BRISTOL, Tenn. -- After having surgery to close a hole in his heart this summer, Brian Vickers fully expects to be back in a Sprint Cup car by the start of the 2011 season.

In a news conference at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Vickers revealed he had surgery in July to repair a congenital heart defect that partially led to the blood clots that threatened his life in May.

“

I just miss being in the car. I miss doing 200 mph, banging fenders with the guys I love and hate. I've missed it all.

”

-- BRIAN VICKERS

"I've had heart surgery," Vickers said. "I never thought I'd have that at 26. I've had a stent put in, never thought I'd have one of those. But they both went extremely well."

How well did things go? Within three weeks of the surgery, Vickers said he was biking in the mountains of Colorado.

"I was in Aspen, biking with some friends, doing 40-, 50-, 60-mile rides through the mountains at 10,000 feet," Vickers said. "So I feel good. I'm probably going to be in the best shape of my life when I get back to racing. I'm training every day and love it."

Vickers is still required to take blood thinners like Coumadin and clot-blocker Plavix through the rest of the year, but he said he cleared all the genetic blood testing, and doctors have given him a clean bill of health to return to racing.

"They gave me full clearance for next year," Vickers said. "I will be back next season, racing in January. I'm really excited about that. They feel that I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been in my life. I've got two issues that I never knew about, fixed.

"Both surgeries went extremely well and it's been a bit of fresh air for me to know what caused this, or part of what caused this. It wasn't one thing. But to get this behind me. It was a big question mark that was still out there."

Vickers explained that after he was diagnosed with the clots while visiting Washington, D.C., doctors began to search for causes. They focused their attention on Vickers' heart, especially when they found a blood clot in one of the fingers on his left hand.

"The only way for a clot to get there was through my heart, from the right atrium to the left atrium," Vickers said. "It's a hole between the two atriums. Surprisingly enough, it's pretty common. About 25 percent of people have this hole. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to diagnose and very intrusive to diagnose."

According to Vickers, some people are more prone to clotting.

"The way the blood circulates, it goes to your lungs, which act as a filtering system," Vickers said. "People get little clots all the time but the lungs filter those out and body naturally breaks them down. My clots were bigger than normal, which is why I had a pulmonary embolism. Through that process, it goes through your right atrium.

"... If you have a clot in the right atrium, it can jump through that hole -- if the hole is active -- to the left atrium. The primary concern then is a stroke. The blood goes through the left atrium to your left arm or your brain. I got really lucky because mine went to my left arm and I didn't have a stroke."

In addition, doctors thought Vickers might be a candidate for May-Thurner Syndrome, which they confirmed during the surgery.

"That's basically where a vein and an artery pinch," Vickers said. "It slows the blood flow down in that region. It's very difficult to diagnose that issue without being intrusive. So we had both of those decisions out there that might have been part of the cause. Obviously, it wasn't the entire cause, because that's something you're born with, and I spent most of my life without clots."

Vickers admitted there was a third factor at work, perhaps carbon monoxide buildup from racing, but doctors couldn't pinpoint a specific cause.

Vickers had the heart surgery at Charlotte Medical Center on July 13, then had a stent placed in a vein in his left leg the next day. He said no more surgeries are scheduled, and he was expected to return for an evaluation this week.

"My chances right now of having a clot, when I come off Coumadin, are no higher than anyone else in the garage," Vickers said. "So I'm as good or better than I was a year ago, from that standpoint."

While sidelined, Vickers said he's spent time with family and friends, went to Florida for an extended period of time, and also attended the Red Bull Air Race in New York and the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. But during his time away from the car, he confirmed his commitment to the sport.

"What I love to do is race," Vickers said. "It's not only my job, but it's my passion. I definitely have been missing that need for speed, the competition. But at the same time, it's nice to take a break. ... I just miss being in the car. I miss doing 200 mph, banging fenders with the guys I love and hate. I've missed it all."

When it comes to getting back in the car next season, Vickers knows he'll be viewed based on how he performs behind the wheel.

"Perception is reality, and no matter what I do, whether it's right or wrong, will be based solely on my performance next season," Vickers said. "... If I don't go to a single race the rest of the season and show up and win the Daytona 500, every story or article is going to say that Brian did the right thing by taking six months off."

But Vickers is fully cognizant of how he's been given another chance, and how he hopes to take complete advantage of the rest of his time in the sport, and in his life.

"I'm enjoying every single day, every moment," Vickers said. "You never know what can happen. One moment, I'm 26 years old and I'm walking down the streets of Washington, D.C. And the next thing, I was in a hospital, dying."