Vickers Speeds to New Hampshire Pole

LOUDON, N.H. (July 16, 2005) – After two solid practice sessions at New Hampshire International Speedway, Brian Vickers knew he had a good car for Sunday’s New England 300. Now he knows just how good. Driving his No. 25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolet in Saturday’s time trials, Vickers earned his third career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pole position with a lightning-fast lap of 29.225 seconds (130.327 mph). The Thomasville, N.C., native will start alongside Kasey Kahne, who picked up the outside pole at 29.244 seconds (130.215 mph). Elliott Sadler will line up third, with Ryan Newman, last year’s pole winner, in fourth. “I’m real proud of this GMAC/ditech.com Chevy team. They’ve done such a good job,” said Vickers, who has eight top-10 qualifying efforts so far this season. “We really focused on race trim, like most people did yesterday in practice. We didn’t even get a chance to really make a qualifying run. “I knew we had a good race car. I didn’t anticipate it being quite this good for qualifying, but I’m very proud of the guys and of everything they’ve done.” Vickers, who became the 12th pole winner of 2005 and earned a berth in the 2006 Budweiser Shootout special event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, is optimistic about GMAC Racing’s chances in Sunday’s 300-lap race. “This team has given me a great car in race trim,” Vickers said. “We really love coming here to New Hampshire. The fans are great and the race track is a lot of fun, so hopefully we’ll have a good race here.” The 21-year-old NEXTEL Cup sophomore was followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who will start seventh, 12th and 21st respectively. Sunday’s New England 300 will be broadcast live by TNT and MRN Radio. Television coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET.