Red Bull Racing Texas Preview
Wednesday October 29, 2008
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
ENTRIES: Red Bull No. 83 Brian Vickers and Red Bull No. 84 Scott Speed
RACE: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, “Dickies 500“
TRACK: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
DATES: October 31 – November 2, 2008
LAST WEEK IN ATLANTA …
… the two Red Bull Toyotas had their problems in the pits.
Brian Vickers’ No. 83 took a one-lap penalty for servicing the car outside of the pit box on lap 299. Vickers, running 16th, crawled back to his pit before a NASCAR official held him there for one lap. He ended up 21st and is 18th in points — 24 out of 17th.
Teammate Scott Speed battled a loose condition all afternoon, as well as earning a speeding ticket in the pits. After finishing 34th, Speed has completed 99 percent of the laps run in his two starts. The No. 84 sits 35th in the car owner standings — 25 points behind 34th and 80 points ahead of the red.
RED BULL’S ROCKET MAN
Texas Motor Speedway has held 12 qualifying sessions (weather nixed two of them) since it entered Sprint Cup racing in 1997, and no driver has timed in faster than Brian Vickers.
On Nov. 3, 2006, Vickers circled the 1.5-mile track in 27.518 seconds (196.235 mph) while driving the No. 25. The Texas lap is one of two track records Vickers holds. As a rookie, he was fastest at Richmond on May 14, 2004 (129.983 mph).
ON NATIONWIDE’S SIDE
Brian Vickers will wrap up his Nationwide Series season Saturday in Braun Racing’s No. 10 Toyota. He’s driven the Nos. 10 and 32 this season … either way, 11 starts have produced six top fives and eight top 10s.
The 2003 series champion plans to run 17 races with Braun in 2009 — all in the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota — beginning with the season-opening event at Daytona.
DRIVER TURNS TRUCKER
Just how well is Scott Speed performing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series? Had he run the full schedule this season, he’d be top 10 in points.
Speed is 23rd in the driver standings with 1,669 points. He’s started 13 races; the regulars 22. Speed’s average finish is 13.4. A 13th-place finish earns 124 points. If Speed maintained that average over the nine races he’s missed, he’d have 2,785 points. That’d place him 10th in points entering the final three races — all of which he’ll run in Bill Davis Racing’s No. 22 Red Bull Toyota.
“We have a good truck underneath us,” Speed said. “The truck was really close at Atlanta, and I expect that it’ll be good in Texas as well. We had a really good truck the last time we were there.”
Speed finished fifth in Saturday’s race at Atlanta for his fourth top five of the season. In June at Texas, he qualified 16th and finished 26th after a late spin down the frontstretch.
RED BULL FAST FORWARD
•Red Bull Racing F1 (formula one), Oct. 31-Nov. 2, Brazil, redbullf1.com
•Red Bull Air Race World Series (flight), Nov. 1-2, Australia, redbullairrace.com
•Red Bull Street Style World Final (freestyle soccer), Nov. 18, Brazil, redbullstreetstyle.com
Do you want the chance to win a free Frontstretch T-Shirt, and are you really good at talking about NASCAR? Well, we have the perfect opportunity for you. Our staff will be giving away a free T-Shirt to the reader who makes the best post in our Frontstretch Forum between now and the end of the season. So, what makes a good post? It’s pretty hard to impress us, but here are some things we are looking for:
Does your post spark passionate reactions from other readers? Are you commenting on meaningful NASCAR-related events? Do your posts have substance? In other words, “Dale Jr. is the best driver ever” or “Danica Patrick is hot” will not cut it.
So go to the Frontstretch Forums, post early, post often, and post well! We’ll announce the winner following the final race of the season at Homestead.
This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.
©2000 - 2008 Kim DeHaven and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!














