Desert Stormed

Brian Vickers took a “really good, hard hit” when an undetermined problem sent the No. 83 crashing early in Sunday’s race at Phoenix. The incident looked similar to Vickers’ tire blowout last month at Talladega — sudden, unexpected and out of control, only he was going nearly as fast.

“In baseball, it’s very rare that your glove falls apart and you’re trying to catch a ball. It’s a pretty durable piece of equipment,” said Vickers, who finished 42nd. “In racing it happens a lot, and it’s very frustrating. It’s just something you have to factor in and limit as much as possible. We’ve gotten much, much better at it at Red Bull.”

Teammate Scott Speed endured his own tale of woe. After the smoke cleared from a nine-car crash, Speed found himself with a face full of fuel cell. The rear end of David Gilliland’s No. 38 came to rest on the No. 84’s windshield, spitting out flames from the exhaust. Speed emerged unscathed, but went home in 40th.

“Dude, I saw flames, and I was out of there. I was SO out,” Speed said. “I didn’t know if his car was catching on fire or the fire was coming from my car. I didn’t wait too long to find out.”