Vickers surges into Chase contention with Michigan win

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Brian Vickers pushed himself back into Chase contention with his win at Michigan. Jason Smith/Getty Images Sport

KOONTZ LAKE, Ind. -- With just three races remaining before the Chase, NASCAR has its own version of "Trading Spaces."

Brian Vickers' stock is rapidly rising as the Team Red Bull driver provided the dominant storyline of the weekend at Michigan. He won the pole on Friday, nearly won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, and came back on Sunday to prove he was "good to the last drop," winning the CARFAX 400, a fuel-mileage contest.

The win left Vickers closing in on the 12th and final Chase position, just 21 points behind Mark Martin. Vickers chopped a whopping 115 points off the deficit in one race.

While Vickers is hot, Kyle Busch is not.

After excelling early in the season in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series, Busch is fading fast. He was 23rd on Sunday, dropping to 15th in the standings, and could very easily miss the Chase when the checkered flag drops at Richmond on Sept. 12.

More about Busch's decline later.

Vickers' emergence in the battle for the Chase is impressive, but it shouldn't surprise anyone who knows the driver's studious approach to racing. When it comes to pure intellect, Vickers may be the smartest driver in NASCAR. He was valedictorian of his high school class in Thomasville, N.C., and brings an engineer's approach to the race car.

Eavesdrop on his scanner frequency during a race and you'll find his communication with crew chief Ryan Pemberton to be calm, stoic and analytic -- quite the opposite of what one hears from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who sounds like a bad episode of MTV's The Real World.

If he had not decided to become a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Vickers could have easily worked for NASA. "I've always been fascinated with rocket science and it's something I've always wanted to be involved in," Vickers said. "The prospect of going into space is what has intrigued me the most. I always took engineering classes in school and understood that. There is something about exploring the unknown that has intrigued me."

Some might consider it a waste that Vickers' didn't put his intelligence to better use than driving in circles for a career. "There were people who wondered why I decided to drive race cars, but I had been racing cars for many years through high school, so that wasn't a big surprise to a lot of people," Vickers said. "It has helped some having an understanding of mechanics and how cars work and aerodynamics but I'm by no means an engineer. That is why the crew is there. It helps to relate to them and speak the language. I think it's a huge benefit."

Perhaps that's why Vickers knew just how much fuel to conserve in the closing stages of Sunday's race. He pitted for the last time with 51 laps to go and made the distance. When his former teammate, Jimmie Johnson, ran out of fuel with two laps to go, Vickers was far enough in front of another former teammate, Jeff Gordon, that he could have coasted to the checkered flag if he had to.

But even Vickers wasn't sure in the late stages whether the fuel strategy would work. "I've got to tell you, when you're coming to two laps to go, I'm still sweating bullets, no matter how much confidence you've got," Vickers said. "I don't know how hard [Jimmie Johnson] was pushing his car. I definitely had a little bit left -- I was trying to push him to use more fuel. I felt like I was comfortable where I was using my fuel."

The last time Vickers won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, at Talladega in 2006, he had to virtually head for cover after he drove into the back of his then-Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson and Talladega favorite Earnhardt Jr., crashing both on the last lap.

His biggest concern today is that he still isn't sure if he is returning to Red Bull next season. "We have every intention of getting this done [quickly]," team general manager Jay Frye said. "Every intention has always been to redo this. We're working hard to get it done. We certainly don't want him to go anywhere."

If Vickers makes the Chase, he can certainly increase his leverage in contract negotiations. And on Sunday, he took a big step in that direction with his second career victory.