Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Last week at Martinsville Speedway, Brian Vickers got a seventh-place finish, his first top-10 of the season. He hasn’t been running the full NASCAR schedule, but rather fillling in for the injured Tony Stewart, who drives the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, in certain races.
“Last weekend we had a great run,” Vickers said. “You always want more. We wanted to win the race. We had a great car. We weren’t quite as happy with it in the race as we were in practice. We had a different tire batch code and it seemed to affect the handling a little bit. But we made a lot of progress through the race and had a good finish. It is a challenge, you know, not being in the car every week; although it is kind of nice, at the same time (laughs). It’s certainly an added challenge.
“But, as you guys know, everyone in this room pretty much is on the circuit and understands the grind of the length of our season. But the last three weeks I think, have been great, working with (crew chief) Mike (Bugarewicz) kind of continually, and the whole team, and really building momentum we need to put a car in Victory Lane. I feel like we’ve done it in the last few weeks. Martinsville showed that. I feel like we have a good car coming here to Texas and hopefully we can build on that and take a seventh and turn it into a win or a top 5.”
The race at Texas Motor Speedway marks his third straight race in the car, as he raced at Auto Club Speedway and Martinsville back-to-back. He is happy to have consistency in the driver seat because it builds chemistry between him and the crew. He says they are still working on the communication between himself, the crew chief, engineers and the spotter and that it takes a little time but they are slowly getting there.
“We are making it happen,” Vickers said. “It’s an honor for me to be in the car. I’ve said this before, I will say it again, I hate that I’m in the car because of the circumstances because Tony (Stewart) is injured and he’s not here. I have been in his shoes many times. I wish him nothing but the best. I would love to see him in the car soon, but happy to fill in for him until then. I think the more times we are together, the more times we are in this car the better it will get.”
Stewart and Vickers have always had a mutual respect for each other so they have always gotten along and that is why Stewart and Vickers work well together. He says where they might not have always gotten along on the track, they have when off the track and Stewart has been an asset to him and the team while he races for them
“There has always been a level of mutual respect there,” Vickers said. “He helped me a lot when I was young, gave me tips as veteran drivers tend to do in the sport. Not everyone does it, but Tony has always been that guy where when you are young and you are the new guy coming in he is always quick to help. That was always great to have. Certainly we had our run -in’s. When you race hard for over 10 years together you are going to have a few disagreements, but nothing changed off the race track for us.
“Working together in the capacity we are now is unique and different. It’s really interesting. Now I feel like I know he is telling the truth (laughs). Before I just thought he was, but I wasn’t sure. How he has stepped into this role as kind of an owner, coach, mentor, whatever you want to call it, has been really impressive. I know it’s hard for him not to be in the car, but I think he is really enjoying it. I think he is, in a way, you know you are thinking a lot about what his future looks like after this season, he has already announced this will be his last season. What does that look like for him? I think he has found a great balance, at least with me, of not micromanaging the team, not micromanaging the driver, giving great insight and tips and advice when it’s warranted or he feels like it’s needed or it’s asked for. But he doesn’t try to tell me how to drive the car. He doesn’t try to tell the team how to set the car up. He very much lets the team kind of run its course and be a guiding hand along the way.”
