Vickers Riding High, Eyes Red Bull Win

It's been a good week to be Brian Vickers.

First, he completed what was likely the first-ever live-action pit stop in New York City's Times Square (gotta love the Red Bull marketing ideas; video here) and then ESPN reported that he had signed a multi-year contract extension with Red Bull Racing.

Friday, he won the pole for the LifeLock 400 and figures to be a huge favorite come Sunday's race.

"We had to make a lot of adjustments during practice," said Vickers. "By the end of practice we were really happy with the car and the final lap in practice I told the guys before I even crossed the line, 'I can't ask anything else out of you, it's up to me.' We were either going to be on the pole or I was going to mess it up."

He didn't mess up.

The No. 83 stormed around the two-mile D-shaped Michigan International Speedway with a lap that averaged 189.110 mph -- faster than his pole-winning speed for the same race a year ago.

Now all that's left is to put the whole puzzle together on Sunday and give the three-year-old Red Bull Racing its first Sprint Cup victory.

"We've had the poles and we've had the fast cars," said Vickers. "We had the car to win here last year, right up to the very end of the race we thought we put ourselves in a great position. A late caution came and we got put back several positions under the last caution."

And several of those spots were a mistake by NASCAR that it later admitted. Had it not been for that, Vickers may have topped Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the final laps of a race that saw his blue No. 83 lead 44 of 203 laps.

A win would just be a final period on string of races both this season and last that Vickers looked strong in but couldn't close out. Just three weeks ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Vickers proved to be the only car that could pass Kyle Busch under green flag conditions, but got caught by the final caution for rain that ultimately played into the hands of a gambling David Reutimann.

The rest of the top-5 for Sunday's race include Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Reutimann and Kurt Busch. Point leader Tony Stewart lines up 11th while second-place Jeff Gordon qualified 27th but will start at the tail end of the field after losing an engine during practice.