On Sunday, we received an email question into our studio that suggested that Vickers crew wasn't doing their job. I remembered that their crew had won the all-star event in 2008, but wasn't sure about their performance during races in 2009. I decided to do a bit of homework.
I looked at all the races where Vickers was on pole and figured out how much time he spent in the pits compared to the eventual winner.The evidence is overwhelming - bad pit stops, bad fuel mileage and possibly bad race management has caused Brian Vickers to spend an inordinate amount of time in the pits compared to the winner. Now I understand this can be a bit skewed in one race or two especially if you're on the tail end of the lead lap and you come in to top off or get fresh tires without losing any track position, but week in and week out Vickers is either pitting more or taking longer in the pits.
Check it out for yourself...Brian Vickers has 5 poles this season:
Fontana
Richmond
Michigan
Infineon
Chicagoland
Total pit stop time @ each race: For Vickers and the eventual winner of each race.
Fontana:
Brian Vickers - 126 seconds
Matt Kenseth - 92.60 seconds
Vickers finished in 10th
Richmond:
Brian Vickers - 227.20 seconds
Kyle Busch - 104.80 seconds
Vickers finished in 15th
Michigan:
Brian Vickers - 82.0 seconds
Mark Martin - 57.40 seconds
Vickers finished in 9th
Infineon:
Brian Vickers - 55.20 seconds
Kasey Kahne - 44 seconds
Vickers finished in 16th
Chicagoland
Brian Vickers - 76.60 seconds
Mark Martin - 72.60 seconds
Brian Vickers finished in 7th
If Red Bull is wondering what is holding them back or what they need to improve upon to take that next step, look no further.
