index

He picked up fourth position on lap 84 and worked his way into third five laps later. With three laps to go, Kahne took over the second position and was closing on leader Dave Darland. Despite having a faster car, Kahne ran out of time and out of laps before he was able to catch Darland. In his first National Midgets race in more than four years, Kahne brought home the No. 67 Seymour Paint car in second place. "It has been a couple years since I?ve raced a USAC Sprint Car at Irwindale Speedway, so I was really looking forward to driving the Seymour Paint car here tonight," said Kahne. "It just took us a long time to get to the front. The Seymour Paint car was really fast tonight, and if we could have caught just one more yellow flag, we could have had a shot at it."
Kahne began racing sprint cars in his home state of Washington at the age of 17. In 1998 he gained the attention of the sprint car world by finishing fifth in the "Turkey Night" classic at Bakersfield, California, and earned the Don Basile Rookie of the Race honors. In 2000 Kahne began driving for famed USAC team owner Steve Lewis, who has also employed Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. Kahne was named the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year and captured both the USAC Midget Series Champion and Driver of the Year honors in his first season. Kahne went on to capture 11 USAC National Midget feature victories, including the 4-Crown Nationals (2000), Belleville Midget Nationals (2000, 2001), and the Night Before the 500 (2000, 2001).

BRIAN VICKERS; ABF/ SEYMOUR PAINTS RACING TEAM FINISH SIXTH.

FT.WORTH, Tex. (April 5, 2008)
Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on nearly every race this season and the O’Reilly 300 was no different. With storms looming overhead all day on Thursday, practice was halted by a brief rain shower and later in the evening, a thunderstorm caused NASCAR to cancel qualifying and set the field by Owner’s points. That put Vickers in the 19^th starting spot for Saturday’s race.
Despite the damp conditions, the team was able to squeeze in a few hours of practice on Thursday and felt like they got the car perfect for the race. On Saturday afternoon, sunny skies and warmer temperatures changed the track’s condition. Just after the green flag dropped, Vickers knew the set-up they had chosen would need some adjusting.
Five laps into the race, Vickers had made his way to the 14^th position. Telling the team the car was just a little tight in the center and loose on entry, Vickers continued to pick up positions on the track. Running 13^th and reporting an increasingly tight condition in the car, crew chief, Trent Owens called the No.32 to pit road. With the leaders beginning green flag pit stops on lap 51, Vickers made his way to pit road on lap 57, stopping for four fresh tires, and fuel. The team also pulled the rubber out of the left rear to help the car’s tight condition. Vickers merged back on the track in the 12^th position.
The adjustment helped the car’s condition tremendously and Vickers quickly worked his way inside the top-10 for the first time in the race on lap 72. While he was running in the ninth position, the caution came out on lap 91 and gave everyone another chance to hit pit road. Vickers told the team the car was still free on entry and tight center off so Owens called for additional changes. Hitting pit road on lap 92, Vickers stopped for four tires, fuel and wedge and air pressure adjustments. He restarted ninth.
The car immediately felt better and Vickers was headed to the front when the green flag waved again. Running in the sixth position, Vickers was knocking on the door of the fifth position but had to get by the No.5 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. first. The two made contact but Vickers came out the victor and claimed the fifth spot. Reporting that the car was still loose-in, he picked up another position.
As the laps wore on, the No.32 got tighter and tighter. Vickers was running his fastest laps of the race but was also struggling with a tight race car. Running so many green flag laps, the No.32 needed fuel and hit pit road again on lap 155. Taking four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, Vickers was headed back on track. While the No.32 was on pit road the caution flag flew which could have put the team a lap down but Vickers got a lucky break because his position on the track was in front of the leaders. He restarted fourth as a result.
Vickers drove the No.32 ABF/ Seymour Paints Camry up to the third position during the next run but was still fighting the tight center condition. Eventually the tight condition got so bad it caused Vickers to lose the ground he worked so hard to gain. Another caution came out on lap 189 with just 11 laps to go in the race. Owens decided to gamble and brought Vickers down pit road one final time to give him an adjustment and new tires. Taking four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, Vickers restarted eighth.
In the final five laps of the race, Vickers battled intensely to get back the positions the team had given up. Taking the No.32 three wide at times, Vickers claimed the sixth position when the checkered flag flew. He was proud of his hard fought sixth place finish and the fourth top-10 finish of the season for the No.32 team.
-Brian Vickers had one goal for the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway; run up front all day and contend for the win in the closing laps of the race. Tweaking the car in practice on Thursday, Vickers felt sure the ABF/ Seymour Paints Camry would be strong in the race. Rolling off in the 19^th position, Vickers wasted no time getting to the top-10. Battling with a loose-in/tight center off condition he worked hard to keep the No.32 up front. Running out of time at the end, Vickers brought home a sixth place finish in the O’Reilly 300; the fourth top-10 of the season for the No.32 team.