Monday, February 6th 'What If' Question

Speedweeks 2012 begins in a little over a week when cars hit the track for practice in advance of Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

A cheat sheet might be needed by some to keep track of the many driver and crew chief changes. However, there are still notable drivers who don't have rides for the upcoming season such as former Red Bull Racing driver Brian Vickers. Back in 2004 Vickers debuted with Hendrick Motorsports after having won the Nationwide Series title in 2003.

He quickly earned much attention as a fresh faced kid with talent that was just waiting to be shown. In June of 2006 though he announced that he wouldn't be back at Hendrick in 2007, instead choosing to depart for the newly formed Red Bull Racing team where he would be the face of the franchise instead of just another driver on the roster.

Up until last season he was. Vickers won his second career race with the team at Michigan in 2009, from the pole. It was the first win for Red Bull and the first for Toyota at Michigan. A long way since their early struggles of missing races and performance woes as they tried to run with the bigger teams.

Following the win Vickers made the Chase and signed a multi-year extension with the team but it wouldn't be as long as he had planned. In 2010 he was sidelined after just 11 races because of blood clots but returned for a 2011 season that was anything but a welcome back. The team again struggled, finishing 25th in points with only seven top 10s.

There were also a few races and Vickers would most likely like to have back. While most remember the run-ins that he had with Matt Kenseth at the end of the season, the two tangled in the second race of the season at Phoenix as well. The contact started a 13 car pile up with Vickers saying that Kenseth had what was coming to him.

After it had seemed everyone moved on and as the 2011 season started to wind down, Kenseth and Vickers found each other again in Martinsville during the Chase. It was also during that race that Vickers made contact with a few other drivers and prompted friend Jimmie Johnson to say that maybe a driver needs to realize that they are the problem when they're continually in incidents.

Vickers defended his actions, saying not all the incidents were his fault. A few weeks later in Phoenix he was left to defend himself again when he and Kenseth, again, made contact. According to Vickers when he ran into Kenseth and drove him into the wall it was because Kenseth had lifted halfway down the backstretch and nearly stopped.

Kenseth's side of the story was that he was running out of brakes so he attempted to stay on the high side of the track to let others go by. That's when Vickers showed up and drilled him from behind at 165 miles per hour and "cleaned us out." It left a bitter feeling in many mouths around the garage, grandstands and press.

Vickers though had other things to worry about. He was searching for a new job since Red Bull Racing had announced they would be closing the doors at the end of the season. Everyone involved would be looking for jobs, including their drivers. Kasey Kahne was already headed to Hendrick Motorsports, leaving Vickers scrambling to find a new home.

He hasn't found one, instead has watched other drivers like David Ragan, Landon Cassill, David Reutimann and others fill seats. All the 'good' equipment have either been filled up too or cars and teams shut down. There's really not even slim pickings left out there for Vickers, who becomes in danger of missing the start and maybe more of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

But ...

What if BVickers hadn't ended 2011 with negative attention, deserved or not, would he have a ride now & will he eventually find one? #NASCAR

@SpringWolf There are too many good up & comers. I don't think teams will put up with the neg. attitudes much this year.

@philenespanol I don't think so. Negative attention or not, there are more out of work drivers than there are seats. And I think he suffered because of the economy and the fact that there is little to no sponsorship out there right now. Hell of a driver, though.