Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Brian Vickers’ name has been brought up in a bunch of those conversations lately, one of those being the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29. The reason? He’s ready to tackle whatever opportunity is out there.
“Yeah, I would love to race anything quite honestly,” he said. “The Indy 500 would be one of them.”
The North Carolina Born driver has been marred health issues since 2010 that included blood clots with him being put on blood thinning medications, resulting in him having to take a hiatus from behind the wheel. He got opportunity to get back behind the wheel as he has been driving for Stewart Haas Racing as an interim driver for injured NASCAR champion and race team owner Tony Stewart as he heals from surgery resulting from an off-season injury.
“I am really enjoying this opportunity as well,” he said. “I am open to all of these opportunities, Indy is one of them. I would love to have something to announce, unfortunately, there is nothing to announce at this point. It is still on the table. It’s not done, but it’s not off the table yet either.”
Vickers has been rumored to possibly race in a third entry for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
“I’d think Brian is the least likely only because he hasn’t done it before and we’re unsure if he’ll still be driving for Tony, so with the unknown, it hard to figure out the costs and the logistics,” Sam Schmidt told RACER.com. “Granted, he very experienced and very mature, so I’ m sure he’d get the job done, but I’m not sure we need any distractions with a rookie. He’s an option, though, and we aren’t ruling him out. I know how badly he wants to be in the race. We ‘re still trying to find money for all of them, they’re all trying to find money, but it’s not completely there.”
If he were to run he would join a group of NASCAR drivers that can say they have driven in the Indianapolis 500 in their careers. They include Tony Stewart who has five starts, Robby Gordon with seven starts, John Andretti with four starts and Kurt Busch with one start. Busch was also at one point rumored to be running this year 100th running but stated he can’t do it this year due to wanting to maintain focus on his Sprint Cup Series effort.
Right now this weekend Vickers’ focus will be to drive No. 14 Stewart Haas car at Texas Motor Speedway, while remaining open to whatever opportunity comes next.
“We will continue exploring that and if that happens great, if not, move on to the next opportunity and maybe next year,” he said.
