Swing(s) and a Miss

Spring rubbers, air pressure and track bar adjustments, wedge in, wedge out, four tires, two tires — name it and Red Bull Racing tried it to dial in the No. 83 on Sunday at Texas.

Still, Brian Vickers finished 16th in the Samsung 500, just about where he ran all day even though a late two-tire gamble gained him 12 spots to third on the restart. But two tires on a loose Red Bull Toyota were no match for four.

“We tried everything, but we just couldn’t seem to get the car to come alive. We just battled it all day long," Vickers said. “The track tightened up a lot since practice yesterday. The car was loose in traffic, and that is where we were stuck most of the day. Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) and the guys worked hard on pit road to try to make the car better, but we just fought it.”

Vickers moved up one position in points to 19th, and despite consecutive hard-luck finishes last month at Bristol and Martinsville is less than 100 points from the top 12.