Painting the Town with Speed

He never got the chance to qualify the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota. A steady drizzle took care of that Thursday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. But at least Scott Speed got to show off his creative side as he welcomed media members to the Red Bull Energy Station.

Two young and talented graffiti artists were on hand, decorating custom white ball caps any and every way possible while Speed chatted it up with reporters. Later that day, word came down that NASCAR had called qualifying.

“For sure, it’s disappointing that qualifying got rained out because my crew and I were really looking forward to getting on track and racing a third car for Red Bull,” he said. “I’ve raced a Truck at Lowe’s, and I’ve also tested a Cup car here, so we thought it would be a good place for my first Cup race. I guess we still have two good things going for us, though — that I’ve also raced at Martinsville, and that we only have to wait another week to make our Cup debut.”

Speed will take over the No. 84 for the final five races. But first he’ll try to lock up the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship Sunday in Toledo, Ohio.

Brian Vickers and Mike Skinner will race Saturday night. The lineup was set on car owner points, with BV’s No. 83 starting 17th and Skinner’s No. 84 rolling off 34th. They’ll have two practice sessions today (5 and 6:20 p.m. ET).