Vickers looking ahead, but with an eye out for Busch

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Brian Vickers is in his happy place these days, and he isn't about to let Kyle Busch spoil that for him.

Vickers met with the media Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he was preparing for Saturday night's Sharpie 500. He wanted to talk mostly about his immediate future, which was brightened considerably in the previous week when he not only won the Carfax 400 at Michigan last Sunday but followed that by signing a lucrative multiyear contract extension with Red Bull Racing two days later.

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Brian Vickers talks about his relationship with Kyle Busch after their run-in at Michigan and sizes up his chances to make the Chase.

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While that certainly was understandable, the subject of his running feud with Busch hung over Vickers' happy place like a dark rain cloud, threatening to spoil the party.

"The win last week was very special to myself and the entire team, of course," said Vickers, one of the first employees hired by Red Bull when the organization was started from scratch less than three years ago. "Everything that we've gone through as a group from the start, being one of the first employees there and seeing the progression throughout the past two-and-a-half years -- all the struggles we went through and the pains we went through, especially that first year -- that all made this win that much more sweet."

Jay Frye, general manager of Red Bull Racing, said that he and Vickers and the entire organization believe that last Sunday's win was the first of what will be many victories for the No. 83 Cup team. The win at Michigan was the first in the brief history of the operation.

"Once you learn how to win, hopefully that opens the floodgates for a lot of other good things to happen," Frye said. "I really believe that's the case for this team. It's gaining a lot of confidence and getting better every week."

The Cup victory at MIS came on the heels of last Saturday's memorable duel with Busch on the final lap of the Nationwide Series race at the same venue. As Vickers, running second at the time, bumped and battled with Busch, who was leading, Brad Keselowski came out of seemingly nowhere to pass them both and claim the victory.

Afterward, as Vickers headed down pit road, Busch turned his car into Vickers' machine and then jumped out, accusing Vickers of being "an idiot" for racing him so hard and allowing Keselowski to pass them both for the win. Vickers took offense and said he "didn't realize it was the Kyle Busch show."

Vickers made it clear Friday at Bristol that he hasn't forgotten the incident.

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"I'm not still mad about it," Vickers said. "Like I said after the race, definitely I put it in the memory bank for the next go-around. I don't know if you want to call it Strike One or Strike Two, but either way he's out of strikes.

"Like I said last week, in a lot of ways I feel sorry for him. I hate that he lives in such an angry place. To be mad about something so small, it must be miserable to live like that. That's just not the way I live my life."

Vickers even questioned Busch's upbringing.

"I'm very blessed to have great parents that raised me to be a very different person. I'm in a great position there and I'm very lucky that way, that I was raised differently," Vickers said. "I'm fine with whatever happens moving forward. The ball is in his court.

"I'm willing to race him hard and clean and move on down the road -- and if he's not willing to do that, then I'm willing to take whatever path he chooses. I'm going to race him the way he races me. He knows that and he's been aware of that for a very long time. That's not going to change."

Busch did not immediately respond to Vickers' comments. One of the driver's media representatives said Busch may do so later.

Vickers, meanwhile, wanted to clarify that he did not mean to imply that going for a win in a Nationwide Series race, or any other race, is necessarily "a small thing." He said he just thought Busch should have handled himself more professionally after last Saturday's event.

"Pitching a fit and throwing a tantrum after a race [is not the way to go]," Vickers said. "I wanted to win that race as bad or more than he did, but I handled it very differently.

"He was mad because I raced him. He was mad because he said that I should have let him go so that the 88 [car of Keselowksi], who didn't deserve to win, wouldn't have won. That's what he told me -- that the 88 didn't deserve to win and if I would've let him go and let him win, then the 88 wouldn't have. And frankly, I don't really care if Kyle Busch wins and I'm proud of the 88. Good for him. He snuck by both of us.

"It's my job to race for the win and that's what I want: to win the race. If I can't win, I don't really care who wins, to be honest with you. My concern is not [Kyle Busch]."

Asked to clarify what he meant when he said that Busch was "out of strikes," Vickers replied: "What do you think it means? I'm going to race him the way he races me, but he's out of rope."

Vickers, on the other hand, is full of hope after moving up to 13th in the point standings heading into Bristol. He is only 12 points out of 12th-place cutoff behind Mark Martin.

Despite never finishing better than 12th in 10 career Cup starts at the half-mile short track, Vickers said he enters this weekend full of confidence. Plus, he now has the new contract in hand.

Vickers admitted he was forced during months of negotiations to entertain the possibility of driving for another organization. But he said he never really wanted to leave and start over again somewhere else.

"It would have been very difficult and it was not something I wanted to do," Vickers said. "There would have been a lot of things I would have had to give up. ... I wanted to be where I am. I wanted to be at Red Bull."

Frye added: "Brian is a great guy who has a huge future. This team's got a huge future, I believe, and we're really excited about it."