Vickers sees the positive despite missing 'Dega race

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Just like a Tom Petty song, the waiting is the hardest part for Brian Vickers.

The first of the "go or go home" cars to make a qualifying effort Saturday, Vickers and the No. 83 Toyota team had to wait almost three hours to find out that their lap of 189.977 mph was too slow to make the field for Sunday's Aaron's 499.

"I have to be honest with you, I think it is more stressful to sit here and watch a qualifying session go by, waiting to see if you're going to be in or not, than it is to wait and see if you're going to be on the pole," Vickers said.

"You always see the TV announcers and the media focus on the guy waiting to see if he gets the pole or gets bumped. That's stressful, but that's not nearly as stressful as whether you get to stay or not."

For the fifth time this season, Vickers -- who won here last fall as a result of a wild last-lap crash involving Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- will watch the race from a vantage point somewhere other than inside his race car.

Despite that setback, Vickers preferred to accentuate the positive.

"I'm so proud of the guys right now. I'm proud of the gains they've made since we were at Daytona," he said. "It was definitely the best run we've had here, period. We picked up a lot in practice and that's all you can ask for. Everybody's done the best job and it's shown."

And improvement, Vickers said, gives the team something tangible on which to focus.

"No matter where you're at, as long as you know you're improving, there's always hope," Vickers said. "And everybody needs hope. That's what matters."

A week ago at Phoenix, Vickers was handicapped by his spot in the qualifying order and failed to qualify when the track heated up. On Saturday morning, he went out fourth of the 52 cars making qualifying attempts. Was it an advantage to qualify in cooler temperatures?

"It's hard to say. Temperatures here don't matter as much," Vickers said. "Everybody's wide-open. They will matter engine-wise, because cooler temperatures are better for the engine.

"But the air's also more dense. Aerodynamically, it hurts you some. Engine-wise, it helps you a little bit. It's probably a wash. If anything, we had a good draw, unfortunately it's at a track where it matters the least."

When he's made the show, Vickers has been competitive, posting three top-15 finishes and running up front before a crash ended his day at Atlanta. Unfortunately, the No. 83 hasn't made enough races to lock down one of the guaranteed starting spots, which leaves Vickers having to play the waiting game every weekend.

"We've definitely made some headway," he said. "Every race we've made, we've been in the top 15. Obviously, being in the top 35 would make all the difference."