Brian Vickers is 11th in the Sprint Cup standings, but is still outside the top 35 as far as qualifying is concerned.
In the first five races of the season, the guaranteed 35 spots in the field are based on last year’s standings, and unfortunately for Vickers, he finished 38th. Vickers would qualify for the season-ending Chase if it started today, but on Friday, he was not one of 12 drivers battling for a championship, but instead one of 12 drivers vying for the final eight spots in today’s UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
For the third straight week, Vickers successfully got into the field, which is a necessity because one missed race, one bad qualifying session, could put him right back where he was last season: out of the top 35 and sweating out every qualifying day. He will start in the 43rd – and last – position.
“There were so many times that we missed a race last year when it was nobody’s fault – it just happened,” Vickers said. “There are so many pieces to the qualifying puzzle that are out of your control.”
Vickers moved from Hendrick Motor Sports to the fledgling Toyota team Red Bull Racing last season, and his final standing was so dismal because he failed to qualify for 13 of the 36 races.
“It’s extremely frustrating to have to qualify each week to get into the race,” Vickers said. “Unfortunately, we are really behind the eight ball. It makes life difficult, but it is what it is. We have to keep working hard and get out of this hole.
“So far we have done that, but we still have three more races to go.”
Vickers’ former Hendrick teammate, Jimmie Johnson, has no such worries. As solid as Johnson has been everywhere, he has saved his best for Vegas. The two-time-defending Sprint Cup champion has three straight wins in Sin City, but it has little to do with his love of the 1.5-mile track.
“When I think about tracks that I really look forward to going to, the Vegas track is not one of those,” Johnson said. “There’s really a lot of doubt surrounding Vegas; it’s so early in the season.”
The track was restructured and repaved before last year’s race, which had no effect on Johnson’s dominance in the desert. He was able to use it as a springboard to his second straight Cup title even though he was unfamiliar with the track and starting from scratch with the rest of the field.
“With the old track, yeah, there were some things that really popped out that I was excited about and knew would help me with marks, how I drove the track and attacked the track,” Johnson said. “But it’s changed. I had to learn with everyone else last year about what the track was going to do.”