Vickers' top-10 finish step in right direction

FONTANA, Calif. -- The debut of Toyota in the Nextel Cup Series hasn't gone as smoothly as the manufacturer had hoped, and Brian Vickers' 10-place finish in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on Sunday was treated almost as a victory.

The top-10, Toyota's first in the Nextel Cup Series, closes a tumultuous month for its seven teams. The manufacturer has failed to qualify six cars in the first two races, but Vickers narrowly missed a top-five finish in his first 2007 start.

Vickers was one of three Toyotas that failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, but his No. 83 Camry handled well in the season's first downforce test. Only a bad pit stop on Lap 226 -- where Vickers lost six spots -- kept him from finishing even better.

"We messed up a little bit on the last pit stop but those guys did a tremendous job all day long," Vickers said. "The car had no problems, we didn't have any problems with the car. We learned a lot about the setup and what we can do moving forward, so all around, it was a win-win."

Vickers was the lone Toyota to finish better than 32nd. Dale Jarrett ran at the tail end of the lead lap before finally going a lap down early in the race, and David Reutimann crashed violently into the wall on Lap 240. Dave Blaney, the only other Toyota in the field, blew an engine on Lap 113.

"This is the [downforce] track for us, and for Toyota and to come out of it with a top-10, nothing wrong with that," Vickers said.

Vickers was running 12th when he elected to stay out during the final caution, and he said later that he wished he had pitted for tires.

"You know, we were not that good on new tires compared to everyone around us," Vickers said. "I was kind of struggling with that a little bit, trying to debate whether to pit or not.

"I wish I had probably pitted, but given how we were on new tires, it was kind of a 50-50."

Vickers was mostly immune by the problems suffered by the other teams. He started 15th and ran in the top 10 for half of the race, and he briefly cracked the top five.

"You know, you get up there and you want more, you always want a little bit more," Vickers said. "We have to step back and look at the circumstances and this being our first race other than the Bud Shootout, a top-10 is not bad."

Vickers picked up 134 owner points, which relieved some of the sting from missing Daytona. In the season's sixth race, NASCAR sets the lineups from 2007 owner points.

"All the pressure is not going to be gone until we are in the top 35, but that definitely helps obviously," Vickers said.