By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Brian Vickers, driver for the No. 83 Toyota, was in the garage at Charlotte during practice today advising his replacement driver, Casey Mears. Vickers is officially out for the remainder of the Sprint Cup season due to those blood clots he developed right before Dover. Since he’s now on blood thinners, he can drive but can’t crash, because of the potentially catastrophic nature of even minor injuries he could sustain. Mears will finish out the season in his place, and while that sucks for Vickers, it’s awesome that since being taken out he has been pretty much everywhere the 83 car is, talking with Mears about the car and helping out his team. The guy has been such a trooper that I’m sure he’s going to rebound just fine from what for anyone else could be a potentially career-ending setback.

Vickers has joined the abc broadcast team in the booth, where he’ll sit tight for the duration of the Nationwide race. Tune in now to watch!

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By Jen

Editor

Despite an overnight drenching, on-and-off showers throughout the morning, and groundwater burbling up through seams in the track, NASCAR went ahead with the Auto Club 500 yesterday, and the results were pretty sub-par. Denny Hamlin went into the wall early on, then later No. 5 driver Casey Mears got loose after hitting a wet patch, taking out two other cars and slamming the wall before getting plowed by former Indy driver Sam Hornish Jr., who pushed the No. 5 car onto its roof while his own engine exploded into flames. The cars lined up with their rain covers on under the red flag while FOX switched between the soggy scene and an endless procession of regular programming, making for one of the most obnoxious viewer experiences in recent motorsports history. They didn’t even call postponement until nearly 11pm! The race is scheduled to resume on FOX now, but a lot of us are at work and can’t watch it. Someone let me know what’s happening!