Brian Vickers' pit crew kept him in the hunt Sunday at Atlanta. Credit: Autostock

Career-best finish has Vickers looking forward

Second-year driver covers a lot of track to post sixth-place finish

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Hendrick Motorsports had a lot of success pairing two of its teams together in one shop, so team owner Rick Hendrick decided to do it with the other two.

The teams of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were moved under one roof for the 2002 season, pairing the teams in a sparkling new shop on Hendrick's sprawling campus in Harrisburg, N.C.

	Inside the Numbers Brian Vickers' best finishes in 45 career Cup races Year Track Finish 2005 Atlanta 6 2004 Atlanta 7   Daytona 9   Michigan 9   Richmond 8

The success of the move has been apparent: Johnson has won 15 times in the three-plus years since, while Gordon has 12 victories.

So why not do it with the two other teams? Well, Hendrick did, building a new shop to house the No 25 of Brian Vickers and the No. 5 of rookie Kyle Busch. Hendrick put long-time employee Brian Whitesell in charge of the 25/5 shop, bringing Lance McGrew back to crew chief Vickers, while putting Alan Gustafson in charge of Busch's team.

The results aren't as dramatic as Johnson's and Gordon's, but the pairing appears to be working. Busch, the 19-year-old younger brother of Nextel Cup champion Kyle, won the pole at California and finished second last week at Las Vegas (even though that result was marred by a rules violation).

Vickers, meanwhile, started on the outside of the front row at California, and Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway posted the best finish of his young career, coming home sixth in the Golden Corral 500.

"We've got a great team," Vickers said. "These guys are working tremendous together. It's awesome how well everybody has come together. This new 25/5 shop is working out great, with Brian Whitesell heading that up. Rick has given us everything we've needed.

"I really have a good feeling about this year. We've got a good chance of going after them."

The progress might be slow for Vickers and his team, but that's fine with him. As long as there is progress, the 21-year-old Vickers will be happy.

"Slow and steady, we're going to keep working our way up," Vickers said. "We needed a good, solid run [Sunday] after last week. It was a long, tough day. I'm really proud of the guys. They had great pit stops all day. Lance did real good with the car, and we came out with a good finish. But it was a long day. We had to come from the back twice."

Vickers and his team showed plenty of resiliency Sunday, coming back from losing a lap on one occasion and from the rear of the field on another.

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The first time, Vickers had to restart at the back of the pack after a Lap 1 run-in with Bobby Hamilton Jr.

"He had a run coming down off of Turn 2, and we just got together," Vickers said. "I feel bad. I apologized to him because I ended up cutting his left-rear tire. And we had to come in as well. That put us in the back."

Vickers rallied back to 14th, but on one restart, he felt a vibration in the car. The No. 25 Chevrolet kept getting tighter, and Vickers knew something was wrong.

"It got real bad through one turn that I couldn't even keep it off the wall," Vickers said. "I thought I had a flat tire."

To be safe, Vickers came in and changed tires, getting down a lap.

But he made that up, too.

"Thank goodness for the 'Lucky Dog' rule," Vickers said.

Vickers never got down on himself, even after getting behind so often.

"I knew we had a good car," Vickers said. "We have a good team and had good pit stops. Lance is definitely a good cheerleader, so that always helps."

In the latter stages, Vickers moved to the top 10, running seventh before the final caution flag. That's when McGrew took a minor gamble, deciding not to add fuel on Vickers' last stop.

The quicker service moved Vickers to fourth, but the car wasn't handling as well without the added fuel.

"We felt like we could make some spots up doing that, but you always take a chance of the car being too tight," Vickers said. "Without that fuel in the back of the car, you have a lot of nose weight. That's what happened.

"It worked out. The guys did a good job, and we got up to fourth. But the car was way too tight at the end, way too tight."

Still, to finish sixth with a tight racecar bodes well for the future, and Vickers knows it.

Now, it's time to prove it with some more good runs.