Sprint Cup- Brian Vickers Has a Surprise Win in Michigan
By Stephen Lars
Brian Vickers brought a surprise victory this last weekend at the Michigan International Speedway. The young pilot not only managed to obtain pole position in both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup events, but ultimately crowned himself winner in the latter.
Vickers fought hard for victory in the Nationwide Series, but his clashes with Kyle Busch and the pressure placed by Brad Keselowski cost him his concentration and, eventually, the win.
In the Sprint Series, however, the driver of the #83 Toyota Camry gave a strong demonstration of talent by remaining in the leading group throughout the competition.
Vickers began the race from first place, but he enjoyed the position for no longer than a lap; the experienced pilot Mark Martin, who followed him from second, quickly surpassed him. Martin remained in first place until the sixth lap when a yellow flag was raised due to the threat of rain.
At the 8th lap, fears arose that the race would be stopped due to inclement weather. Pilots received an indication to enter the pits area; fortunately, however, the drizzle did not become a deluge, and the race continued.
Martin quickly lost the top spot on the 24th lap after being overtaken by his teammate Jimmie Johnson, who accelerated deeply to create a good distance between him and his closest pursuers.
As the challenge progressed, dark clouds continued to threaten, and yellow flags appeared frequently. As a result the pace of the competition was lost on six occasions, as cars had to enter the pits area with every yellow flag.
During the last yellow flag, a number of strong pilots fell behind to the last positions, including David Reutimann, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logan, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex. However, these men turned the situation around, changing just two tires in the pits and gaining enough time to advance to the top places again.
Everything seemed to be going well for these drivers until a few laps before the end of the 200 designed for the Carfax 400 race, when David Stremme caused an incident that once again stopped the race. Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Martin, Vickers, and Jeff Gordon were forced into a situation in which they could place themselves in the leading positions again, but ran the risk of spending all their fuel.
Johnson later managed to place himself again in first, but fueling issues took him off the track, giving his position to Vickers. The driver of the Red Bull Racing Team had just three more laps to end the race and he seized his advantage; Vickers accelerated to cross the finish line in first place. He was followed by Jeff Gordon in second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third.
With this victory, Vickers ascended from fourteenth to thirteenth place in the overall pilot rankings; he is settled with a total of 2779 points. Moreover, Vickers is only twelve points away from joining the list of top 12 drivers who will participate in the fight to obtain the title of the greatest event of the NASCAR Series, the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily NASCAR races; sports news and the sports book industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.