CONCORD, N.C. -- As officials rolled the car into the inspection bay, the right side was so scraped up there was nearly as much gray primer as blue and red paint. The sheet metal over the front wheel well was buckled, the hood dented. There was more damage on the inside, from a busted starter to a rupture somewhere within the power steering system to a tire that had been cut down and rolled away.

The vehicle was nearly as beat up as its driver. An exhausted Brian Vickers stood on pit road sucking from a water bottle, his firesuit unzipped to the waist, one elbow bleeding. His voice was weary and his bones were aching from wrestling his No. 83 car through the final stages of NASCAR's longest event.

"Hardest race I've ever had," he said.

But in the end the pain and punishment were worth it. A fuel-mileage scramble in the final stages Sunday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway left Vickers -- lost power steering, cut tire and all -- with a fifth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600. It was the best result this season for both a Red Bull team that's often struggled to make races, and a Toyota camp that's found the footing decidedly uneven in its first season as a Nextel Cup manufacturer.

"It was a good night for us, but I think it was just another little step in the right direction," said Vickers, whose old ride, the No. 25 of Hendrick Motorsports now driven by Casey Mears, won the race. "I don't think it was big turning point."

But it was a clear boost for a Red Bull organization whose two drivers had failed to qualify for a combined 13 of 22 starts entering Memorial Day weekend. With two cars outside the top 35 in owner points, Charlotte marked only the third time that Vickers and teammate A.J. Allmendinger were both still around on Sunday.

"Any run like this one here is a great shot in the arm," said Doug Richert, Vickers' crew chief. "For the struggles that we've gone through, and not making races, and then we make races and get crashed out early, there's nothing better than this right here to get a team's morale up. Obviously, the morale is going to be up going into Dover."

Sunday marked the best finish for any Toyota entry since Vickers finished 10th at California the second weekend of the year. The revamped Camry engine unveiled in last week's all-star exhibition didn't seem very potent in practice, where Vickers was never faster than 22nd place. In Saturday evening's Happy Hour, he was 35th on the speed chart. But he had a feeling about the car. (Continued)