finished second in points. The World Karting Association, or WKA, is an American racing organization for karting. ... The Alabama Gang was the nickname for a group of NASCAR drivers who set up shop and operated out of Hueytown, Alabama, near Birmingham, Alabama. ... The Dodge Weekly Series is a semi-professional and amateur racing series sanctioned by NASCAR. It is commonly seen as the lowest level of competitive racing sanctioned by NASCAR, and is thus the entry point for a number of aspiring drivers. ...

In 2001, Vickers made his Nationwide Series debut at the GNC Live Well 250 in the #29 owned by his father, Clyde Vickers. He qualified 30th but finished 37th after a crash. Vickers ran three more races that season, his best finish a 25th at North Carolina Speedway. In 2002, Vickers began running the Nationwide Series in his father's #40 Dodge Intrepid. He drove in 21 races, and his best finish was 7th at the Hardee's 250, his only top-ten of the season. The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs minor league circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations big league circuit, the Nextel Cup. ... The AT&T 250 is a NASCAR Busch Series race held at the Milwaukee Mile. ... Rockingham Speedway is a racetrack located in Rockingham, North Carolina. ... The Dodge Intrepid was a large four-door, full-size, front-wheel drive sedan. ... The Circuit City 250 presented by Funai is a NASCAR Busch Series race that takes place at Richmond International Raceway. ...

Hendrick Motorsports

Vickers' crew working on his 2004 car.

Due to a lack of funding for his family-owned team, Vickers was hired to replace Ricky Hendrick in the #5 GMAC Chevrolet, owned by Hendrick Motorsports. Vickers won three races in 2003, and won the Nationwide Series championship by 14 points over David Green, becoming the youngest champion in the history of the series at age 20. Vickers made his Cup debut at the 2003 UAW-GM Quality 500, qualifying 20th and finishing 33rd in the #60 Haas Automation Chevy. He ran four more races that season in Hendrick's #25 UAW Delphi Chevy, qualifying in the top-5 each time, but posting only one top-20 finish. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x768, 279 KB) Photographer: Brian Cantoni Description: Brian Vickers #25 Taken on: 2004-11-06 07:34:38 Original source: Flickr. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x768, 279 KB) Photographer: Brian Cantoni Description: Brian Vickers #25 Taken on: 2004-11-06 07:34:38 Original source: Flickr. ... Joseph Riddick Hendrick IV, (April 2, 1980 - October 24, 2004), born in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a NASCAR driver and owner affiliated with his father Rick Hendricks Hendrick Motorsports team. ... General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) is the financial services arm of General Motors, the worlds largest automobile manufacturer (by revenue). ... Chevrolet (IPA: - French origin) (colloquially Chevy) is a brand of automobile, produced by General Motors (GM). ... Hendrick Motorsports is a group of NASCAR racing teams started by Rick Hendrick in 1984 under the name All Star Racing, racing only Chevrolets, racing in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series circuits. ... David Green from Owensboro, KY was born January 28, 1958. ... The 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup began on Saturday February 8 and ended on Sunday November 16. ... The UAW-GM Quality 500 is a NASCAR race that is hosted annually at Lowes Motor Speedway in the United States. ... Founded in 1983, Haas Automation is the largest machine tool builder in North America. ... The United Auto Workers (UAW), officially the United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union, is one of the largest labor unions in North America, with more than 700,000 members in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico organized into approximately 950 union locals. ... For other uses, see Delphi (disambiguation). ...

In 2004, Vickers ran the #25 in the Cup series full-time, carrying sponsorship from Ditech and GMAC. He won two poles, had four top-tens, and finished third to Brendan Gaughan and Kasey Kahne for Rookie of the Year. The next season, Vickers won the NEXTEL Open exhibition race, which qualified him for the annual All-Star Challenge, in which he finished third. Vickers finished the year 17th in Cup points, scoring ten top-tens, including his then-career best finish of second at the Pocono 500. He also returned to the Nationwide Series in a limited capacity in 2005, driving in six races, and finishing third at Watkins Glen. The 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season began on Saturday, February 7 and ended on Sunday, November 21. ... Brendan Gaughan (born July 10, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is a truck racer from Las Vegas, Nevada. ... Kasey Kenneth Kahne (born April 10, 1980 in Enumclaw, Washington) is a driver in NASCARs NEXTEL Cup series. ... The NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a NASCAR season. ... The NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, formerly known as The Winston until 2004, is a race open to race winners from the previous season as well as the current season. ... The NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, formerly known as The Winston until 2004, is a race open to race winners (either as a driver or a car owner) from the previous season as well as the current season, plus the past ten event winners and past decades Cup Series... The Pocono 500 is the first of two stock car races held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule, the other being the Pennsylvania 500. ... Watkins Glen International (nicknamed The Glen) is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. ...

The season 2006, statistically, was Vickers' best yet. Vickers finished 7th in the Daytona 500, gathered nine top-tens, and got his first victory at the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. However, the season was marred by conflicts within Hendrick Motorsports. On June 25, Vickers announced that he would leave Hendrick and drive for the new Team Red Bull team in 2007. In the UAW-Ford 500, Vickers was running third when he bumped teammate Jimmie Johnson on the last lap, causing both Johnson (who was second), and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the leader, to spin out. Vickers went on to score his first victory. Johnson was livid with Vickers, and both he and his crew chief Chad Knaus questioned Vickers' motives with the bump, [1], with Knaus stating that Vickers had "run out of talent" prior to wrecking his teammate.[2] However, both Johnson and Vickers had a long discussion about what had happened and decided that it was best to move on. This was easily conveyed when Vickers came to congratulate Johnson and Johnson gave him a hug when Johnson won the Nextel Cup championship at the Ford 400. The 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season started at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 12 with the Bud Shootout and will end on Sunday, November 19 with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ... The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. ... The UAW Ford 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. ... Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Talladega, Alabama. ... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Team Red Bull is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team that is owned and sponsored by Red Bull Energy Drink. ... The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season began on February 10, 2007 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and will end with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18 of that same year. ... This article is about NASCAR driver. ... Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ... Chad Knaus Chad Anthony Knaus (pronounced kuh-NOWSE) (born August 5, 1971 in Rockford, Illinois) is the NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chief for the #48 Lowes Chevrolet Monte Carlo currently driven by Jimmie Johnson, owned by Jeff Gordon and operated by Rick Hendricks Hendrick Motorsports. ... The NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCARs top racing series. ...

Team Red Bull

In 2007, Vickers drove the #83 Red Bull Toyota Camry for a new team, Team Red Bull. His new crew chief for 2007 was Doug Richert, The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season began on February 10, 2007 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and will end with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18 of that same year. ... For other uses, see Red Bull (disambiguation). ... The Toyota Camry is a mid-size car assembled by Toyota in Tsutsumi, (Japan); Georgetown, Kentucky; Altona, Victoria, Australia and most recently Guangzhou, China. ... Team Red Bull is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team that is owned and sponsored by Red Bull Energy Drink. ...

Vickers in his #83 Red Bull Camry.

who spent the last three seasons with Greg Biffle and won a championship with Dale Earnhardt. His new teammate at Red Bull was A.J. Allmendinger, driver of the #84 Red Bull Toyota Camry for Team Red Bull. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 451 pixelsFull resolution (1074 × 606 pixel, file size: 387 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 451 pixelsFull resolution (1074 × 606 pixel, file size: 387 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington) is a NASCAR Nextel Cup driver. ... This article is about the elder Dale Earnhardt. ... A.J. Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981 in Los Gatos, California) is an American racecar driver. ...

This season started out poorly when Vickers suffered a blown tire during his qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The next week the team regrouped, however, and scored a tenth place finish in their first outing, the Auto Club 500, which was coincidentally Toyota's first top 10 in the Nextel Cup series. Two weeks later Vickers led Toyota's first lap in the Nextel Cup series at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. ... The Auto Club 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at the California Speedway in Fontana, California. ... Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located at 7000 Las Vegas Boulevard North in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a 1,200 acre (4. ...

On May 27, 2007, Vickers gave Toyota its first top five ever in Coca-Cola 600. Toyota brought a new engine to Lowe's, and Vickers showed its potential and surprised many by leading more than 70 laps of the race and having the dominant car. However, towards the end of the race, the power steering of the vehicle began to fail, and eventually ceased operation completely. The teams luck continued to decline as Vickers soon blew a tire and slid into the turn four wall. Immediately as Vickers entered pit road, the caution flew for debris on the track, supposedly from his incident. This was a saving grace, as it allowed the #83 car to stay on the lead lap, albeit off the pace and out of contention for the win. Crew chief Doug Richert managed to salvage the race through pit strategy, enabling Vickers to score a fifth place finish. is the 147th day of the year (148th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600) is a six hundred mile (966 km) stock car race held annually at Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) in Charlotte, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend. ...

Late in the 2007 season, crew chief Doug Richert was fired from Team Red Bull and replaced by Randy Cox, who was formerly employed on Team Red Bull's Research and Development team.Vickers struggled for the remainder of the season as Team Red Bull began to focus on developing it's Car of Tomorrow program, which will compete full time during the 2008 season. The resulting inattention to its "current car" program severely hampered Vickers' efforts during the remaining races of that platform.

2008 Season

2008 Cup racecar

In 2008, Vickers qualified for the 50th running of the Daytona 500, after racing himself in with an 11th place finish in the Gatorade Duel 150. He then went on to make the next 4 races with an average finish of 21st including a top 10 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway where he finished 9th. Vickers was outside the top 35 in point all during the 2007 season, which meant he did not have a guaranteed starting spot. However, in 2008, he is now ensured a started sport, for now, since he is in the top 35 after 5 races. 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... The Daytona 500 will turn 50 in 2008. ...

Career NASCAR Statistics

Data as of Mar 17, 2008 ^[1]

References

1. ^ Career Stats

External links

• 83 Red Bull: NASCAR’s Young Buck Chases Sprint
• Official Website
• Career statistics at racing-reference.info
• Nascar.com Profile