Vickers plays it cool, tops off memorable weekend (cont'd)

In a twist of irony, the two adversaries then had to sit on the post-race podium together and answer questions from the media as the second- and third-place finishers of that race. After winning Sunday, Vickers was asked how much more comfortable he was on the podium, flanked by crew chief Ryan Pemberton and Red Bull general manager Jay Frye, as opposed to the company he was forced to keep there a day earlier.

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In a lot of ways, I feel sorry for Kyle -- that he lives that angry about stuff. ... I'm ready to just go race. That's the way we approached [Sunday].

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BRIAN VICKERS

"You know, there are some people that you meet in life that are just going to do stupid things," Vickers said. "You just learn to accept it. You just don't let it bother you.

"I have patience. You just live your life and run your race. I mean, [Saturday] was ridiculous. It was unnecessary. I had a lot of fun. It was a hard race. I wanted to win bad. But congratulations to the 88 [car of Keselowski]. We ended up second. I let it go at that."

He had to, to get himself in the proper frame of mind to come back and win Sunday. It wasn't yet clear if Busch has let it go; in fact, it seemed pretty clear to Vickers that Busch certainly hadn't.

"In a lot of ways, I feel sorry for Kyle -- that he lives that angry about stuff, something so small," Vickers said. "I hope that he can get past it. I don't have any hard feelings. I'm ready to just go race. That's the way we approached [Sunday]."

What's next?

So is the feud between Vickers and Busch settled? It's hard to say, but seems, on the surface, unlikely. As fate would have it, they didn't race much around one another Sunday.

Busch brushed the outside wall early in the race and it was all he could do to bring his ill-handling car home in 23rd position. That seemed light years behind Vickers, who ran up front virtually all day.

"I told him -- I've always told him this, from any incident we've ever had in the past -- that I'm going to race you the way you race me," Vickers said. "I'm going to handle you and treat you the same way you treat me. That applies to any driver out there. It applied [Sunday].

"If Kyle and I had started racing each other, and he raced me clean and hard, I was going to treat him with the same amount of respect. If he didn't want to do that, I was going to treat him the same way he treated me.

"But [Sunday] was a different race, a new day. I just wanted to focus on my life, my race. I couldn't care less about what happened [Saturday]. Life is too short to worry about stuff like that."

Right. Like where you'll be racing next year.

It's about time Red Bull locked up Vickers, whose contract will expire at the end of this season. And Frye indicated that would be the team's top priority as Vickers continues his push to make the 12-driver field in the soon-to-commence Chase for the Sprint Cup. He entered Sunday's event 14th, 99 points out of 12th -- and ended it in 13th, only 12 out of the final Chase spot.

"We have every intention of getting this done and getting it done very quickly," Frye said. "We certainly don't want him to go anywhere, except right where he's at."

Vickers smiled at the question about his contract status.

"As far as the contract situation, I mean, obviously sitting on the pole and winning this race can't hurt," Vickers said. "Hopefully, we can get everything squared away."

Frye even joked that if Sunday's win costs Red Bull some money in its negotiations with Vickers, it is a small price the organization will be more than willing to pay. Vickers has earned it, along with the respect of everyone in the Sprint Cup garage.

Well, just about everyone anyway.

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer.