Brian Vickers in a bad mood at New Hampshire
Brian Vickers is not usually the driver spewing out memorable quotes on a weekly basis. However, at New Hampshire, Vickers was as candid as ever, as he shared his thoughts on his current teammate as well as his former teammate.
On the final lap of the Nationwide Series event on Saturday, Vickers, driving for Braun Racing, and Mike Bliss engaged in a heated battle for the fourth position. Bliss was on older tires and Vickers clearly had the faster car. Bliss is no slouch, however. Passing the wily veteran is no simple task. Meanwhile, Scott Speed, driving a Michael Waltrip entry, was close behind Vickers and Bliss.
Heading into the corner, Vickers had to let up a bit, and Speed inadvertently ran into the back of his Red Bull Racing teammate.
On the cool down lap, Vickers rammed into the back of Speed’s Toyota several times before the drivers parked their cars in pit lane. Vickers approached Speed with choice words.
“I don’t know what his problem is. I don’t know if he’s frustrated because he runs so bad in the Cup series, but he just flat ran into us and wrecked us. I’ve never had a teammate do that to me before,” said that irate driver.
Vickers did not buy into Speed’s explanation of ‘I could not slow down’.
“The only thing he could say was ‘I couldn’t slow down…You guys slowed down right in front of me’. No kidding. It’s a turn. I’ve got to stop and turn left,” he said sarcastically.
Speed joked that the two would go to ‘counseling’.
Speed was not the only driver who faced the verbal wrath of Brian Vickers.
Former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch drew the ire of Vickers in the Cup race. Dale Earnhardt Jr spun his tires on the lap 175 restart. Martin Truex Jr checked up, but Kyle Busch did not, at least not on time. Busch is renowned for gaining ground on restarts, but this time, it was to his detriment. He clipped Truex Jr’s bumper, triggering a multi-car crash, one of which involved Vickers.
Already steaming from the incident with his teammate approximately 24 hours earlier, Vickers was in no mood to sugarcoat his feelings. “I saw the replay, and it looked like the 18 was just completely impatient…I guess everybody just learns to expect Kyle doing something stupid (every week). Stupid is forever,” he said.
Vickers is fading further behind the Chase for the Championship cutoff, and it seems to be taking a toll on him. He is usually outspoken, but at New Hampshire, he was full of quotes that could qualify as ‘quote of the year’.
It is crunch time in the race to the Chase, and Vickers is becoming more of a long-shot with each passing week. He is exasperated, and he is not holding back his discontent. Neither Busch nor Speed intentionally caused a wreck this weekend, and in both cases, it was just racing, but what frustrated Vickers is that each incident could have been avoided. It is worth mentioning that Busch apologized for his part in the melee.
Vickers must remember that he caused his share of wrecks early in his career, including the infamous last lap gaffe at Talladega in 2006 when he clipped Jimmie Johnson, who collected Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I do like the fact that Vickers exhibited true emotion. After all, is that not why Kyle Busch fans began crowding the M&M’s souvenir trailer?
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Brian Vickers in a bad mood at New Hampshire
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