Vickers tries to focus on racing
Brian Vickers expected to discuss his recent Sprint Cup victory, a contract extension with Red Bull Racing and his chances at making the Chase for the championship when he arrived at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Instead, all of Vickers’ positive news was interrupted by his week-old feud with Kyle Busch.
Vickers grew testy during a 25-minute question-and-answer session with reporters Friday, when he was forced to defend his passion for winning after once again criticizing Busch for being “so mad about something so small.
“I hate that he lives in such an angry place,” Vickers said of his former teammate. “It must be miserable to live like that. That’s just not the way I want to live my life.”
The only problem with his assessment is that what Busch is “so mad” about – the conclusion of last weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Raceway – isn’t at all “small” to Busch.
To Busch, winning races is everything and the temperamental driver has an admittedly difficult time accepting defeat. So when Vickers became so preoccupied with Busch in the closing moments of last Saturday’s race, he never saw Brad Keselowski charging toward them in a last-lap pass that gave Keselowski the surprise victory.
Vickers went on to win the Sprint Cup Series race the next day in the first victory for Red Bull Racing, and it moved him just 12 points out of the final Chase qualifying spot with three races remaining to set the field.
Things should be interesting tonight at Bristol, where both drivers will be vying for a victory to boost their chances at making the Chase. They qualified right next to each other Friday – Vickers was 14th and Busch was 15th – but will start one row apart.
Mark Martin won the pole in a race that will be critical to his Chase for the championship chances.
Martin turned a lap at 124.484 mph to win his fifth pole of the season and sweep the top starting spot at Bristol this season. He beat Greg Biffle, who ran a lap at 124.307, and rookie Scott Speed, who qualified third at 124.146.
Martin is clinging to the 12th and final Chase berth with three races to go.
Nationwide Series
David Ragan held off Carl Edwards on a two-lap sprint to the finish to win the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Edwards was second and shaved nearly 100 points off of Kyle Busch’s lead in the series standings.
Busch was wrecked by 19-year-old Chase Austin minutes after taking the lead early in the race. He repaired his car to get back on the track, but finished a distant 28th.
Formula One
Fernando Alonso had the fastest lap in European Grand Prix practice at Valencia, Spain, while Ferrari replacement Luca Badoer’s return to F1 after a decade did not go as well.
The Renault driver finished in 1 minute, 39.404 seconds over two sessions at the Valencia street circuit course to lead overall leader Jenson Button and Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello.
Badoer, replacing the injured defending champion Felipe Massa, finished 18th with a lap time 2.6 seconds off Alonso’s.
•Red Bull moved to head off Ferrari and other F1 teams by extending Sebastian Vettel’s contract to the end of the 2011 season.
Red Bull announced the new deal, with the fresh contract replacing the previous one which tied the 22-year-old German to the team until the end of 2010.