Vickers goes from jumping out of plane to start in 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Brian Vickers jumped out of an airplane the other day at 13,000 feet.

That was nothing, he said, compared to what he went through Thursday as he overcame one hurdle after another to race his way into this Sunday's 50th running of the Daytona 500. Vickers did so by finishing 11th in his No. 83 Toyota in the first of the two Gatorade Duel races held Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

In each of Thursday's 150-mile races, the top-two finishers among the go-or-go-home cars -- cars that did not finish in the top 35 in points last season and weren't fast enough during qualifying last Sunday -- were awarded spots in this Sunday's show. Kenny Wallace also drove his No. 87 Chevrolet into the 500 by finishing fifth in Thursday's first race.

The two go-or-go-home drivers to earn their way into the Daytona 500 during the second duel were Dale Jarrett in his No. 44 Toyota and John Andretti in his No. 34 Chevrolet. They finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

"I never would have thought a day after my skydiving adventure that this would have been more stressful, but it definitely was," Vickers said.

For Vickers, it was a better start to the 2008 season than in 2007, when he failed to make the 500 and struggled all season to consistently make races because he couldn't crack the top 35 in points.

"We've come a long way. Obviously we missed this race last year, and it was pretty painful," a grinning Vickers said on pit road immediately afterward. "We didn't give up this year. We had to overcome a lot. This feels like a win."

Vickers' Red Bull Racing team was hampered during qualifying last Sunday by a problem with the ignition box in the No. 83 Toyota. And he spun twice Thursday -- first in a different car during Nationwide Series practice in the morning and then again on Lap 4 of the Gatorade Duel after getting bumped from behind by the No. 60 Ford of Boris Said.

When he initially got knocked about by Said, Vickers thought his day was over, his chances of making the 500 dashed, and his season off to another rocky start.

"The first thing I thought was how to keep this thing off the wall, and then after that I was briefly thinking, 'This might hurt.' Then I realized I wasn't going to hit the wall, and it was just about keeping the tires on it, not blowing the engine, getting the clutch in while it was running backwards -- and trying to get back to the pits without tearing anything up, so we still had a shot at it," Vickers said.

That's a whole lot to think about. In addition, he and new crew chief Kevin Hamlin had to make the difficult decision to pit during a caution late in the race while Wallace and others running up front stayed out to maintain track position. Several of the other go-or-go-home cars running behind Vickers also decided to pit, but it was a gamble that might have cost them the transfer spot into the 500 if one of those cars had stayed out with just two laps left.

"It was a tough choice," Vickers said. "We definitely thought about staying out but Kevin made a great call. He said, 'Let's come and get two tires.' It was the safe move, it was the smart move. I saw the leaders stay out and I almost stayed out but I had faith in Kevin and just committed to it. He knew more than I did and it worked out."

In fact, Vickers gave Hamlin the bulk of the credit for that important move -- saying he almost didn't listen to him -- and also credited Hamlin for having the entire team stay positive as they battled through adversity during the week leading up to Thursday's race.

"There is a reason Hamlin has been around for a long time," Vickers said of the veteran crew chief. "He'll never give up, and nobody else did on this team all weekend. We've had, from the start of the weekend, one problem after another -- coming down here to lose the [ignition] box in qualifying, spinning at the beginning of the race, pitting early in the race and getting out of sequence. You name it and we had to go through it. And then we had the late pit stop. But nobody gave up and it worked out. It was pretty special."

So was jumping out of an airplane with "the Red Bull Air Force guys" in a promotional stunt on Wednesday. But again, Vickers said his heart was pounding faster Thursday than at any time during his skydiving attempt.

"My heart rate was higher, my stress level was definitely higher [Thursday] from the time I woke up until the end of that race, until the very last lap, than at any point in time prior to me jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet," Vickers said with a laugh. "Jumping out of the airplane was obviously awesome; I'm not going to lie to you. You jump out and see the ground coming at you at 100, 200 miles an hour at 13,000 feet, and it's definitely an eye-opener. But it didn't hold a candle to trying to make the Daytona 500 in one of these races."