Offical Best Buy 400 Thread

[quiseralarissa]

Brian will start 6th tomorrow while AJ will start 8th. Good luck to the Red Bull boys!

Post-qualifying quotes from Brian:

Are you happy with your qualifying run?
"It was a good run for us. I'm real proud of the Red Bull guys. I felt like we could have been a little bit better but unfortunately the engine started skipping coming out of turn four. I'm not really sure what caused that or why and we're not sure of it right now. We think it may be electrical. That definitely hurt us a little bit."

Hopefully the team found the problem and fixed it so there's no problems for Sunday.

AJ's quotes on his run:

Can you talk about your qualifying lap?
"Everybody at Red Bull Racing is doing a great job. Obviously Brian (Vickers) maybe had the car to beat last week. It was a hard-fought race last week. We got 20th out of it -- he had a good qualifying and so did I. We're definitely making progress here at Red Bull and at Toyota. We were decent in race trim and kind of got worse as the practice went on. We got a good starting spot and I think its going to be really hard to pass so starting up front is going to be key. We'll just go work on the race car tomorrow and have a good run on Sunday."

Why are you so good at Dover?
"It's one of those places where you can be aggressive and you can really get away with over-driving it a little bit and still being fast. I think that kind of suits me just because I'm so aggressive with the car. It's just a fun place to drive."


Currently, the Nationwide race is delayed due to rain. I'm feeling a bit antsy myself, waiting for the second string of storms that are supposed to sweep through the area. There's also a tornado watch/warning in my area as well as Dover. When I first heard about the watch this morning, I was freaking out. Thankfully, it passed quickly and it was all just rain. So fingers crossed that everything passes by smoothly again and everyone is okay when all is said and done!

[quiseralarissa]

Lovely, front page article on nascar.com about TRB!

Red Bull making strides for future, seeing results now:
Vickers, Allmendinger will start Dover Cup race in top 10


DOVER, Del. -- Blame it on the paint scheme change from blue to silver. But more likely it was the five-race hiatus he spent watching from atop the pit box while Mike Skinner drove his car.

Either way, it's changed A.J. Allmendinger's approach, and even more so it's improved Red Bull Racing overall as an organization.

Allmendinger's victory in the Sprint Showdown three weeks ago may go down on paper as a turning point in the driver's Cup Series career, but his time away from the track earlier this season is what may have the lasting effect. After failing to qualify for the first three events, Mike Skinner replaced Allmendinger in the No. 84 Toyota for five races to evaluate where the program stood.

Consider that research project a success.

Once Allmendinger got back in the seat at Talladega, he placed his car fourth on the starting grid -- he had to qualify based on his speed due to not being locked inside the top 35 in owner points. He's made every race since with solid time trials, and the finishes have been better than expected, too.

Allmendinger crashed at Talladega and Richmond, and finished 30th and 39th, respectively, but at both tracks he led a lap. At Darlington he finished 27th. And then there was Charlotte.

Allmendinger led 21 of 40 laps in the Sprint Showdown and won the exhibition event to transfer into the Sprint All-Star Race (watch video). He finished 17th. And a week ago Allmendinger brought home a 20th-place finish in the marathon Coca-Cola 600. Meanwhile, his Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers was setting the pace for 61 laps before a wheel broke on the No. 83 Toyota and sent him into the wall for a 42nd-place finish.

Still, it didn't totally dampen the things Red Bull has been accomplishing this season.

"Obviously Brian maybe had the car to beat last week," Allmendinger said. "It was a hard-fought race last week. We got 20th out of it -- he had a good qualifying [run], and so did I."

While it took Allmendinger time to get on track this season, Vickers has been able to carry that progress all year.

Strong finishes early in the season put Vickers in the all-important top 12 in points for three of the first four weeks. Poor finishes at short tracks Bristol (39th), Martinsville (23rd), Phoenix (25th) and Richmond (28th) has dropped him to 20th in the standings heading into Sunday's 400-mile race at Dover. But the 1-mile concrete track handles much like those short tracks at which Vickers hasn't fared well.

Friday's qualifying effort didn't do much to squelch that notion. Vickers put his car sixth on the starting lineup, but he said that as he brought the car out of Turn 4 the engine began to skip.

"I'm not really sure what caused that or why, and we're not sure of it right now," Vickers said. "We think it may be electrical. That definitely hurt us a little bit."

Allmendinger placed his car eighth on the grid, but unlike his teammate, he's looking forward to Dover's short-track characteristics.

"It's one of those places where you can be aggressive and you can really get away with overdriving it a little bit and still be fast," Allmendinger said. "I think that kind of suits me just because I'm so aggressive with the car. It's kind of like Bristol in that sense -- I really like Bristol, and Dover is just a Bristol on steroids."

Both Vickers and Allmendinger may want to consult Red Bull Racing development driver and former Formula One star Scott Speed on the best way to get around Dover. Speed, driving for Red Bull's partner team Bill Davis Racing, won the Truck Series race Friday for his first victory in six series starts (watch video).

It was simply another good sign for the organization that continues to look long-term.

"Everybody at Red Bull Racing is doing a great job," Allmendinger said. "We're definitely making progress here at Red Bull and at Toyota."

www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/05/31/red.bull.making.strides.bvickers.aallmendinger/index.html

[juash89]

Just read that article! Very good!

My little sister has a softball game tomorrow right in the middle of the race..not sure if I'm goin or not. She doesnt want me to but I want to so she's tryin to get her friends to go with her so there'll be no room for me in the car..which is crap because its MY car...mom's is still broken. *rolls eyes* So I might get to watch it after all. lol

We had a tornado watch all day today. It never did anything though...was sunny most of the day.

[quiseralarissa]

Brian will be on Nascar Race Day today. It starts at 11:30 on Speed. Not sure when he's going to be on, but Elliott Sadler and Martin Truex will also be on.

[juash89]

Aggh! I'm gettin ready to go to Walmart!! lol Cody's game was cancelled so I getta watch the race! YEHA!!