"I wish both
Red Bull cars could have advanced, but I'm happy for AJ and the #84 team," Vickers commented, "They raced a great race and deserved to be in the All-Star race. It's been a pretty big weekend for Red Bull Racing Team, with my pit crew winning the Pit Crew Challenge on Thursday and AJ winning the Showdown, so we should have lots of momentum as a team moving into the 600 next weekend.
Mike Skinner - the self-proclaimed 'king of the non-points races' who replaced Allmendinger in the #84 while the team sorted the car out - knows exactly what a win on All-Star night can do for a driver's confidence., as he won a heat race before the 1999 Winston Open.
It's still a Sprint Cup race - it doesn't matter if it pays points or not, you still had to race some really good guys, he said, referring to AJ's victory, The thing that impressed me the most about that win was his maturity, where [crew chief] Ricky [Viers] put it on him if they wanted to pit or stay out. The kid made the choice to stay out, knowing his car wasn't perfect, but that clean air was very important. That showed a lot of maturity.
The All-Star Race was a bonus, and Allmendinger finished 17th in an uneventful, caution-free race. But bigger things were at stake - like this week's 600-mile marathon - and the LMS notebook is a little heavier now that the #84 has seen day and night in the month of May.
We definitely learned a lot about what the race track might do, AJ said, We'll assess what we learned and make those adjustments coming back for the 600. Like I said, it all starts again, we've got to qualify to get in the show. And it's a long race.
![AJ Allmendinger - Red Bull Toyota Camry [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/297704.jpg)
