Vickers, Aaron's to Race Full-Time for Waltrip Racing in '14, '15

Brian Vickers poses with his new ride for 2014 (Google Images)

In what was arguably one of the worst kept secrets in the garage area, it was officially announced Tuesday afternoon that Brian Vickers will pilot Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 Camry with funding from longtime Waltrip sponsor Aaron's on the 2014 and 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tours. What was surprising was the announcement that the lease-to-own retailer will be on Vickers's hood for every one of the 36 events on tap for next year. Full season sponsorships are few and far between in this day and age and 2014 will mark the first time Aaron's has backed a driver full-time since they did so for David Reutimann's No. 00 team back in 2009.

"This is huge," said the 29-year-old Vickers. "This is for me a very special moment, something I wasn’t sure would ever happen again. … It is an accomplishment itself to be back (in Cup) full time but the hard work is still ahead of us. We still have to go out and perform."

 Vickers and his team have already done so this season, scoring a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. While the victory did not seal the deal for Vickers, Aaron’s CEO Ronald Allen did say that it didn't hurt. He also called the Thomasville, NC native "a real competitor, which is important. He wants to win races. And he has the character and integrity that we look for in folks who represent Aaron’s."



Brian Vickers and the Aaron's Dream Machine at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Google Images)

Waltrip made no bones about the fact that he wanted Vickers to run the No. 55 for the championship next year, saying so fairly emphatically after the driver won his third career Cup race this past July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. But getting a deal done that would make that hope a reality was not as simple as it appeared on the surface. Aaron's has also been funding an ARCA car and Camping World Series truck for  up-and-comer Chase Elliott, son of 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott, at Hendrick Motorsports. Team owner Rick Hendrick had been looking for the company to provide more funding to enable the younger Elliott to run a full slate of Nationwide Series races next season. Allen said that  the No. 55 team will, in fact, be the company's focus and that they will be spending more on Vickers than they have this past season. However, they would not disclose just how much more.


Aaron's has also proven to be one of the more fickle sponsors in the garage area. After winning two races and four pole starts with the aforementioned Reutimann (once known as "The Franchise" around the MWR shop) at the wheel, the company decided to unceremoniously dump the driver with three races left in the 2011 campaign, despite his having two years left on his contract with MWR. Since then, Aaron's has enjoyed decidedly mediocre results with Vickers, Waltrip and "future Hall of Famer" Mark Martin behind the wheel. So it would have been no surprise to see them bolt for the fresh-faced and consistently fast Elliott quicker than Waltrip could say "NAPA Know How." Elliott already has four top ten results in as many Truck Series starts this season and became the youngest ARCA Series winner when he won at Pocono in June. In seven career starts in the series, he has yet to finish outside of the top ten.


Vickers (right) talks with Brad Keselowski at Martinsville (Google Images)

But the powers that be at Aaron's decided to stick with Vickers, whose career has been anything but predictable. After winning the 2003 Busch Series title for Hendrick Motorsports, Vickers was promoted to Cup full-time in 2004. After two winless seasons, he finally broke through and won the fall race at Talladega in 2006. However, this proved too little too late, as Vickers was released and subsequently signed with Toyota startup team Red Bull Racing in 2007. After another two year winless drought, Vickers and his team won a fuel mileage race at Michigan in 2009 en route to Vickers's first, and so far only, Chase berth. But just as quickly as his career caught fire, it hit another road block. Part way through the 2010 season, Vickers was sidelined after 11 races with severe blood clots cause by a hole in his heart, a condition that very well could have killed him. He did not make a return until the 2011 season, a year which saw him be fairly rough on equipment and be released when Red Bull Racing folded at year's end. Vicker's has been part-time at MWR ever since. This season he is also running for the Nationwide title in a car prepared by Joe Gibbs Racing.

The one piece of the puzzle that has not yet fallen into place is MWR's ability to resign crew chief Rodney Childers to a new contract. The team has said that they are "close," but when asked about Childers's status, officials did not sound as certain a deal would get done with him as they did about Vickers. Childers has all three of his career wins with MWR, scoring the first two with Reutimann and his latest one with Vickers. The team is hopeful that a deal will get done because Vickers and Childers have a long history in racing together, and because the crew chief's name has come up as the possible new head wrench for Kevin Havick's new team at Stewart-Haas Racing.

But the future at MWR has still become that much clearer, and both parties are very optimistic about what that future holds. Vickers told reporters, "I can't put into words how this makes me feel. I've really found my home at MWR over the past few years, and I've enjoyed getting to know the Aaron's associates and customers. I am honored that Aaron's is welcoming me into their family full-time. Knowing that I have a top-notch team and a dedicated sponsor for a full season is a really great feeling every driver dreams about, and like everyone else, I want to win races and win a championship."