"You have got to learn how to lose a speedway race before you can win one," says Brian Vickers. Credit: Autostock

Vickers rolls the dice, comes up short at 'Dega

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Brian Vickers hasn't won a Nextel Cup points race. He doesn't have a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

In other words, he had little to lose.

Inside the Chase Point standings after 'Dega No. Driver Pts. Behind 1. T. Stewart 5,519 -- 2. R. Newman 5,515 -4 3. R. Wallace 5,443 -76 4. J. Johnson 5,437 -82 5. G. Biffle 5,421 -98 6. C. Edwards 5,419 -100 7. M. Kenseth 5,408 -111 8. J. Mayfield 5,407 -112 9. M. Martin 5,381 -138 10. Ku. Busch 5,339 -180 • Race Results, click here • Cup Standings, click here Victory LaneDale Jarrett celebrates his second win at Talladega Talladega tumbleRiggs goes for a wild ride and Rusty, Johnson collected UAW-Ford 500Catch all the 'Dega highlights with TrackPass Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Vickers gambled late Sunday in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega by trying to use the bottom line to snatch the lead from Matt Kenseth. Vickers' Chevrolet was strong, but he had little help on the bottom -- and Vickers quickly shuffled back.

Vickers said he could have rode out the race from the comfortable upper groove, but he elected to make up ground on the roomy lower groove.

"We got stuck on the bottom. The problem was that everyone was riding on the top," said Vickers, who finished sixth. "It was faster groove and it was even more important to be up there because everyone thought it was the place to be."

The plan to run the bottom groove might have worked, but help was limited. Since a lot of cars failed to finish the race, the ones that were left formed a single line, making the low-groove a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

"You have got to learn how to lose a speedway race before you can win one," Vickers said.

It was a move that cost him a shot at the win, but Vickers, 21, said he wasn't going to settle for a mere good finish.

"We took a chance," said Vickers, who is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver without a win in 2005. "The top was the safest place to be to maintain a spot, but you weren't going to win the race either."

Vickers has had a checkered history on the restrictor-plate tracks, and even with a handful of cars sidelined by early crashes, his showing was surprising. It was just the second restrictor plate race that Vickers had completed without damage.

"I was having a blast. I love restrictor place racing," Vickers said. "It can be frustrating, but it can be so much fun."

The racing got pretty wild in the closing laps, but Vickers said the action never approached early race levels, which saw routine three-wide racing.

"It was getting pretty wild. It probably would have been worse, but there wasn't enough cars to make it worse," he said.