Despite failing to qualify at Bristol a few weeks back, Brian Keselowski will return to the Sprint Cup Series to attempt the Air Guard 400 at Richmond this coming Saturday, Frontstretch has learned. Keselowski, whose Nationwide Series team does not have a Nationwide Series COT car, told Frontstretch that he is interested in doing some more Cup races towards the end of the 2010 season, owing in part to the larger purses offered at the Cup level.

In his first press conference since announcing he was diagnosed with blood clots and forced to sit out the remainder of the 2010 season, Brian Vickers met with the media Saturday in Bristol to update his condition and announce he would drive the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota in 2011.

“A lot has happened since the last time I saw you,” Vickers said. “I had heart surgery, never thought I’d have that at 26 (years old). I’ve had a stint put in, never thought I’d have one of those. But they both went extremely well. I’m on Coumadin and Plavix still, and will be the rest of the year, so I will be out of the car, but they gave me full clearance for next year. I will be back next season. I will be racing in January and I’m really excited about that. They feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in in my life.

“I am going to be back in the 83 and I’m very excited about it. I’m very excited to be back with Red Bull,” Vickers added.

During further examinations after the initial diagnosis, doctors discovered Vickers also had a blood clot in his left finger, something that is only possible by passing through his heart. Sounding like a doctor in his own right, Vickers explained how his physicians discovered a hole in his heart through which the clot traveled to his arm. When a blood clot travels through this hole it has two places to go, the arm or the brain, leaving him more at risk for a stroke rather than a heart attack.

Understanding the risks, Vickers opted to undergo surgery on July 12 to close the repair the hole and prevent this from occurring again.

“It was a difficult decision, it wasn’t my easiest for sure,” Vickers said. “My decision was this, if I had the operation and something went wrong, God forbid I died, that wouldn’t be too good, but I feel pretty good about where I’m going next, so I’m good with that. The other option was not to close it and then run the risk of the stroke. How I made the decision…is I would rather die than have a stroke. That was kind of my thought process. I don’t want to live like a vegetable.”

In the process of operating to close the hole in his heart, doctors also looked to see if Vickers had May-Thurner Syndrome. According to the Cleveland Clinic, May-Thurner Syndrome is caused “when the left iliac vein is compressed by the right iliac artery, which increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the left extremity. DVT is a blood clot that may partially or completely block blood flow through the vein.”

Doctors found he in fact had May-Thurner Syndrome, which Vickers said was “bad news, but great news.” A stint was added to his leg to help open up the blood flow the day after having the procedure to close the hole.

Throughout the process of diagnosis and surgery, Vickers remained confident in his doctors and his ability to recover. Initially planning to attend nearly every race, watch from the pit box and spotters stand learning everything he could, Vickers explained his stress level was becoming so high the blood thinners were simply not working. As a result, his doctors suggested he take time away from the track.

In that time, Vickers spent time traveling, going to various Red Bull events and simply enjoying life. While admitting it was hard not beating fenders with the guys he liked and did not like, Vickers said he enjoyed stepping back and taking in life away from the track.

“I have a new appreciation for life, I’m looking forward to it and I feel great and I’m excited to race,” Vickers said.

Since he will remain on blood thinners for the remainder of the year, Vickers will not be allowed in the car until January, but he does not feel like he has lost his competitive edge and expects to be at the top of his game when he returns.

“I haven’t been in any simulators,” Vickers explained, adding, “I’ve been playing NASCAR on Xbox a few times, not really sure if that counts.”

The Red Bull Racing driver says he has not discussed his return with NASCAR, but does not foresee any issues with his return. As far as the situation at Red Bull Racing, he explained he learned Kasey Kahne was joining the organization by reading it online and was not up to speed on what the future held.

Friday at Bristol, Scott Speed, current driver of the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota, told Fronstretch.com he was not worried about not having a ride for the 2011 season.

“I’m not worried about it at all.” Speed said. “I honestly don’t know about Brian. I think it’s one of those things that is a lot more complicated than it is let on. Brian’s deal is going to be what it’s going to be, and in any case, I’m really confident in my position. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be in the position where I would be without a ride. I’m pretty much 100% positive about that, so I haven’t even thought about it.”

Bill Elliott development driver Casey Roderick is hoping to make his Nationwide Series debut at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, Frontstretch has learned. Roderick, who scored his first career ARCA victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park Sunday, said that while nothing is set in stone, he is hoping to contest the 200-miler later this fall. While team details were not available, Roderick, who turned 18 less than two weeks ago, also noted that he will be contesting the upcoming ARCA race at Chicagoland in a Phoenix Racing entry. Phoenix Racing has already been providing setup support for the Elliott-owned No. 51 car in the ARCA Racing Series.

From FS’ Mike Neff: Austin Dillon continues to be unfazed by the daunting task of racing Darlington Raceway for the first time in his career. For the second practice in a row he was at the top of the speed chart, the only driver to break the 169 mph barrier in both sessions. Dillon did a mock qualifying run at the end of the second session and turned a lap of 28.963 seconds for a speed of 169.789 mph.

James Buescher was able to make a leap from 13th to second in the second session, but was almost a full mile per hour behind Dillon at 29.177 seconds and 168.891 mph. Timothy Peters continued to set a quick pace coming in third at almost the same time he clocked in the first session, even though the track was warmer the second time out for the trucks.

Aric Almirola climbed from 11th to fourth in the second practice with a time of 29.156 seconds, the same as Peters. Justin Lofton rounded out the top 5, with the rest of the top 10 including Stacy Compton, Ken Schrader, Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jason White. The competitors have noted that the tires are wearing very nicely and the speeds are not dropping off much at all for an entire fuel run.

Catch the Camping World Truck Series Too Tough to Tame 200 at 7:48 pm Eastern Time tonight.

It was an eventful first practice on a beautiful sunny day at New Jersey Motorsports Park for the ARCA Racing Series. Tom Hessert III was on the top of the charts at session’s end, three tenths ahead of Justin Marks, who won ARCA’s last road race at Palm Beach in February. Robb Brent, Chris Buescher and Tim George Jr. rounded out the top 5.

For George, there were two near misses in practice. In the 11th minute, the RCR development driver found himself in a three-wide pack with Chad McCumbee and Frank Kimmel headed into turn 1. The pack sorted itself out with George and Kimmel clearing McCumbee. George also narrowly missed contact with the No. 82 of Robert Mitten, who got off track and nearly spun back onto the racing surface in turn 3.

Unable to miss contact was current points leader Craig Goess, who endured a hard wreck in the esses that heavily damaged both ends of his car. The Eddie Sharp Racing team has unloaded the backup and is rushing to prepare it for second practice at 135 PM.

After months of speculation, the Budweiser / Kevin Harvick negotiations are entering the homestretch. Kenny Bruce from Scene Daily is reporting an announcement could happen within the week on a multi-year deal to sponsor Harvick and the No. 29 Chevrolet. The beer company is expected to leave Richard Petty Motorsports and former driver Kasey Kahne, who recently signed an agreement to drive for Red Bull next season. Sources confirmed to Frontstretch’s Tom Bowles several weeks ago RCR is the only team left in the running for the sponsorship.

Harvick’s current sponsor, Shell/Pennzoil, is bolting for Penske Racing and driver Kurt Busch in 2011. That left Richard Childress Racing searching for a replacement, although Harvick himself signed a multi-year contract extension in May without a financial backer in place.

The Sprint Cup point leader, Harvick is enjoying his first multi-win season since 2006 and has a 185-point advantage over Jeff Gordon in the standings.

Sources indicate that Brian Vickers will meet with the media at Bristol Motor Speedway to discuss his progress and his intentions for the 2011 season. The meeting will take place following a three-month check-up examination by doctors monitoring the Red Bull Racing driver’s condition. Sources close to the situation say everything is progressing as planned, and Vickers is on track to be back in the car next season. With Kasey Kahne now joining the team for 2011, it appears next year’s Red Bull Racing lineup will have Kahne and Vickers piloting their two cars.

Earlier this year, Vickers was hospitalized for multiple blood clots in the legs and lung, and was forced out of the car for the remainder of the year. The team has maintained that Vickers’ health was the most important thing, and they stood behind him as their driver. Vickers ran the first 11 races of the year before climbing out of the car for the Sprint Cup race at Dover on May 16.

Since then, a number of drivers have stepped in to drive the No. 83 Toyota – which still carries Vickers’ name above the door. However, unless there’s a surprise with the upcoming medical examination, Vickers is expected to announce he will be back behind the wheel of his car for next season.

In conversations with Frontstretch.com this May in Charlotte, team General Manager Jay Frye said the organization would not expand to three cars simply to expand. A lot has changed since that conversation, but while Frye left the door open for possible expansion next year during Tuesday’s announcement with Kahne, sources have explained that is unlikely at best.

That seems to leave Scott Speed’s role with the team in question. The July 31 edition of the Frontstretch Newsletter reported Frye saying the team was evaluating Speed’s progress in the car. He candidly explained he was disappointed with the lack of progress and explained the team needed everyone pointed in the right direction before moving forward.

The following day Speed wrecked the No. 82 in the closing laps of final practice, while Reed Sorenson put the No. 83 fourth on the speed charts.

Following a 10th-place finish in Daytona in July, Speed has failed to finish any higher than 25th. With Frye disappointed in the second-year driver’s progress overall, plus the addition of Kahne, makes it questionable if Speed will return to the organization for next season.

Frye pointed out they would know more on Speed’s future with the team in the next month or two.

Team officials confirmed on Wednesday that Vickers would meet with the media in the next few weeks, but said a definitive answer on his return will not be announced until later in the season.

After months of speculation, Kasey Kahne has his final destination for 2011: Red Bull Racing. The 2012 Hendrick Motorsports driver was announced to RBR’s program on Tuesday, with the press release offering little specifics other than his place on a to-be-determined driver roster has been secured.

“We were fortunate to have the opportunity to hire a very talented driver for the 2011 season and we took it,” said Jay Frye, Red Bull Racing Team Vice President and General Manager. “This is a unique situation that doesn’t happen every day. Kasey is a perfect fit for our company, team and Red Bull.”

“This opportunity places me with an established, competitive team that has proven they can win races and make the Chase,” Kahne said. “I have great respect for Red Bull, so to have the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing Team in 2011 is a great fit for me, both personally and professionally. It feels good to be able to finally put this to rest and focus my energy on finishing the season strong for the 9 team and our sponsors.”

The release states the team will drive a Toyota, but I’ve been told a change to Chevrolet is still a possibility despite a contract extension the team signed with the manufacturer after the 2010 season. Kahne will team with either Scott Speed or Brian Vickers, depending on the progress of Vickers’ recovery from blood clots earlier this year. All indications are, though, that he’ll be back in time for the 2011 Daytona 500.

“Kasey is going to a competitive organization that made the Chase last season and has great leadership and resources,” said Rick Hendrick on the move. “Of everything we looked at, he and I agree it’s the best opportunity for him to be successful in 2011, which was always our number-one priority.

“The process went on longer than any of us anticipated, but I’m glad that we took our time to make sure it was right. And although I’m not looking forward to racing against him next year, I’m comfortable knowing this is the best situation for Kasey.”

Frontstretch’s Matt Taliaferro is reporting he’s learned Paul Menard has agreed in principle to move to Richard Childress Racing for 2011. Sponsorship would continue to come from his father’s company, Menards, with a car number and crew chief to be announced. No word on an official announcement yet from either side, but the team would expand to four cars while retaining their current driver lineup of Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, and Clint Bowyer.

Menard is having a career year in Cup this season, with one top-5 and three top-10 finishes in 21 starts. 23rd in the Cup Series standings, he briefly flirted inside the top 12 this Spring in his first year driving for the newly-merged Richard Petty Motorsports. RPM had been trying to retain him for 2011, but now has just A.J. Allmendinger returning amongst their current four-driver fleet next season.

For RCR, their expansion back to four cars comes just one year after contracting to three, shutting down the No. 07 driven by Casey Mears in February. However, doing more with less seemed to revitalize the program, which is having one of its best years in the series since Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001. After going 0-for-4 in Chase berths in ’09, they could go 3-for-3 in ’10 with Harvick, Burton, and Bowyer all inside the top 12 with five races left in the regular season.

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Denny Hamlin spoke about his previously undisclosed fine Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Here’s the main highlights from that group hauler session with the media…

On the fine:

“I understand why. I know why they did it. Whether you agree with it or not, it happened. They’re in control. It’s just … I’ve always been raised to speak my mind, and be maybe too over opinionated at times, because like I’ve told those guys, look, you know, I hope to be there in 15, 20 years, and if that’s the case I’d like to have a healthy sport going on, to have a long career. We’re all in it together, and I understand that. So I definitely understand it.”

“I don’t really know what it was … more than likely, it was the Twitter comments that kind of got me in trouble with them. I guess, Chicago weekend, talking about some of the Nationwide stuff, but most of those conversations were all direct messages to one person. It wasn’t really sent out to all the followers. So I understand it, but whether you agree with it or not, we’ve all got to work together and make the sport better.”

How does this change your approach to how you deal with this type of thing in the future?

“Well, I think there is a better way to do it. Up until two weeks ago, I didn’t have Mike Helton’s phone number, Steve O’Donnell’s phone number, nobody’s phone number. So how was I going to voice my opinion if I didn’t know how to get in touch with them. I’m sure I could have, but on the other hand, Jim Hunter said, hey, voice your opinion through the media and it’ll get to us, it’s always worked. But they said don’t do that. So it’s kind of a contradictory thing.”

“But I understand, there is a better way to do it now. But still, it’s tough for me, because I do feel like I want to make things better, and I never really wanted to criticize anyone. I just wanted to voice my opinion and where I think we should go with this sport right now.”

How do you compare this to other sports you know and follow?

“Well, the aspect of it is, it seems like we’re trying to model ourselves somewhat after those. But this is such a unique sport, this isn’t a head-to-head competition like it is in other sports, it’s a … a lot of it has to do with luck, and all that stuff comes into play. That’s why we have a 36-week schedule, not a 10 or a 5, because it takes along time to determine who’s the real champion over the course of the year. So even though we, at times, model ourselves after other sports, we have a unique enough sport that we’ve stood on our own for along time. And I think we could in the future as well. Everyone, that entire France family has done a good job of getting us to this point right now.”

But you have friends that are in the NFL and NBA. How do you compare it to them, speaking their mind?

“It’s no different. And that’s the thing … I’d say NASCAR’s really the last ones to fine people based off of what they say, and whether it shows a negative outlook. So I mean, you can’t really say ‘Where is this coming from?’ because it is in other sports. But I think that a lot of times, it’s kind of how we got some of the changes that we wanted in years past. So, I’m different in the aspect of I came from the late model series, and watching races, to the Cup Series in one year. Faster than most of these guys that have been here for 20 years. So I was just a race fan on the other side of the fence five years ago, six years ago. So I feel like I have a pretty good heartbeat of what the fans like to see, what they don’t like to see, things like that. I’d like to tell NASCAR those things, but it never seems like before a month ago, we never got together to figure out what that is. Now, I really do believe they have listened, with the whole Talladega thing last year, they’ve listened … so they really are working to make it better. And I was probably just jumping the gun a little bit. Because a lot of team people had met with NASCAR a month before us, and I thought we were going to have our chance to voice our opinion. And that’s where I got frustrated, just kind of vented.”

Why do you think NASCAR chose not to let us know about this?

“That, I don’t know. Without getting into word-for-word, what I asked was, ‘What was the point of fining me if you’re not going to tell anyone?’ And they said, ‘Well, hopefully it’ll keep anyone from badmouthing us.’ Well, no one knows! For the young guys maybe coming up, if you say, ‘Hey, you fined Denny Hamlin x amount of dollars for saying this,’ I think you’ll have people in the future say, ‘Alright, I need to steer away from those comments.’ So I think in the future, all this coming out is a positive thing. It really is, it’s going to turn into a good thing. Even though they may not have wanted everyone to know, now that they do, it happened for a reason. It’s going to make our sport better.”

What can’t you say? What are you not allowed to say? Where’s the line?

“I don’t know. They did give me a pretty good logbook of all the negative things I’ve had to say over the last couple of months, so they were just for sure. I mean, anybody that follows me on Twitter knows I’m opinionated, and that’s what people follow me for, is just for the quotes here or there.”

How much was the fine?

“I can’t say that.”

Can you say it’s more than a recent fine to a driver for wrecking somebody?

“I think both of ours were… wasn’t it? I mean, there’s been illegal parts in the garage that haven’t gotten hit as bad as I did.”

“I better play the lotto…”

BOWLES: Denny, how private was it? Did Joe and J.D. know about it?

“J.D. knew, then Joe knew. Of course, they don’t agree with it. They’re going to stick up for their driver and whatnot. The good thing is, within a few days of telling me what was going to happen, we were all sitting down in one room together talking about what we can do to make the sport better, and I definitely think that they’ve done so much research over the last couple of years to get an idea of where they’re going to take this sport. It’s going to be interesting in the future to see whether all those things come out to be what they want or not.”

Are we going to lose the outspoken Denny Hamlin?

“Ummm … it’s tough to say. I don’t want to lose anymore money, but I just want to be myself. That’s all I can say, and that’s what I’ve told them over and over. And I’ve said, ‘What if I don’t agree with something? What do you want me to say? Do you want me to lie, and tell something that I don’t really, truly believe in, because I’ve never been brought up to do that?’ And they said no, but there’s different ways to do it … And we got to talking about that, and in the end I did see that.”

“I think you will still see it, just in a little more toned-down fashion.”

*We’ve seen, the last two years, the increased fan involvement in NASCAR answering to what the fans want. And now, with this being secret … in talking to them this week, they were upset it was secret, they felt NASCAR was keeping things from them. How do you fix that? Do you think they lost something there by trying to keep it secret?
Should they have just come right out and said, ‘This is who we fined, this is how much we fined them, and this is what we fined them for.’”*

“In my opinion, I’m not bashing anyone, but I would have for sure said, ‘This person’s getting penalized’ to keep it from happening again. If nobody knows, nobody’s going to learn from the mistakes of others. That’s one thing this sport is all about is learning from someone else’s mistake. So for sure, in my opinion I feel like it should have been let out. But this garage is a very small family, and it’ll get around anyway. So I think people were going to find out one way or another.”

In the meetings you guys had in the preseason, did you leave that with the understanding you could get fined? Or was it a surprise?

“Well, I’ve always said there were other people before me – not to name names, Tony Stewart, – has said way worse than I have. Wayyy worse. Direct hits at somebody and got away with it. But the difference is this year, they said in January, ‘Listen, it’s really taken its toll on people’s outlook on the sport when you say something like that.’ And they showed us numbers, when they heard something negative, their interest level drops. So they said, we’re going to be more aggressive when you say something that’s negative. So of course, that’s been six months. My memory’s really short, so I was just gladly awoken last week.”

Well back in the old days, Bill Sr. or Bill Jr. would have taken you back in the hauler and just knocked your head a little bit. Instead of resorting to a fine like that…

“It made my last week long, I can tell you that. Indy was the longest race trying to get a Lucky Dog I never did get … they know how to make you pay one way or another.”

“I just think you got to do it in a different way. I think you can be opinionated, and they want you to be opinionated, but you can’t question whether it’s a fixed sport otr not. Because the bottom line is it’s not fixed. There’s too much out there to chance for it to be fixed.”

BOWLES: Denny, the Twitter thing … I know it’s new territory for everybody. How do you feel about that, them looking at your Twitter feed? Do you feel like that’s your personal space, even though you’re a public figure?

“I never said … when I started this whole Twitter thing a long time ago, I said, ‘I was never going to sell out.’ I was going to always say what I wanted to say, this, that, and the other thing … but the more followers you get, the more people – especially up in that tower that start following you and seeing what you’re saying. It goes out to a lot of people, and a lot of race fans. Out of 35,000 or so that followed me, 30 of them are true race fans that watch the sport week in and week out. So they are the heartbeat of our sport, and I guess they don’t need me influencing them and saying that we need to work on a lot of things.”

BOWLES: Is it important for them to have a venue that you’re yourself no matter what?

“I think that’s one of the places that you can be. But this is a place – I’m in a position where I’m always, no matter what I say, on or off the record, it’s always on the record. So you’ve got to continue to be a role model for the sport, be positive, because honestly it does affect everyone out there.”

In other sports, when a player goes off on the officiating, they know they’re going to get fined and the fine doesn’t seem to be that much of a deterrent. Was your fine big enough to be a deterrent that, no matter how frustrated you are, you’re going to say things a certain way?

“I mean, it was big enough that for sure, if I’m in the heat of the moment I will for sure pull the reins back. Because it costs a lot of money to be a race car driver, whether people know it or not. We do get paid well, but it’s an expensive sport to be a part of. Everyone knows that … but I’m happy my money’s going to charity, to be honest with you. That’s money that’s going to go to the NASCAR Foundation, that’s going to go to several different children’s charities that I support through my Foundation. So, one way or the other it was going to go there anyways. So I’m not too upset about that. But it does. It’s a wakeup call to me that we’ve all got to be in this together.”

Is that a tax deductible fine?

“I don’t think so.”

Do you think it ends here? Do you think the fine’s done, they’re going to treat you just like any other driver out on the track?

“I hope so. Honestly, I need them on my side as much as they need me. That’s one of the things, we’re getting ready to come up some very important tracks, this one being one of them, and we don’t need anything happening bad to us, getting penalized on the racetrack. So we gotta be smart and get ready for the Chase.”

What do you think is off limits going forward?

“I think questioning the integrity is off limits. Saying the race are fixed, saying they’re throwing phantom cautions for no reason but for show’s sake. Those things we don’t need in our sport. So I think those are the things they … it’s not saying, ‘Hey, I don’t think the new Chase format what’s we need,’ It’s more the direct questioning of officiating.”

You had said at Talladega before you wanted to be one of these guys that was the voice of NASCAR. You wanted to be respected, taken seriously … you thought your comments mattered. Is it just a matter of tempering opinion as opposed to something that’s disparaging?

“I think I have a bigger voice, probably, than what I give myself credit for. I just voice it in probably the wrong way sometimes. They really do listen. They listened more in the last year than I’ve ever seen them listen to drivers and teams. So I can’t fault them on that side. The communication’s there, it’s just how we do it, and the timing is sometimes off.”

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