Season Preview: GMAC Racing & Brian Vickers

Posted Jan. 13, 2006 Team: Hendrick Motorsports Driver: Brian Vickers Sponsor: GMAC Car Number: 25 Car Owner: Mary Hendrick Crew Chief: Lance McGrew Manufacturer: Chevrolet * * * * * * * * * * BRIAN VICKERS: (HOW WAS YOUR OFF-SEASON?) “I did manage to find some time to relax with family, friends and really did enjoy the holiday season. A part of me wishes we had more time than we do, but there’s also another part of me that’s ready and excited to get things started.” VICKERS: (WHAT’S YOUR PERSPECTIVE AS THINGS RAMP UP TO THE SEASON?) “Generally speaking, I think there’s a lot of excitement. When we went to Daytona in February, it was like we had already run the race before the race even started. There was so much going on during the last off-season with the new 5-25-44 building, new personnel and everything else that there was no time to catch your breath. I don’t think we caught ourselves up until the third or fourth month of the season. We’re better prepared now and I think the results will reflect that.” VICKERS: (ON MISSING DAYTONA TESTING.) “I hate having to miss any time, but given the timing of it all and making sure the impact was minimal, the conclusion was for me to have the surgery, skip Daytona testing and rest in order to be able to get back in the car for the Las Vegas test. I appreciate very much David Green, who agreed to go to Daytona a few days early to help out with the No. 25 Cup test, and Justin Labonte, who will drive the No. 57 car during Busch Series testing.” VICKERS: (WILL THE NO. 25 GMAC RACING TEAM MAKE THE CHASE?) “We have all of the tools to be one of the teams that make the Chase. I feel like I’m more prepared with two seasons behind me in the Cup Series and I think Lance and the team are better prepared. We’re smarter and learned a lot together from last year. I really expect us to be a serious contender to be one of those teams who make the cut.” VICKERS: (WHAT WAS THE MOST EXCITING THING YOU DID DURING THE OFF-SEASON?) “I was able to take a trip to Brazil for the first time. It was a little more difficult to get there than I thought it would be, but it was beautiful. We weren’t in a tourist area, so the only people speaking English were those in our group. I did learn how to say ‘thank you’ in Portuguese, though.” VICKERS: (DID YOU MAKE ANY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS?) “Do you mean besides winning some races (LAUGHING)? I plan to continue trying to reach my goal of learning a second language and to increase my training to be in even better shape. I started taking Spanish lessons last year, but was unable to really get on a regular schedule with them.” * * * * * * * * * * LANCE McGREW: (IS IT NICE TO COME TO DAYTONA TESTING WITH A FULL SEASON BEHIND YOU AT THE NEXTEL CUP LEVEL?) “It’s not so much the experience at the tracks, the schedule, the travel or anything like that. It’s just the people and the fact we have an established team and procedures in place at the track and how we handle situations when they arise. All of that was up in the air at this point last year. There were all new guys, it was all new cars. Everything about it was new and we had to just feel our way through it. We made a lot of mistakes and we fixed them along the way. This year we’re starting at 95 percent, where last year we did everything just to get to the 95 percent level.” McGREW: (HAVE YOU MADE ANY PERSONNEL CHANGES DURING THE OFF-SEASON?) “As far as our early travel crew goes, we made zero changes and even within shop, we’ve made very, very minimal changes. I think we’re all happy with the personnel we have and their ability to work together and get the job done right.” McGREW: (ARE YOU CONFIDENT HEADED INTO THE DAYTONA TEST SESSION?) “At this point of the year, you revisit the things you could have done better and focus on building upon the positives. There were just so many positive things to build upon from 2005, with being able to grow the team, having the crew mesh together and aligning the personalities to where they’re the most productive. I feel like we cleared all of those hurdles last year and it’s a relief not to have to go through that again. We built a lot of momentum from the middle part of the season on, and we’re just going to keep on going.” McGREW: (HOW MUCH DIFFERENT IS IT GOING TO DAYTONA FOR TESTING THIS YEAR AS OPPOSED TO LAST YEAR?) “I think this year is unique because I feel so much better prepared. Last year at this time we had so much going on with the combining of the Nos. 5 and 25 teams, starting the No. 44, moving into a new building and walking into an inventory of cars I wasn’t familiar with. This year, things have settled down. We’ve been producing some fantastic new cars from the speedway group. We’re fortunate enough to be able to go to Daytona with two new cars. It’s exciting.” * * * * * * * * * * DAVID GREEN TESTING ‘25’ AT DAYTONA: Former NASCAR Busch Series champion David Green will test the No. 25 GMAC Chevrolets at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway next week in place of full-time driver Brian Vickers. Vickers, who is scheduled to undergo routine outpatient surgery Monday, will take part in the Las Vegas test session beginning Jan. 30. NEW-LOOK GMAC CHEVROLETS: The fleet of No. 25 GMAC Chevrolets driven by 22-year-old Brian Vickers will have a different look in 2006. Adorned in its new colors (red, white and blue), a redesigned Monte Carlo SS was displayed for the first time during festivities leading up to the Dec. 21 GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. 20TH ANNIVERSARY FOR NO. 25 TEAM: 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports team, which has 29 pole positions and 15 wins since 1986. Tim Richmond won the first race in a Hendrick-owned No. 25 Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway in June 1986. NEW SUPERSPEEDWAY CARS: For the first time since the start of the 2003 Cup season, the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports team will arrive in Daytona Beach, Fla., with two brand new superspeedway cars. During the past two seasons, the team had either put only new bodies on the cars or used machines from the No. 48 team’s inventory. In the Feb. 11 Budweiser Shootout, GMAC Racing crew chief Lance McGrew intends to use an older No. 48 superspeedway car that ran events at Daytona and Talladega, Ala., in 2005. VICKERS RACING BUSCH SERIES AT DAYTONA: Driving a No. 57 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Vickers is scheduled to compete in the Feb. 18 NASCAR Busch Series event at Daytona International Speedway. Vickers won the Busch Series championship in 2003 before moving to the NEXTEL Cup Series fulltime in 2004. 2005 NOTEWORTHY: Brian Vickers finished 17th in the final NEXTEL Cup standings in 2005, an improvement of eight positions over 2004 … 2005 marked the best season-ending points position for No. 25 team since 2001 … Vickers won the NEXTEL Open at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge … Captured the third pole position of his Cup career at New Hampshire International Speedway in July 2005 … Ranked eighth amongst all drivers in miles led in 2005 … Led the most laps in races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (May) and Pocono Raceway (June) … Earned a Cup Series career-best finish of second at Pocono in June. * * * * * * * * * * MEDIA INFORMATION: Chris Haid, GMAC Racing & Brian Vickers 704-455-0654 [email protected]