Background and career
Brian Lee Vickers (born October 24, 1983) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last drove the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for Stewart–Haas Racing as an interim driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the injured Tony Stewart in 2016. He won the 2003 NASCAR Busch Series championship driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Vickers was also among the first series of full-time drivers for Toyota after the manufacturer first entered the Sprint Cup Series. Vickers's career has been marred by a series of health issues since 2010 that have included blood clots and heart problems.
Vickers began racing go-karts in 1994. Over the next three years, he won eighty races in the World Karting Association, and won three championships, including the 1995 championship against three-time winner Mike Schwartz. In 1998, he moved to the Allison Legacy Series and won five races during the course of the season. After competing in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series in 1999, he moved to USAR ProCup and was named Rookie of the Year. He won two races in 2000. In 2001, he won five more races and finished 2nd in points. Vickers made his Busch Series debut in the 2001 GNC Live Well 250 at Milwaukee in the No. 29 car, owned by his father Clyde Vickers 's BLV Motorsports team. He qualified 30th and finished 37th after a crash. Vickers ran three more races that season; his best finish was 25th at North Carolina. In 2002, Vickers began running the Busch Series in his father's No. 40 Dodge Intrepid. He drove in twenty-one races, competing for Rookie of the Year honors; his best finish was 7th in the Hardee's 250 at Richmond, his only Top 10 of the season on his way to finishing 30th in series points.
After 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 fourteen points over David Green. Vickers became the then-youngest champion in Busch Series history at only twenty years old. Vickers made his Cup debut in the 2003 UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte; qualifying 20th and finishing 33rd in the No. 60 Haas Automation Chevy. He ran four more races that season in Hendrick's No. 25 UAW/Delphi Chevy; qualifying in the Top 5 each time. He almost won 2 poles at Phoenix & Rockingham, but posted only one Top 20 finish.
In 2004, Vickers ran the No. 25 in the Cup Series full-time, carrying sponsorship from Ditech and GMAC. He won two poles, had four Top 10's, and finished 3rd behind Kasey Kahne and Brendan Gaughan for Rookie of the Year.
In 2005, Vickers won the Nextel Open exhibition race. He was right behind Mike Bliss on the last lap. Rather than make a move to go around Bliss, Vickers ran into the back of the No. 0, spinning him out. Vickers went on to win. That qualified him for the annual Nextel All-Star Challenge, in which he finished 3rd. Vickers finished the year 17th in Cup points with ten Top 10's, including career runs at the Pocono 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. He also returned to the Busch Series in a limited capacity in 2005, and finished 3rd at Watkins Glen in the No. 5. He drove five other races in the No. 57.
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 10's, 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 Team Red Bull in 2007. In the UAW-Ford 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading with Jimmie Johnson in 2nd and Vickers in 3rd on the final lap. Going down the backstretch, Johnson attempted to pass Dale Jr. on the inside, and Vickers tried to follow Jimmie and bump draft him past Earnhardt. Unfortunately, Vickers was too late to follow Johnson to the inside and instead hooked Jimmie in the right rear, causing Johnson to turn right into Dale Jr., and the two went spinning down to the infield to bring out the caution. Vickers went on to score his first victory. Johnson was livid with Vickers, and both he and his crew chief Chad Knaus questioned Vickers's motives with the bump, leading Knaus to state that Vickers had "run out of talent" prior to wrecking his teammate. Fortunately for Vickers, Johnson ended up winning the 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway leaving that race at Talladega behind. In 2006, Vickers also won a one-off race for Hendrick in the Autozone West Series at Sonoma.
