Brian Vickers is so close to the Chase for the Sprint Cup that he can almost taste it. Only the top twelve drivers in the point standings qualify for the Chase and Vickers sits in 14th place, 104 points out. With five races to go before the cut-off, the 25-year-old has the Chase in his sights but the question of ‘can he make it’ looms large.

Vickers made headlines early in his NASCAR career for his young age. During his rookie season in the Nationwide Series, Vickers missed his high school prom to race at Bristol and then at Charlotte in May he qualified on Friday, returned home to walk at his graduation (with a 4.43 GPA) and got back to the track in time to race Saturday afternoon. Just one year later Vickers became the youngest Nationwide Series champion at the age of 19.

After the triumphs of his Nationwide career, things got a bit trickier when Vickers moved up to the Sprint Car Series. During his first year in the premier series, Vickers finished a mediocre 25th in the final point standings. He managed two poles and a best finish of 7th.

The last two years of his contract with Hendrick Motorsports, Vickers steadily improved. He managed a 17th place finish in series points in ‘05 and then in ‘06 Vickers got his first career victory at Talladega and finished 15th in points.

In ’07, Vickers switched teams and got behind the wheel of a Toyota; a risky move with such a new program. Unfortunately, the gamble did not immediately pay off and Vickers failed to qualify for 13 events that season. He finished 38th in the point standings.

Since that disappointing years, Vickers had no where to go but up and that is exactly what he did. Last season he earned the first pole for Red Bull Racing and had a best finish of 2nd before ending up 19th in points.

So far this season he has done even better. Currently, Vickers has an average starting position of 12.7 and an average finish of 16.6. He has accrued three top-5 finishes and ten top-10’s. Though he has not had a win since that first one back in ‘06, it seems like only a matter of time before he finds his way back to Victory Lane.

With Watkins Glen coming up this weekend, Vickers will really have to step up his game to decrease the gap between himself and the top-12. His best finish at The Glen is 8th back in ’05. Since his move to Toyota he has a 41st place finish and an 18th place finish; not really the consistency one would hope for.

Vickers has five more races to prove that he deserves to contend for the Sprint Cup. A couple more good finishes, possibly even a win, and a little more consistency could very well get him up into one of those coveted top-12 positions.

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