Brian Vickers

Brian Lee Vickers is a professional race car driver who competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the #83 Red Bull Toyota Camry for the Red Bull Racing Team. He also drives the #32 Toyota Camry for Braun Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He had his first Sprint Cup victory in 2006, winning the UAW-Ford 500 race ahead of Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex, Jr.

In 2003, at age 20 Vickers became the youngest champion in any of NASCAR's three top-tier series, when he won the 2003 Busch Series (now Nationwide Series).

Red Bull Racing Team

Brian Vickers drove the #83 Red Bull Toyota Camry for Red Bull in 2007, the first season for the new team. His new crew chief for 2007 was Doug Richert, who spent the last three seasons with Greg Biffle and won a championship with Dale Earnhardt. His new teammate at Red Bull was A. J. Allmendinger, driver of the #84 Red Bull Toyota Camry for then named Team Red Bull. This season started out poorly when Vickers suffered a blown tire during his qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The next week the team regrouped, however, and scored a tenth place finish in their first outing, the Auto Club 500, which was coincidentally Toyota's first top 10 in the Nextel Cup series. Two weeks later Vickers led Toyota's first lap in the Nextel Cup series at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

On May 27, 2007, Vickers gave Toyota its first top five ever in Coca-Cola 600. Toyota brought a new engine to Lowe's, and Vickers showed its potential and surprised many by leading more than 70 laps of the race and having the dominant car. However, towards the end of the race, the power steering of the vehicle began to fail, and eventually ceased operation completely. The teams luck continued to decline as Vickers soon blew a tire and slid into the turn four wall. Immediately as Vickers entered pit road, the caution flew for debris on the track, supposedly from his incident. This was a saving grace, as it allowed the #83 car to stay on the lead lap, albeit off the pace and out of contention for the win. Crew chief Doug Richert managed to salvage the race through pit strategy, enabling Vickers to score a fifth place finish.

Late in the 2007 season, crew chief Doug Richert was fired from Team Red Bull and replaced by Randy Cox, who was formerly employed on Team Red Bull's Research and Development team. Vickers struggled for the remainder of the season as Team Red Bull began to focus on developing it's Car of Tomorrow program, which will compete full time during the 2008 season. The resulting inattention to its "current car" program severely hampered Vickers' efforts during the remaining races of that platform.

In 2008, Vickers, with new crew chief Kevin Hamlin, qualified for the 50th running of the Daytona 500, after racing himself in with an 11th place finish in the Gatorade Duel 150. He then went on to make the next 4 races with an average finish of 21st including a top 10 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway where he finished 9th. Vickers was outside the top 35 in point all during the 2007 season, which meant he did not have a guaranteed starting spot. However, in 2008, he is now ensured a started sport, for now, since he is in the top 35 after 5 races. Vickers went on the next weekend and led 61 laps in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600 before he lost his left rear wheel and crashed about halfway through the race. He posted Team Red Bull's best finish to date, 2nd place, at Pocono Raceway in June 2008.

Vickers' 2009 season began in controversy at the 2009 Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got a run to the inside of Vickers, but Vickers blocked. Earnhardt Jr. clipped the left rear fender, getting Vickers loose, sending him into the field. Kyle Busch, who dominated the day and was surely on his way to winning, had a destroyed car. His brother Kurt, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Speed, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, and Robby Gordon. Vickers was out of the race. Vickers said after the race that Earnhardt should have been black-flagged, due to an incident involving Jason Leffler and Steven Wallace the previous day. Earnhardt later stated that he was unaware that Vickers was a lap down, and that both were fighting for the Lucky Dog position. Earnhardt later apologized.

Vickers won the pole for the 2009 Auto Club 500, but had to go to the rear because of an engine change.Vickers ran in the top five all day during the 2009 Kobalt Tools 500. In the final laps, Vickers was chasing down Kurt Busch for the win, but Robby Gordon blew a tire and Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards flew by Vickers on the restart. Vickers finished fifth. Vickers won the pole at Richmond, a place where he had set the track record previously.