Brian Vickers hopes MWR success at Sonoma continues

Number 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver Brian Vickers says NASCAR Sprint Cup racing on road courses is so exciting it’s time the sport’s leaders take it global. He believes Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway will be as good a race as any motorsports fan will watch on a road course in 2014.

Vickers has good reason to think he and Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Clint Bowyer will be part of Sunday’s excitement. MWR’s success— two consecutive victories and four top-five finishes in the last six races—plus Vickers’ experience gained racing sports cars around the world make the No. 55 team one of the race favorites.

“Road racing is something I’m excited about," Vickers said. " I think the time I spent overseas road racing really helped me a lot. I’m really looking forward to Sonoma -- that is sort of one I have circled so to speak. There are certain tracks that you look forward to. I like to race there and the team has good cars there. Road racing is wild and interesting. Our road racing is the best in the world. There’s a lot of great road racing out there -- Le Mans was going on last weekend and I had the opportunity to race there. That is an awesome event, but unquestionably I think our cars put on a better show on a road course. I would love to see our sport expand. Everybody talks about adding more road races and I’m all for it, but just don’t add another Watkins Glen. I love Watkins Glen, but let’s go somewhere else, let’s go international, let’s go to other continents -- if we’re going to add road racing let’s go to new markets. I think NASCAR will put on the best road race that any road race track we’ve gone to has ever seen. I love those tracks around the world. I think the time I spent in sports cars made me like them even more.”

Despite the emphasis on wins in NASCAR this season, Vickers thinks points are still important. “You look at history and that would tell us that there’s not going to be 16 winners coming into the Chase after 26 races, but history changes right? There’s always a first time for everything. Our goal as a team is to stay as high in the points as we can and get a win. We’d love for the Aaron’s Dream Machine to have multiple wins, but we’re focused on both. I don’t think we can just throw the points out the window. Even though everything that has been done to the points is to emphasize winning, the guy that would have won the championship last year never would have won a race. So, I don’t think you can throw the points out the window yet.”

MWR