Brian Vickers’ No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Dover Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver Brian Vickers’ return to fulltime NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing has gone well, but the best may be yet to come.

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver and crew have scored the eighth most points of all teams in 2014 and seem to be running better each week. Vickers has the fifth best average finish of all drivers in the last 10 races.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Dover Downs International Speedway this weekend for Sunday’s race—the 13th of the season. The No. 55 team spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Pocono testing on the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track. Last week the team tested at Kentucky Speedway.

BRIAN VICKERS ON DOVER: “I enjoy Dover a lot — it’s a great race track. It’s really fun — it’s like a high speed Bristol — one-mile, high-banked and just a lot of fun. It’s so fast though — everything happens fast there. The way the cars react, the way the speeds are — even though we go faster on mile-and-a-half tracks, it just seems to happen faster there for some reason. It’s always a lot of fun and it’s a challenge. It’s such a completely different type of race track and I think we will have a good car there.”

VICKERS ON SEASON SO FAR: “We are pleased but not satisfied. Billy (Scott, crew chief) has done a fantastic job in his first season as crew chief. We’ve come close to winning a few times with top-five finishes, but we still have some work to do. Seems like our cars are really good on long runs. I’m really optimistic about Michael Waltrip Racing. We’re working hard with Toyota, testing, and doing all the right things we need to do.”

NOTES:

· CHASSIS: Primary: 812 Backup: 801 Neither have raced.

· AARON’S: Aaron’s joined MWR in 2000 serving as a primary sponsor in Sprint Cup and Nationwide races. The Atlanta-based company has grown from 500 to 2,100 stores in that time. Aaron’s carries only the best brand names in furniture, electronics, appliances and computers and offers a variety of flexible payment options. It’s really easy to get started owning at Aaron’s – you are pre-approved for up to $2,500 in merchandise without needing credit. Visit Aarons.com for more information.

· FANTERN: Each week MWR offers fans a chance to become an official MWR Fantern. This person will get the opportunity to be an “intern” on race day helping the pit crews with set-up activities, attending driver appearances and getting full access to the pit and garage areas. Fans can write in a submission to webmaster@michaelwaltrip.com or share a video on our social channels explaining why they should be the Fantern at the race of their choosing during the 2014 season.

· #ASKMWR: Throughout race weekends in 2014 MWR will collect questions hash-tagged #AskMWR on its @MWRteam Twitter handle. No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Jackman Wes Evans will host a 3-minute video each Wednesday on www.michaelwaltripracing.com featuring MWR experts answering the best fan questions from the weekend.

· 2014 POINTS:

· MWR SPEED ROUND: Watch Brian Vickers and Crew Chief Billy Scott answer some off-beat questions during MWR’s Video Speed Round at www.michaelwaltrip.com. Click here to watch.

· AARON’S NEW COMMERCIAL: Watch Aaron’s new “Own It” commercial featuring Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip that began airing nationally in April: . Click here to watch.