Inside the Garage: Q&A with crew chief Richert

The relationship between driver and crew chief is one that takes time, patience and many races behind the wheel and on top of the pit box to forge a successful partnership.

For Doug Richert and Brian Vickers, the challenge is multiplied as the two are part of Toyota's expansion into the Nextel Cup Series.

It's been an up and down season for Team Red Bull's No. 83 Camry. After missing the Daytona 500, they posted the manufacturer's highest finish with a 10th-place finish at California. They followed that up, though, by not making the race at Las Vegas.

Things are looking up as the team has made the field in two consecutive races and is coming off a 15th-place finish at Bristol in the Car of Tomorrow.

The scene shifts to Martinsville, another COT race, where Vickers has three top-20s in six races at the track. Richert likes where his team is headed, and thinks success is on the way.

Q: How different will the Car of Tomorrow run at Martinsville as opposed to Bristol?

Richert: I think you're probably not going to see much difference between Bristol and Martinsville because you've got the lower speeds. Bristol has banking to get the grip out of the car, but Martinsville will play a little more critical because these cars are so heavy. We have very little ballast in them. Our right-side weights are up almost 80 pounds with the new car. That's going to play a big part as far as the handling characteristics go.

Q: Are the car setups between Bristol and Martinsville different?

Richert: The springs are going to be the most different. The suspension components are going to be the same, and we're going to go there and fight the same things we are fighting at Bristol, try to get the car to turn.

Q: The COT is supposed to run at any track, could you use this Bristol car and run it at Martinsville?

Richert: All the COT cars we have, they can all run Martinsville, they can all run Bristol. That is one advantage of the COT program; you can pretty much take that car anywhere. There is no difference in off-set; there is no difference in body shape or anything like that. So you might tweak one one way or another but the general concept of the car is identical.

Q: How much will not testing at Martinsville affect the teams when they unload?

Richert: There will be a mad scramble just like always. I think having the Bristol race under our belt will help. A lot of teams have done a lot of testing on flat tracks that are not on the schedule. I don't think you're going to see it "mad as a panic" as you might think there would be but there's going to be a concern, obviously, at getting the cars to turn.

Q: Your thoughts on the inspection process of the COT?

Richert: When they first came out with a bunch of the new templates, we went to Rockingham a day early and it took all day and the rest of the next morning to understand the new tolerances, to understand the new templates. Obviously when we get to Martinsville you're going to see the inspection process go a lot faster because we know more of what to look for and they know what they are going to see on every car. Once you see where you had the problems, you go back and there's no efficiency difference other than you build the car differently to help the process.

Q: Do you like the COT?

Richert: Yeah, it's gonna be good. Its like everything that's new, it's an unexpected new toy in the garage. Once you learn it, understand it and work with it more, it's like any other change, any other body style that's introduced, you learn to work it and work around it. If you don't learn to work with it then we are in the wrong sport.

Q: Does the COT even out the playing field?

Richert: No. For the simple fact that we are still a new team, we're very young. We have very little tests under our belt. Some of the other teams that were out there, that were here firsthand for the COT; they have 15-20 plus tests under their belts at different places. It's not an equalization right now. It will be from an aero-dynamic body style -- I guess an aero advantage -- that's closed the window. We are basically stuck with what we got. But as far as coming out of the box equal, no, testing is valuable and we haven't had the time to do that.

Q: Break down Martinsville, all of the nuances of the track?

Richert: Martinsville in general, is always two drag strips with a connecting U-turn. You have to accelerate really hard. Forward bite usually becomes a problem because you're trying to get the car to turn in the center and to do that you pretty much almost have to unhook the back sometimes. Your front ends are only going to turn so well, and then the rest of it you kind of unhook the back. A lot of braking also, cooling is going to be a big issue there as far as the brakes.

Q: How good is Brian Vickers as a driver?

Richert: My little bit of time that I have spent with him, the races that we've been in; I think Brian might be one of the sleepers in the group. Once we get the program going and once we get the proper feedback, and get our system flawless, I think you're going to see the guy up front quite a bit.

Q: Bristol is the second consecutive race you have made the 43-car field. Is this the point you feel the team is turning the corner?

Richert: I think we are going to continue to keep turning the corner. This is the first time we've had both cars in the race. It's been a tough ladder to climb but I think both of our teams will continue to get better. The more and more we work together as a group -- at Team Red Bull -- and our systems become better and we become better organized and better prepped, I feel like the results are going to come.

Q: Is Toyota as a manufacturer making improvements as the weeks go on?

Richert: Yes, and they are going to continue to come around. It took a little while in the Trucks, but now when you look at a truck race, you see the performance there. Motor horsepower is not an issue. We may have to move power-curves around here and there for the different tracks, but each time we're on the track, each time we practice, each time we race, we give them all the feedback that we can as a team on what do we feel would make that car run faster on the racetrack. As they listen, they are changing things all the time; they are constantly working on it. They need the building time, just like we need the building time for our team and our people. They are working hard on their end and pretty soon this is all going to merge together and be a pretty super thing.

Q: Working with a new driver in Brian, is it tough for the two of you to get used to each other's styles and work through those growing pains?

Richert: It's a process that always continues to grow. The more I know what Brian's like and the more Brian knows what I'm like -- my tendencies, his tendencies ... His urgency when the car is loose, my urgency of his voice when he says "loose," that all means something. So far, I think everything is going real good. We work real hard trying to figure out what one another is like and Team Red Bull has supplied all that for us. We try to speed those curves up. We have a lot of help there when Dr. Jack [Stark, team's sports psychologist] comes in and he helps us out a lot with the team in many different areas so that process is probably going to go quicker than the normal.