Notebook: Accident doesn't lessen Gordon's resolve (cont'd)

Hot Skinner

For the second consecutive week, Bill Davis Racing's regular Craftsman Truck Series driver, Mike Skinner, placed a Sprint Cup car that was outside the locked-in top 35 into the show, as he put the No. 84 Red Bull Racing Team Toyota into the 34th starting position for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500.

"That was our first and foremost mission -- to make the race -- but we have a long ways to go with this car," Skinner said. "There is a great group of guys here and I feel like we made gains [Friday], but we have a lot more gains to make.

Fast facts

What	Kobalt Tools 500
When	Green, 2:16 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	FOX, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 2 p.m. ET

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"That is not our goal -- to come here and qualify in the back. So we are just going to work really hard and hopefully -- I know we aren't going to get to test before Bristol -- but hopefully we can go and do a little testing before Martinsville and maybe a little bit more before Texas.

"Maybe we can go somewhere like Kentucky or somewhere. Our first goal was accomplished so now we have to try to keep fenders on and build on it."

Despite his success, Skinner said that unless the vehicle had a Toyota badge on it, don't expect him to drive it.

"Unless it says Toyota on the back, I'm not going to be driving it," Skinner said. "I have a great deal with Toyota and the Tundra brand and the TRD [Toyota Racing Development] folks.

"I bleed Toyota through and through and if it doesn't say Toyota -- I probably won't be driving it."

Gordon likes top-35 dog fight

Jeff Gordon might be a four-time Cup champion who's never previously been within sniffing distance of being outside NASCAR's top 35 in the owner standings, which for the past two seasons has been the lock-in point for guaranteeing a position in each Cup event.

But after having bad luck in two of the three races so far this season, Gordon is in 22nd in the owner standings, 72 points clear of 35th.

"I'm trying to keep myself in the top 35, right now," Gordon said, forcing a laugh. "You know, there are some interesting little things going around the garage area right now, about who's in the top 35 and who's trying to protect and help other people stay in the top 35.

"You know what? This business has turned into just that -- it's a big business. And these sponsors pay a lot of money and you can't afford to lose them. We've seen that's the thing that keeps the team afloat -- and being in the top 35 and being in the race every week and not having to qualify in -- what risk are you willing to take to do that?

"And that's what we're going to find out. I think some guys are going to play it cool and smart and hope that that gets them in. Other guys are going to take big risks and hope that gets them in.

"It's an interesting story to watch -- just like it's interesting to watch qualifying when those guys are all qualifying at the back."

Vickers not liking tires

Red Bull Racing Toyota driver Brian Vickers was happy to qualify for his fourth consecutive race this season, which brings him closer to being locked into the top 35 when it comes time to use this season's owner points to determine those rankings.

But after qualifying 35th, he wasn't too happy with the different Goodyear tire being used this weekend, rather than the one teams tested with this past fall.

"We struggled a lot [Friday] just trying to get a handle on this car and this tire," Vickers said. "We left the test down here last year really happy and we came back and it was horrible. We unloaded and time-wise it really wasn't that bad, but it drove exceptionally bad.

"I know everybody has been fighting the tires a little [Friday], but we made some changes and made it a lot better. We couldn't seem to gain a lot in speed and we were still a little too loose all the way through."

Vickers said he worked well with his new, stand-in veteran teammate Mike Skinner, who is spelling A.J. Allmendinger.

"At the end of practice we worked some off of [Skinner's car's] notes and some things that helped them and applied that to our car. We were afraid to apply too much and I'm glad we didn't because we would have been way too tight -- because we were too tight anyway and almost missed the show."

Vickers said he was thrilled to almost be locked into the top 35, but he was taking nothing for granted.

"Nothing is guaranteed yet, but this helps a lot -- being in this race -- but you still have to finish it," Vickers said. "The first car home only loses three points to the first car out.

"We can't be the first car out; we have to finish the race. If we can have a good, solid day then hopefully that will give us a little comfort zone going into Bristol, but there's no guarantee on that." (Continued)