| Brian Vickers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vickers atMartinsville Speedway in 2016 | |||||||
| Born | Brian Lee Vickers (1983-10-24)October 24, 1983 (age 42) Thomasville, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||
| Weight | 157 lb (71 kg) | ||||||
| Achievements | 2003 NASCAR Busch Series Champion | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 323 races run over 14 years | |||||||
| 2016 position | 42nd | ||||||
| Best finish | 12th (2009) | ||||||
| First race | 2003UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| Last race | 2016Duck Commander 500 (Texas) | ||||||
| First win | 2006UAW-Ford 500 (Talladega) | ||||||
| Last win | 2013Camping World RV Sales 301 (New Hampshire) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career | |||||||
| 148 races run over 12 years | |||||||
| 2013 position | 10th | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st (2003) | ||||||
| First race | 2001GNC Live Well 250 (Milwaukee) | ||||||
| Last race | 2013Dollar General 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| First win | 2003Kroger 200 (IRP) | ||||||
| Last win | 2003Stacker 200 Presented by YJ Stinger (Dover) | ||||||
| |||||||
| ARCA Menards Series West career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 42nd (2006) | ||||||
| First race | 2006 Blue Lizard Australian Suncream 200 (Sonoma) | ||||||
| |||||||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |||||||
| Years | 2012 | ||||||
| Teams | AF Corse | ||||||
| Best finish | 6th in class | ||||||
| Class wins | 0 | ||||||
| Statistics up to date as of April 10, 2016. | |||||||
Brian Lee Vickers (born October 24, 1983)[1] is an American former professionalstock car racing driver. He last drove the No. 14Chevrolet SS forStewart–Haas Racing as an interim driver in theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the injuredTony Stewart. He won the2003 NASCAR Busch Series championship driving forHendrick Motorsports. Vickers was also among the first series of full-time drivers forToyota after the manufacturer first entered theSprint Cup Series.
Vickers' career has been marred by a series of health issues since 2010 that have includedblood clots andheart problems.
Vickers began racing go-karts in 1994. Over the next three years, he won eighty races in theWorld Karting Association, and won three championships, including the 1995 championship against three-time winner Mike Schwartz. In 1998, he moved to theAllison Legacy Series and won five races during the course of the season. After competing in the NASCARDodge Weekly Racing Series in 1999, he moved toUSAR ProCup and was named Rookie of the Year. He won two races in 2000. In 2001, he won five more races and finished second in points.
Vickers made hisBusch Series debut in the2001GNC Live Well 250 atMilwaukee in the No. 29 car, owned by his fatherClyde Vickers 's BLV Motorsports team. He qualified thirtieth and finished thirty-seventh after a crash. Vickers ran three more races that season; his best finish was 25th atNorth Carolina. In2002, Vickers began running the Busch Series in his father's No. 40Dodge Intrepid. He drove in twenty-one races, competing forRookie of the Year honors;[2] his best finish was seventh in theHardee's 250 atRichmond, his only top ten of the season on his way to finishing thirtieth in series points.[3]
After a lack of funding for his family-owned team, Vickers was hired to replaceRicky Hendrick in the No. 5GMAC-sponsoredChevrolet owned byHendrick Motorsports.[4] In2003, Vickers won three races and the championship by fourteen points overDavid Green. Vickers became the then-youngest champion in Busch Series history at only twenty years old. Vickers made his Cup debut in the2003UAW-GM Quality 500 atCharlotte; qualifying twentieth and finishing 33rd in the No. 60Haas Automation-sponsored Chevy. He ran four more races that season in Hendrick's No. 25UAW/Delphi-sponsored Chevy; qualifying in the top-five each time, but posting only one top-twenty finish.
In2004, Vickers ran the No. 25 in the Cup Series full-time, carrying sponsorships fromDitech andGMAC. He won two poles, had four top-tens, and finished third behindKasey Kahne andBrendan Gaughan forRookie of the Year.
In2005, Vickers won theNextel Open exhibition race. He was right behindMike 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 annualNextel All-Star Challenge, in which he finished third. Vickers finished the year seventeenth in Cup points with ten top tens, including career runs at thePocono 500 and theCoca-Cola 600. He also returned to the Busch Series in a limited capacity in2005, and finished third atWatkins Glen in the No. 5. He drove five other races in the No. 57.
Vickers started out the2006 season with a seventh-place finish in theDaytona 500. He went on to finish fifteenth in points with nine top tens, including a win atTalladega. However, the season was marred by conflicts within Hendrick Motorsports. On June 25, Vickers announced that he would leave Hendrick and drive for the newTeam Red Bull in2007. In theUAW-Ford 500,Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading withJimmie Johnson in second and Vickers in third on the final lap. Going down the backstretch, Johnson attempted to pass Dale Jr. on the inside, and Vickers tried to follow Jimmie andbump 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 chiefChad Knaus questioned Vickers' motives with the bump,[5] leading Knaus to state that Vickers had "run out of talent" prior to wrecking his teammate.[6] Fortunately for Vickers, Johnson ended up winning the 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series Championship atHomestead-Miami Speedway leaving that race at Talladega behind. In 2006, Vickers also won a one-off race for Hendrick in theAutozone West Series atSonoma.
In2007, Vickers drove the No. 83Red Bull-sponsoredToyota Camry for the newTeam Red Bull, with crew chiefDoug Richert, as a teammate toA. J. Allmendinger. This season started out poorly when Vickers suffered a blown tire during his qualifying race for theDaytona 500, causing him to fail to qualify. The next week, the team regrouped, however, and scored a tenth-place finish in their first outing, theAuto Club 500 atCalifornia, which was coincidentally Toyota's first top-ten in the Cup Series. Two weeks later, Vickers led Toyota's first lap in the Cup Series atAtlanta.
On May 27, 2007, Vickers gave Toyota its first top-five ever in theCoca-Cola 600. Toyota brought a new engine to Charlotte, and Vickers showed its potential and surprised many by leading more than seventy laps of the race and having the dominant car. However, towards the end of the race, the power steering of the vehicle began to fail and eventually ceased operation completely. The team's luck continued to decline as Vickers soon blew a tire and slid into the turn four wall. Immediately as Vickers entered pit road, the caution flew for debris on the track; supposedly from his car. This was a saving grace, as it allowed the No. 83 car to stay on the lead lap, albeit off the pace and out of contention for the win. Richert managed to salvage the race through pit strategy, enabling Vickers to score a fifth-place finish.
Late in the 2007 season, Richert was fired from Team Red Bull and replaced by Randy Cox, who was formerly employed on Team Red Bull's Research and Development team. Vickers struggled for the remainder of the season as Team Red Bull began to focus on developing itsCar of Tomorrow program, which would start competing full-time the next season. The resulting inattention to its "current car" program severely hampered Vickers' efforts during the remaining races of that platform.[citation needed] It was another problem in a long line for the entire Red Bull organization, as Vickers finished thirty-eighth in points and failed to qualify for thirteen races while his teammate Allmendinger missed nineteen races and finished forty-third. One of Vickers' failures to make the race was due to a disqualification from the lineup of the2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300, after his car failed post-qualifying inspection three times. Overall, Vickers scored one top five and five top tens in 23 starts with an average finish of 25.1, along with 5 DNFS.
In2008, Vickers, with new crew chief Kevin Hamlin, qualified for the fiftieth running of theDaytona 500 after racing himself in the field with an eleventh-place finish in theGatorade Duel. He went on to make the next four races with an average finish of twenty-first, including a ninth-place finish at Atlanta.
Vickers' pit crew won the 2008Pit Crew Challenge during the All-Star weekend. Vickers went on the next weekend and led sixty-one laps in theCoca-Cola 600 before he lost his left rear wheel and crashed about halfway through the race. Vickers then followed up with a second-place run at Pocono to Kasey Kahne. Vickers made every race that season in 2008, scoring three top fives and six top tens with an average finish of 20.7 while finishing an improved nineteenth in the standings.
For the2009 season, Vickers got a new crew chief: Ryan Pemberton. It was announced that he has picked up an additional sponsor in Mighty Auto Parts.
Vickers' season began with controversy in theDaytona 500.Dale Earnhardt Jr. got a run on the backstretch to the inside of Vickers, but Vickers blocked. Earnhardt Jr. clipped the left rear fender, getting Vickers loose, sending him into the field. Vickers said after the race that Earnhardt should have been black-flagged. Earnhardt later stated that he was unaware that Vickers was a lap down, and that both were fighting for theLucky Dog position. Earnhardt later apologized.
Vickers won the pole for theAuto Club 500, but had to go to the rear because of anengine change. Vickers went on to finish tenth.
Vickers ran in the top five all day during theKobalt Tools 500. In the final laps, Vickers was chasing downKurt Busch for the win, butRobby Gordon blew a tire to bring out the caution, allowingJeff Gordon andCarl Edwards to catch Vickers on the restart. Vickers finished fifth.
Vickers won his second pole of the season for theCrown Royal 400 at Richmond. Vickers would finish fifteenth in that race.
On June 10, 2009, Team Red Bull conducted a promotional pit stop inNew York City. Brian pulled the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota to the side of the road, and the team changed four tires inTimes Square with traffic still moving around them.
Vickers won his third pole of the season for theLifelock 400 atMichigan. Vickers never led a lap in the race and earned a ninth-place finish.
Vickers won his fourth pole of the season for theToyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. Vickers finished sixteenth in that race.
Vickers won his fifth pole of the season for theLifelock.com 400 atChicagoland. Vickers finished seventh in the race.
Vickers won his sixth pole of the season at Michigan. He also won the pole for theCarfax 250. In the Nationwide race, he and his former teammateKyle Busch were racing hard for the lead on the final lap, allowing the NASCAR rookieBrad Keselowski to pass both of them for the win. After the race, Busch confronted Vickers on pit road, accusing him of rough driving.[7]
The next day, Vickers won theCarfax 400 from the pole for his second career Sprint Cup victory, Red Bull's first victory, and Toyota's first victory at Michigan. He did so after a late race gamble of not coming in to pit during the race's final caution. On the final restart, Vickers was first and Jimmie Johnson was second. With a little over forty laps to go, Vickers stayed behind Johnson most of the time, trying to save fuel. With just over three laps to go, Johnson ran out of fuel, while Vickers barely had enough to claim the win. This victory was also the first one for Red Bull Racing and the first for Red Bull's sponsorship in NASCAR.
Two days after the win, Vickers signed a multi-year extension with Red Bull.
After finishing seventh in theChevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond, Vickers clinched a spot in the 2009Chase for the Sprint Cup. He would finish twelfth in the standings, his highest points finish to date. His six poles in 2009 were second to Mark Martin's seven for most poles of the year. Vickers also had four top fives and thirteen top tens with an average finish of 17.3.
On May 13, 2010, it was announced that Vickers, who had earned three top-tens in the first eleven races, would not be participating in theAutism Speaks 400 atDover International Speedway due to an undisclosed medical condition, later revealed to be blood clots in his legs and around his lungs.[8]Casey Mears was announced as his replacement. This ended a streak of 87 consecutive starts, which dated back to Atlanta in 2007.[8] Vickers hoped to run a handful of laps before handing the car over to a relief driver in order to earn points, but was not medically cleared.[8]
On May 21, 2010, six days after being released from a hospital for the aforementioned blood clot issue, it was announced that Vickers would miss the remainder of the season. His replacements wereCasey Mears,Reed Sorenson,Mattias Ekstrom,[9]Boris Said, andKasey Kahne.[10] Vickers' abbreviated 2010 season consisted of three top-tens in eleven races.
Vickers was cleared to race in 2011. His season started out inthe big one atDaytona, where he finished 31st. A week later atPhoenix, he was involved in the big one again whenMatt Kenseth and he made contact, triggering a thirteen-car pileup. Vickers was involved in two other notable run-ins with Kenseth in the fall races atMartinsville andPhoenix as well as run-ins withTony Stewart atSonoma,Marcos Ambrose atRichmond, andJamie McMurray atMartinsville. He would finish the year 25th in points with seven top-tens. After the season's end, Red Bull shut down its Cup Series team, leaving Vickers without a ride for 2012.BK Racing bought the assets and offered Vickers a ride for 2012, but he declined, leaving Vickers on the sidelines.
Vickers started the 2012 season without a ride, but it was announced in early March that he would drive the No. 55 Toyota forMichael Waltrip Racing at both races at Bristol, Martinsville, and Loudon, sharing the ride withMark Martin andMichael Waltrip.[11] In his first race in the No. 55, Vickers dominated the first half of the race, leading for 125 laps. He would eventually finish fifth. On March 30, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that Vickers would drive at Sonoma, and Watkins Glen, expanding his race schedule to eight races in the No. 55.[12] Vickers also drove the team'sAF Corse-Waltrip No. 61 Ferrari in the GTE-AM class for theFIA World Endurance Championship at the6 Hours of Spa and the24 Heures du Mans. Vickers announced at the fall Martinsville race that he renewed his contract with MWR and will race nine more times in the No. 55 car next year, sharing the ride with Mark Martin (24) and Michael Waltrip (3). Additionally, Vickers will return to the Nationwide Series full-time, driving forJoe Gibbs Racing.[13]
For his 2013 season, Vickers performed well at Bristol. His second ride in the No. 55 at Martinsville was unlucky. He had crashed in the early laps and, after repairing his car, got back on the lead lap and then spun around. After again getting back on the lead lap, on the final lap of the race, he passedDanica Patrick for eleventh place. Seconds later, he was intentionally spun byKevin Harvick, who was angry with Vickers for prior contact. In reply, Vickers bumped Harvick when entering pit road after the race was over; he climbed out, and the two briefly argued. Vickers ran the No. 11 FedEx Toyota atTexas,Kansas, andRichmond for an injuredDenny Hamlin. Though Hamlin returned atTalladega for theAaron's 499, Vickers substituted for him on lap 23, though he was eventually collected inThe Big One less than fifteen laps after the switch.[14]
At Sonoma, Vickers started in 34th place in his 3rd ride for MWR in the No. 55 Toyota. He led 4 laps and had a very fast racecar, even though he had to start at the rear of the field becauseJason Bowles had qualified the car as Vickers was racing atRoad America. While his MWR teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer ended up in the top ten, with Truex winning, Vickers ended up in thirteenth place.
Vickers led 63 laps in the Nationwide Series race atNew Hampshire Motor Speedway but finished second toKyle Busch. Ironically, the next day, Vickers held off Busch to win his third career Sprint Cup Series race during the2013 Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire after making a late race pass onTony Stewart, and retaining the lead on agreen-white-checkered finish as Stewart ran out of fuel.[15] For Vickers, this broke a 75-race winless streak (not counting the races he had missed in 2010). On August 13, 2013, Vickers was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 55 for the 2014 and 2015 seasons;[16] on August 19, it was announced that following the release ofMark Martin to substitute for the injuredTony Stewart, Vickers would drive the No. 55 in twelve of the season's final 13 races, the exception being Talladega, whereMichael Waltrip will drive the car, as previously scheduled.[17]
After theFederated Auto Parts 400 in early September, Vickers was determined to be one of the drivers involved in an attempt to manipulate the race soMichael Waltrip Racing teammateMartin Truex Jr. would earn a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The team was fined a record $300,000, and fifty championship points were deducted per car.[18]
On October 14, 2013, it was announced that Vickers would be forced to sit out the rest of the season due to the discovery of a blood clot in his right calf, a similar issue to the one that caused him to sit out much of 2010;[19]Elliott Sadler substituted for Vickers in the No. 55 Sprint Cup car in the final four races of the season.[20]
In August 2013, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that Vickers would drive the No. 55 full-time starting in 2014.[21] Billy Scott was named Vickers' crew chief, having previously served as lead engineer of the No. 55 team for the past two seasons.[22][23] Vickers' best finish of the year was a second at theCoke Zero 400 at Daytona when the rain came in and Vickers missed a huge 25 car pileup and a fourth at Texas when he took two tires on the final stop.
On December 15, 2014, it was announced that Vickers would miss part of the2015 season due to health issues. Vickers said that his body had been rejecting an artificial patch that had been inserted in 2010 to fix a hole in his heart. He had corrective surgery in December to repair the hole, which was a success, and said that he would need time for rest and rehabilitation. Vickers implied in January that he would only miss a few races.[24] On January 21, 2015, it was announced that Vickers had been medically cleared to return to racing in March, with his season debut expected atLas Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8.[25][26] It was also announced that NASCAR had granted him a waiver to make him eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship should he qualify.[26]
Vickers' replacements in the 55 were team bossMichael Waltrip and MWR test driverBrett Moffitt. Before the2015 Auto Club 400, it was announced that Vickers would again be sidelined because of more blood clots. While Vickers is sidelined, his sponsor on the 55 car would beJanssen Pharmaceutica and their brand ofXarelto. His replacement would again be Moffitt.[27] The same week, Vickers also announced he would be taking blood thinner medication and cannot race for at least three months. On April 28, MWR announced thatDavid Ragan would drive the 55 for the rest of the season. Vickers did not run another race for the rest of 2015.
With his racing future uncertain, Vickers joinedNASCAR on NBC as an analyst and worked selected Sprint Cup races on the network during the season.[28]
In 2016,Stewart–Haas Racing hired Vickers as an interim driver of its No. 14Chevrolet SS for all the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events with all sponsors besidesBass Pro Shops (whichTy Dillon was hired for) afterTony Stewart was injured in asand rail accident.[29] Vickers' best finish of the season was seventh at Martinsville for the running of theSTP 500.[30]
The son of Clyde and Ramona Vickers,[31] Vickers was born inThomasville, North Carolina, and now resides in a suburb ofNew York City.
He was married to Sarah Kellen (user of the alias Sarah Kensington), who is known for her alleged role as the "sex scheduler" inJeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking of underage girls.[32][33] On April 14, 2025, it was announced that Vickers and Kellen had officially divorced after 10 years of marriage.[34][35]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 35 | 39 |
| 2005 | 28 | 21 | ||
| 2006 | 35 | 7 | ||
| 2007 | Team Red Bull | Toyota | DNQ | |
| 2008 | 23 | 12 | ||
| 2009 | 6 | 39 | ||
| 2010 | 22 | 15 | ||
| 2011 | 27 | 31 | ||
| 2014 | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 31 | 30 |
| 2016 | Stewart–Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 18 | 26 |
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
2 Despite being ineligible for Cup Series points that season, Vickers was also penalized 50 Cup Series points at fall Richmond for his team's involvement in a race manipulation scheme.
| NASCAR Autozone West Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | NAWC | Pts | Ref | ||||
| 2006 | Hendrick Motorsports | 17 | Chevy | PHO | PHO | S99 | IRW | SON 1* | DCS | IRW | EVG | S99 | CAL | CTS | AMP | 42nd | 185 | [62] | ||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 |  AF Corse-Waltrip |  Rob Kauffmann Rui Águas | Ferrari 458 Italia GT | LM GTE Am | 294 | 31st | 6th |
On Monday, Vickers posted on X that he and wife Sarah Kellen were getting divorced after 10 years of marriage.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | NASCAR Busch Series Champion 2003 | Succeeded by |
