Top 15

In the NASCAR debut year for Team Red Bull, Crew Chief Doug Richert has high hopes for his driver Brian Vickers. In the following interview her talks about talent, experience and the team’s chemistry.

New car, new team, new drivers: which challenge are you most looking forward to, and which might you perhaps be a little uncertain about?

The challenge I’m looking most forward to is being part of a new team that’s helping a new manufacturer (Toyota) get off the ground. We’re facing a lot of challenges, both in the long term and in the short term. A long-term challenge for us is to get the chemistry of the team going and to have the entire crew working well together. One of our biggest short-term challenges is to qualify. Once we get past that, we’ll work on the bigger picture. There aren’t any elements that I’m uncertain about. I’m not uncertain about the car, team or our drivers. We know we have good people and good equipment. Now we just have to use that to our best ability.

Why is Brian Vickers the right driver for Team Red Bull? What attributes does he have that will make him a future “NASCAR Champion?”

Brian has a lot of qualities that make him a great driver. He’s young - just 23 years old - but he’s a very mature 23-year-old. He has a really good head on his shoulders and is very focused on his driving. He’s thorough and gives really good feedback on the car, which is important to help the crew do their job.

What impression do you have of the team-mate of your protégé, AJ Allmendinger?

I think AJ is going to do really well in the Cup Series once he gets past the learning curve of being new to stock cars. He has a lot of talent, but he comes from a completely different type of racing, which is a challenge for any driver. Give him some time and experience, and he’ll be competitive.

What will have to happen this season in order for you to be able to say you're satisfied at the end of the year?

I’d love to finish the year in the top 15 in points. That would be a good year. We need to have strong, consistent runs in order to achieve this, but I think it can be done.