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Talladega: Red Bull NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Preview
Who: Scott Speed (82 Red Bull Toyota), Brian Vickers (83 Red Bull Toyota)
What: Aaron’s 312 (Nationwide), Aaron’s 499 (Sprint Cup)
When: Friday-Sunday, April 24-26, 2009
Where: Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala.
+ AVOIDING THE UNAVOIDABLE
It’s been hit or miss for Brian Vickers when he braves the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway. In his nine starts at the 2.66-mile track, five times he’s finished 27th or worse. In the other four, he’s finished sixth or better — including his first Sprint Cup victory in October 2006.
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"The track’s treated me well and treated this team well," said Vickers, who finished fifth in last season’s Aaron’s 499. "We’re excited to go back, but it’s still Talladega. You can’t let your guard down. A lot of things can happen there that are out of your control. You just do your part the best you can and hope the rest of it av
Should Vickers survive the "Big One" — the multi-car accident that almost always rears its ugly head at Talladega — he could gain significant ground in the standings. Vickers, currently 18th in points, is only 98 points from the top 12.
"If we can come home with a solid finish, unlike last fall when we blew a tire in the middle of traffic in the tri-oval, we’ll be feeling pretty good entering the next couple of races and the events in Charlotte in May," Vickers said.
On Saturday night at Phoenix, Vickers was hit with a pass-through penalty for speeding entering the pits. He went from 10th to a lap down in 31st and rallied to finish 19th.
Teammate Scott Speed ended up 34th at Phoenix. He has seen Talladega three times in his brief stock-car career — twice in ARCA and once in the Camping World Truck Series.
After leaving Formula One, Speed’s first stateside start came at Talladega in October 2007 when he started and finished seventh in the ARCA race. On consecutive days a year later, Speed finished 23rd in the ARCA car and 15th in the truck.
Despite having three Talladega starts, Speed’s still searching for more experience.
"It’s hard to take anything anyone says about Talladega and apply it. It’s something you have to experience," Speed said. "It’s not something you can talk about. There are certain key things about the draft — how the air goes over the car and if you put your car in this place or that place — but other than that there’s so much that you learn just by experiencing and doing it."
+ GETTING DIRTY IN DIXIE
Racers remember their roots, and Charlie Brock is no exception.
The car chief on the No. 82, Brock will spend his Friday night working on grandpa’s dirt car at a red clay oval in north central Alabama — just like he’s donesince he was 5 years old when he spent summers down i Grandpa is Red Farmer, a legendary name in most circles of NASCAR and original member of the famed Alabama Gang, along with the Allisons, Bobby and Donnie. Farmer, at age 76, still competes on a semi-regular basis in the dirt late model ranks. He’s the veteran of 36 Sprint Cup starts, with his first coming in 1953.
NASCAR passed Farmer by long ago, but not dirt racing. He and his grandson will give it another go Friday night at the third-mile Talladega Short Track.
"It’s always nice to go back to the short tracks, work on the cars and have some fun," Brock said. In 1991, Brock (right) moved to Alabama from his home in Brentwood, Tenn., to work with the late Davey Allison’s Nationwide Series team out of Hueytown, Ala. He then broke into Cup with the Stavola Brothers and Alabama driver Hut Stricklin in 1996.
More than a decade later, Brock still credits working with his grandfather as the reason for his current success in Sprint Cup.
"I learned everything from him since the time I was born. He’s my mentor," Brock said. "I learned the right way of doing stuff with race cars."
And Brock expects that Farmer (left) will attract a crowd yet again this weekend.
"Growing up, you kind of get used to it," Brock said, "but when you go to the race track you see all the fans come up to grandpa. He always has time for the fans. He never turns down an autograph. He’ll sit there for an hour or two after the race, signing autographs and talking to people. He always has time for a picture or to meet somebody."
+ THREE CHEERS FOR RED BULL F1
Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, coming off his first Formula One victory for Scuderia Toro Rosso last season, earned Red Bull Racing’s first F1 triumph in Sunday’s Grand Prix of China. He was joined on the podium by teammate and second-place finisher Mark Webber. Nice work over there — in the wet!
+ BEEN A WHILE FOR BV
Brian Vickers, in Braun Racing’s No. 32 Toyota, will make his fourth start of the Nationwide season in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312.
The 2003 series champion, Vickers has finished sixth, eighth and third in his three starts this season. But Vickers hasn’t raced a Nationwide car at Talladega since April 2006, when he started fifth and finished fourth.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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