FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an American stock car and sports car racing driver. He was the 2003 Xfinity Series champion, and at age 20, became the youngest champion in any of NASCAR's three top-tier series. Vickers made his Xfinity Series debut in the 2001 GNC Live Well 250 at Milwaukee in the #29 car; owned by his father Clyde Vickers' BLV Motorsports team. He qualified 30th and finished 37th after a crash. Vickers ran three more races that season; his best finish being 25th at North Carolina. Due to a lack of funding for his family-owned team, Vickers was hired to replace Ricky Hendrick in the No. 5 GMAC Chevrolet owned by Hendrick Motorsports. In 2003, Vickers won three races and the championship by 14 points over David Green. Vickers was driving a car owned by Ricky Hendrick; son of Rick Hendrick. Vickers drove the same car number Ricky had drove the #5. Vickers made his Cup debut in the 2003 UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte; qualifying 20th and finishing 33rd in the #60 Haas Automation Chevy. He ran four more races that season in Hendrick's #25 UAW/Delphi Chevy; qualifying in the Top 5 each time, but posting only one top 20 finish. In 2004, Vickers ran the #25 in the Cup series full-time; carrying sponsorship from Ditech and GMAC. He won two poles, had four Top 10s, and finished third behind Kasey Kahne and Brendan Gaughan for Rookie of the Year. Vickers started out the 2006 season with a 7th place finish in the Daytona 500. He went on to finish 15th in points with nine top 10s, including a win at Talladega. However, the season was marred by conflicts within Hendrick Motorsports. On June 25, Vickers announced that he would leave Hendrick and

drive for the new Red Bull Team team in 2007. In the UAW-Ford 500, Vickers was running third when he bumped teammate Jimmie Johnson on the last lap; causing both Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the leader, to spin out. Vickers went on to score his first victory. Johnson was livid with Vickers, and both he and his crew chief Chad Knaus questioned Vickers' motives with the bump leading Knaus to state that Vickers had "run out of talent" prior to wrecking his teammate. In 2007, Vickers drove the #83 Red Bull Toyota Camry for the new Red Bull team, with crew chief Doug Richert, as a teammate to A. J. Allmendinger. This season started out poorly when Vickers suffered a blown tire during his qualifying race for the Daytona 500; causing him to fail to qualify. The next week,

the team regrouped, however, and scored a tenth place finish in their first outing, the Auto Club 500 at California, which was coincidentally Toyota's first top 10 in the Cup series. Two weeks later, Vickers led Toyota's first lap in the Cup series at Atlanta. On May 27, 2007, Vickers gave Toyota its first top 5 ever in the Coca-Cola 600. Toyota brought a new engine to Charlotte, and Vickers showed its potential and surprised many by leading more than 70 laps of the race and having the dominant car. However, towards the end of the race, the power steering of the vehicle began to fail, and eventually ceased operation completely. Crew chief Doug Richert managed to salvage the race through pit strategy; enabling Vickers to score a fifth place finish. In 2009 Vickers' season began with controversy in the Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

got a run on the backstretch to the inside of Vickers, but Vickers blocked. Earnhardt, Jr. clipped the left rear fender; getting Vickers loose sending him into the field. Vickers said after the race that Earnhardt should have been black-flagged. Earnhardt later stated that he was unaware that Vickers was a lap down, and that both were fighting for the Lucky Dog position. Earnhardt later apologized. In August of that season Vickers won the Carfax 400 from the pole for his second career Cup victory, Red Bull's first victory, and Toyota's first victory. With a little over 40 laps to go, Vickers stayed behind Johnson most of the time trying to save fuel. With just over 3 laps to go, Johnson ran out of fuel, while Vickers barely had enough to claim the win and do a few burnouts before his car ran out of fuel in the infield. Two days after the win, Vickers resigned a multi-

year extension with Red Bull. On May 13, 2010, it was announced that Vickers, who had earned three top 10s in the first 11 races, would not be participating in the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway due to an undisclosed medical condition, later revealed to be blood clots in his legs and around his lungs. On May 21, 2010, six days after being released from a hospital for the aforementioned blood clot issue, it was announced that Vickers would miss the remainder of the season. Vickers was clear to race in 2011. His season started out in the big one at Daytona, where he would finish 31st. A week later at Phoenix, he was involved in the big one again when Matt Kenseth got into the back of him; triggering a 13 car pileup. He would finish the year 25th in points with seven top 10's. After season's end, Red Bull shut down its Cup

Series team, leaving Vickers without a ride for 2012. Vickers started the 2012 season without a ride, but it was announced in early March that he would drive the #55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at both races at Bristol, Martinsville, and Loudon, sharing the ride with Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip. Vickers announced at the fall Martinsville race that he renewed his contract with MWR and will race 9 more times in the #55 car next year sharing the ride with Mark Martin (24) and Michael Waltrip (3). Additionally, Vickers would return to the Xfinity Series full-time driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. For his 2013 season, Vickers performed well at Bristol. Vickers led 63 laps in the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

but finished second to Kyle Busch. Ironically, the next day, Vickers held off Busch to win his third career Cup Series race during the 2013 Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire after making a late race pass on Tony Stewart. On August 13, 2013, Vickers was announced as the full-time driver of the #55 for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. on August 19, it was announced that following the release of Mark Martin to substitute for the injured Tony Stewart, Vickers would drive the #55 in twelve of the season's final 13 races. On October 14, 2013, it was announced that Vickers would be forced to sit out the rest of the season due to the discovery of a blood clot in his right calf, a similar issue to the one that that caused him to sit out

much of 2010. Doctors released Vickers to return to racing full time in 2014. He ran all 36 races driving Michael Waltrip Racings Toyota, had six top 10 finishes, and posted a best finish of 2nd in the July race at Daytona. During the off season before the 2015 season; Vickers once again encountered health issues. He is scheduled to sit out the early part of the 2015 season due to having to repair a hole in his heart. He ended up out for all of 2015 as he again has problems with blood clots. It's was not known if he'd be able to race again. Then is a surprising move in 2016 Vickers was called on to drive the #14 Bass Pro car normally driven by Tony Stewart. Stewart had an

accident in a dune buddy during the off season and needed someone to fill in for him the early part of the season. Vickers health issues had cleared up and he was cleared to drive. He drove five races for Stewart in 2016 with a best finish of seventh at Martinsville. He also finished 13th at Fontana. In 2017 it appeared Vickers was healthy enough to drive, but no seats are available at this time. He has not raced since. To date he has 148 Xfinity series starts with the three wins and a Championship. He also has 323 CUP series starts and three win; the last coming in 2013 at Loudon, New Hampshire when he was driving the #55 Aaron's car winning the Camping World 301

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

BRIAN LEE VICKERS - 10/24/1983