Brian Vickers Diary: Cautions warranted

Much has been made of the amount of caution flags during our race last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Personally, I think safety and making sure the track is clean is very important.

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When NASCAR takes their time, especially at the end of a race, to really clean the track, it makes a big difference. And not only for flat tires, but for the car's handling, too.

If you get up in marbles because the track's not clean you're going to wreck. It's plain and simple -- get in the marbles and you're in the fence.

And when people are running two-and-three wide, wide open, like they are at the end of the race, that's when you have problems. So I thank NASCAR for reacting the way they did. It's comforting as a driver to know that flying into Turn 3 at 200 mph that you have a clean track.

As far as red flagging the end of the race ... I think for most of the race, not racing back to the caution is great. It's all about safety, and I think it's necessary. But when it comes time for the white flag, we should probably race back to the checkered.

Not finishing under caution, or trying not to, anyway, by red-flagging the race like they have been lately, that really doesn't matter to me. I don't really care. The only thing I ask is that NASCAR do the same thing every time.

	The No. 25 team finished 12th at Texas -- the team's highest finish of the season. Credit: Autostock

As long as they're consistent - which, by the way they've done to date this year -- for every driver, at every racetrack, that's all anyone can ask for.

Because as long as I know how they're going to do it, and I know what the situation calls for and I know the rules, then it's my job to do the best I can to use those to my advantage and make sure somebody else doesn't use those to their advantage.

NASCAR did the right thing at Texas. It's their race to control. They can race it however they want to, as long as they do what they say they're going to do and do the same thing every time.

If Kasey Kahne has the fastest car, then it's his job, and his team's job, to make sure they put themselves in a position to win that race, be it through pit stops, strategy or whatever else.

If they do that, and a caution came out right there at the end -- they knew it was going to get red-flagged Sunday. Happens every week. That's the rule. They know that before the race ever starts. So it's their job to race that race, knowing those rules and putting themselves in position to win.

I didn't watch their race. I was racing my race and I don't know what happened, don't know why Kasey didn't win the race. I agree he had the fastest car, but for whatever reason he wasn't in the right position at the end to win. That's racin', man. That's part of it.

BRIAN VICKERS  •  Driver Page  •  Diary: Slow cars not a cut-and-dry issue  •  Diary: Darlington. Finally.  •  Diary: Lovin' Atlanta  •  Diary: Learning so much from the Hendricks  •  Diary: First Daytona an experience to remember  •  Hangin' with Vickers on the set of TRL  •  Hendrick team not resting on laurels for '04

To be honest with you, at this level with 500-mile races, the person with the fastest car doesn't typically win. There's a lot more to it than going fast. I'd say the best car wins less than 50 percent of the time.

If you take the best car of the day, on average, he may get taken out on lap 10. He may have a part break. He may have a bad pit stop and get caught up in traffic. There's just so many variables. Anything can happen and usually does.

The team that puts a solid car on the track and keeps themselves in position through pit stops and adjustments always wins the race. It's about much more than going fast. If it were about going fast, we'd have time trials and go home.

There's way more to it than having a fast car. It's about racing the track, the laps, the pit stops, competitors and the rules that apply during the race. Texas was fine. NASCAR, in my opinion, did nothing wrong.