On a streak of nine races in which he had seven top-seven finishes, a win, and no finish worse than 12th, NASCAR driver Brian Vickers enetered the Sprint Chase for the Cup as hot as any. With no top-tens now in the Chase -- including a three race stint of finishes of 29th or worse -- he quickly has become the forgotten man, and critcs have arisen.
Seemingly everything written or said regarding Vickers surrounds the notion that his young team has simply used up all that they have. All of their "gas", all of their "mojo" -- they have nothing left now for the Chase after burning up all of their resources in the amazing run that got them here.
The Tums Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville didn't figure to be the place where they would prove their crtics wrong. Just when the Red Bull team was beginning to make headway on their intermediate program, it was back to short track racing for the first time since before the Chase began. And it was on a track in which they finished 33rd in the spring and at a place where Brian only has one top-ten in his career.
To make matters worse, they again qualified deep in the field (24th) and both scheduled practice sessions Saturday were rained out. The driver of the No. 83 Toyota was forced to work with what he had. That he did, and did well.
Before lap thirty, Vickers had already passed fourteen cars and was running in the top ten -- and there would be no mysterious shock breaks or getting caught up in others messes this time out. Although never a factor to win the race, Vickers ran in or near the top ten for nearly the entire afternoon. The only problem that he ever reported was that he was just a little too tight in the exit of the turns -- what a relief given the overflow of problems they have had throughout the Chase.
Late in the race, Brian even cracked the top-five. From there though, he slide backwords through the field -- quickly. Once again, a quality finish was in jeopardy. However, in the final move in what was a series of long overdue and excellent pit stops, crew chief Ryan Pemberton called for four tires. The move payed off nicely as Brian passed a few cars in the late stages en route to his best finish since the Chase began and his second best finish ever at Martinsville: 11th.
Denny Hamlin held off Jimmie Johnson for his second career win at his home track. Johnson now leads teammate Mark Martin in the Sprint Cup Chase standings by 118 points.
To see how all of the Chase drivers fared at Martinsville, click here.
For race predictions throughout the Chase, click here.
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