In Defense of Brian Vickers

In Brian Vickers

By Brian H Cotnoir

All right let's address the elephant in the room: Brian Vickers wife, Sarah, was a special assistant to Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend.   That connection enough would be career suicide for anyone (pun intended).  As far as everyone's concerned, this relationship had no effect on his NASCAR driving career (his broadcasting career definitely, but not his driving career) So what happened to Vickers driving career?  That's a fairly complicated answer too.

Vickers NASCAR career began in 2001 driving for his father, Clyde.  Running part-time, Vickers best finish was a 7th place finish at Richmond in 2002.   In 2003, he earned the opportunity of a lifetime when he was tabbed to replace Ricky Hendrick in the #5 car in the then Busch Grand National Series.  After some initial growing pains with his new team, Vickers finally found his footing winning three races.  At the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Vickers played it cautious and brought his car home in 11th place.   His finish was good enough to clinch the Drivers' Championship by a mere 14 points!  At 20-years-old, Vickers became the youngest series champion in Grand National History. 

Vickers would make the jump to the NASCAR Cup Series the following year piloting the #25 car for Hendrick Motorsports.   Vickers put some second-rate results in his Rookie Campaign.  Vickers and the rest of Hendrick Motorsports suffered an unimaginable tragedy when a Plane Carrying his friend and championship winning team Owner, Ricky Hendrick perished in a plane crash along with several other key people at Hendrick Motorsports.  Ricky was actually supposed to serve as Brian Vickers spotter for the race, but tragically never made it to the track.   Vickers wound up finishing 27th place in the race.  The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Vickers finished a season high 7th place, while his teammate Jimmie Johnson won an emotional race for Hendrick Motorsports.

Vickers stats in 2005 greatly improved.  He scored a runner-up finish at Pocono and after some contact with Mike Bliss coming to the finish line of the Nextel Open raced his way into the All-Star Race.  The following season, Vickers scored his first--albeit a controversial--win in the NASCAR Cup Series when he (accidentally) caused his teammate Jimmie Johnson to crash into race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Vickers first win the NASCAR Cup Series remains one of the most controversial among fans.  Vickers would finish a career best 15th in the Points Standings in 2006, before jumping ship to drive for the newly formed Team Red Bull NASCAR team.

Vickers first season at Red Bull was a huge setback; he failed to qualify for 12-of-the-36 races that season (including the Daytona 500).  He only scored one Top 5 finish during the 2007 season at the Coca Cola 600 and finished 38th in points.  The following season Vickers improved, qualifying for ever race and once again nearly winning the spring race at Pocono.  In 2009, Vickers helped Red Bull score it's first ever win in NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway and made the NASCAR Chase for the Cup for the first time in his career.   However, he would finish at the bottom of the Chase Standings in 12th place.

Then during the 2010 season something happened that not only threatened to end Brian Vickers NASCAR career, but his life.   Blood clots would be found in Vickers lungs and legs, and would have to miss the remainder of the season after the 11th race of the season.  He would return in 2011 and run the entire season, but unfortunately Red Bull had announced they would be shutting down their NASCAR team at seasons end and would be out of a ride.

He would race part-time for Michael Waltrip Racing in the Cup Series in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.  In 2013, he scored a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  That win along with a string of Top 10 runs driving Joe Gibbs Racing in the Grand National Series led to his return to the Cup Series in a Full-Time ride for Michael Waltrip Racing.  However, Vickers and his team would be involved in the infamous Spin-gate Scandal where he and Michael Waltrip Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, would manipulate the outcome of the race in order to get their other teammate, Martin Truex Jr. to qualify for the Chase for the Cup.  To make matters worse, Vickers would have to miss the remaking three races of the season due to more blood clots being found.

Vickers would be able to run the entire 2014 season and would score three Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10 finishes.   Vickers best finish would be a 2nd place at the rain-shortened summer Daytona race.   Health problems would once again plague Vickers and he would only run a handful of races for Michael Waltrip Racing and Stewart Haas Racing in the 2015 & 2016 seasons.  Sadly, Vickers hasn't raced in NASCAR since, because his health concerns were just too much of a risk for teams or sponsors to take.  I certainly would not count Vickers as a NASCAR Bust, remember he won a Championship, but his health issues and lack of team stability after leaving Hendrick was what ultimately sunk his once promising career.