Vickers bests Ambrose to lock No. 84 inside top 35

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The haulers of Marcos Ambrose and Brian Vickers were parked side-by-side in the garage area at Homestead-Miami Speedway all weekend. They will be again at Daytona in February, but with one significant difference.

While the No. 84 Toyota is guaranteed a spot in the 2009 Daytona 500, Ambrose's No. 47 Toyota will have to race its way in.

Cup Owner Points

Pos. 31-38

Pos.	Car	Points	+/-
31.	No. 22	2,882	+177
32.	No. 01	2,872	+167
33.	No. 41	2,844	+ 139
34.	No. 7	2,770	+65
35.	No. 84	2,705	--
36.	No. 47	2,692	-13
37.	No. 10	2,625	-80
38.	No. 77	2,579	-126

By the difference of 13 points, Vickers edged Ambrose for 35th in the owner's standings. But it was the battle within a battle in Sunday's Ford 400 that left both cars scarred. And while one crew happily loaded up their car, a glum group no more than three feet away pondered what might have been.

Coming into the final race of the year, Ambrose had a 17-point advantage over the No. 84. And in a strategic move, Red Bull's brain trust decided to swap drivers, putting veteran Vickers in the car.

It appeared to pay dividends early on, as he qualified 20th and was running in the top 20 when he stopped for service under green on Lap 128. Unfortunately, he got caught going too fast entering pit road, which resulted in a costly pass-through penalty.

"I don't really know what happened with the speeding penalty," Vickers said. "Our tachometer numbers were way off compared to everyone else."

On the other hand, Ambrose -- who started 41st -- was having his own problems. Battling an ill-handling car, he lost a lap to the leaders early on.

"We got caught a lap down early on, but the guys kept working on the car to improve handling," Ambrose said. "It started off loose in, tight in the center and loose off. We were trying everything we could to make it better."

Things then went from bad to worse for Ambrose on Lap 168 when coming out of Turn 4, the nose of Reed Sorenson's Dodge collided with Ambrose's rear fender, turning the No. 47 hard into the wall and doing heavy damage to the right side of the car.

The crew worked feverishly to repair the damage, taping on replacement bodywork and a piece of splitter. But Ambrose returned to the track many laps down and with very little attrition, finished 42nd.

"Just not the way to end the day," a frustrated Ambrose said. "Just confusion there on lapped traffic. It's just racing. That's how it goes. It's just a shame to finish the season like that."

However, Vickers' road was anything but smooth. Soon after his speeding episode, pit road played another role in his evening, as he wound up in the middle of a squeeze play between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch.

"We were squeezed between the No. 88 and the No. 2 on pit road, which messed up the toe," Vickers said. "After both incidents we still had a good car -- really good -- but were never able to get out of traffic and ended the race a lap down.

"I'm disappointed because I wanted to end this year with a win. The guys have worked so hard. I am happy though that we accomplished what we set out to do, and that was to get this car into the top 35 in owner points. That will be a huge weight off the team's shoulders going into Daytona next year."

As he hurried back to his motorhome, Ambrose was succinct in his summation of the evening.

"We just wanted to leave here [Sunday] still inside the top 35," Ambrose said. "That's the way it goes. Not good."