Red Bull's Best Weekend
Not-so-fresh rubber was all that separated the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota from victory. A late caution was all that kept the No. 84 from its first top-10 finish. But second place isn’t bad, and neither is 12th.
Statistically, the Pocono 500 weekend was Red Bull Racing Team’s best in the Sprint Cup Series. Brian Vickers earned the team’s best finish in its brief existence when the No. 83 led 18 laps before finishing second to Kasey Kahne. Teammate AJ Allmendinger, who qualified eighth in the No. 84, ran a career-best 12th and gained significant ground on the top 35.
“I felt like we had the best car on the race track at the end of the race,” Brian said. “We just didn’t have any tires.”
Brian pitted on lap 165 for four tires and fuel and stayed on the track when the yellow flag waved 12 laps later. Kahne, riding on Goodyear Eagles with a slightly longer lifespan, took the lead on lap 184, while Brian fought off Denny Hamlin the rest of the way to hold second.
With his second top five of the season and fourth at Pocono, Brian moved up two spots in points to 17th. He’s 112 points out of the Chase’s 12th and final berth.
“I’m pleased, but not satisfied,” Brian said. “I had a really good car there at the end and good strategy — and a good finish.”
AJ held a spot in the top 10 for the most of the day and kept flirting with the top five. The No. 84 took four tires during a green-flag stop on lap 174, but the caution quickly waved a few laps later and AJ got stuck back in 23rd. Still, he rallied for the best points finish of his career and moved to 37th in the car owner standings. He’s 140 points out of the top 35.
“The 84 guys have been on their ‘A’ game for qualifying,” AJ said. “I feel a lot more comfortable in running in qualifying, going and getting a lap and still making the race and not overdoing it. But, we’ve just been missing that good race to go out there. So, it’s good to finally just put everything together.”
posted by Bull Rider at 8:10 AM
28 Comments:
Can we please go back to Team Red Bull? Red Bull Racing Team is lame sounding. No one else does it like that. It isn't Joe Gibbs Racing Team or Hendrick Motorsports Team. Please? I know it's on all the stuff for this year, but we'll get new stuff next year. Please can we go back to TRB?
i agree
I agree
I agree too!
red bull racing team kicks ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol. I prefer Red Bull Racing. "Team Red Bull" reminds me of the struggles of last year. "Red Bull Racing" sounds more like weekly contenders. Just how I feel about it :)
"Red Bull Racing" is fine, too. It would show some uniformity with our brothers over in F1.
AWESOME runs yesterday for both teams!!! Second & 12th are nothing to sneeze at! Keep it up!
(By the way, I agree - the name does need some tweaking.)
KCMO
What a great day for the teams and RB. If AJ hadnt gotten screwed by the yellow flag we could have had both cars in the top 5! Lets keep up the good work guys!! If they keep running like this who cares what they call them lol.
Way to go AJ!!!
its not team joe gibbs or team hendrick motorsports either.
But I think a lot of us agree that Team Red Bull sounds better than Red Bull Racing Team. It's different in a good way.
And it DOES matter. One of the pleasures of being a fan is being able to wear merchandise that you're proud of. If the thing you like has a stupid sounding name, it makes it less fun to wear their merchandise.
And that's not the only reason.u
I've been calling it Red Bull Racing, and so many others have. Let's just drop the team. TRB reminds a lot of people of the 2007 season and the struggles. Either way, I don't care what we call it! BV and AJ are kicking butt and that is all that matters. Without them, there would be NO TRB/RBRT.
Pretty good day, when all we have to complain about is the name of the team! :-) Call it what yall want, as long as we keep having days like yesterday! And by the way...They ARE different than Gibbs and HMS!
It's nice to hear everyone talking about Red Bull Racing. I think after this weekend, they won't think of us as a start up team or a new team. We are for real and now we have wings! Keep racing hard and we will be on Victory Lane soon. Great job both teams!
congrats to all the guys at team red bull/red bull racing or whatever they are calling it
I cant believe you people....if you're not complaining about the drivers or the car, you're complaining about the team name. Whether "team" is before OR after redbull doesnt matter!
The whole sport is there because of the fans. If there are no fans, the money doesn't flow and there is no sport. The least they can do is "team" in the right place on their t-shirts.
It is great to see both teams back up the qualifying and finally get the luck that they haven't gotten this year. The cars just keep getting better and better.
And for the record I like Red Bull Racing.
Why doesn't the management or whoever makes the decision just put it up for a poll somewhere and let that be it?
I like Team Racing Red Bull Racing Team. The best of both worlds!
Bill, I think they did make the decision. On the website, before the year started, it was Red Bull racing team. I can't believe people are this torqued about something like this!
It was nice to finally have Red Bull get a lot of airtime. They showed them like they do the big boys and made several really nice compliments on their accomplishments. We're getting there boys!! Keep your heads up because victory is coming!!!!!!!!
It's kinda childish to be whining about the team name in the first place. It's not up to the fans to decide. It is what it is, people. Let it grow on you or call it whatever you want.
RBRT is going to smokin up the field this summer with some victories in site.
Have you guys seen all the positive articles written this week about Brian and AJ!?!? It's awesome to see! I don't care what the name is, as long as BV and AJ keep driving hard like they did Sunday at Pocono. Good luck to everyone this weekend at Michigan.
WE BELIEVE!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Not sure why anyone would come to this site that's not a Red Bull fan and write a post that needs to be removed. Why don't they go to their driver's site and post there, stay away from our Red Bull blog!!! We believe here and know we have a strong team and fan base!
Brian and AJ, keep your heads up. we have a win on it's way!!! We know now you both can do it!!!!
It's great to hear all the positive things being said.
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