Top ten spot so sweet for Vickers.

Red Bull Toyota driver Brian Vickers has admitted that being on the verge of clinching a coveted top 35 spot in NASCAR's points race is one of the best feelings he has experienced in motorsport.

The American, who struggled against the unique rule that guarantees a race place for anyone in the top 35 overall in 2007, broke the top ten in points after last weekend's event in Atlanta and now looks certain to claim one of the valuable spots after this Sunday's fifth round of the year at Bristol's bullring.

NASCAR rules allow the previous season's top 35 to bank on their ranking for the opening five races of the new campaign, before the field is shuffled on a race-by-race basis. Being as high up the order as ninth, therefore, is a world away from last season for Vickers and the #83 crew.

Vickers had a race full of highlights at AMS, including knocking off ten positions in just 20 laps, earning the free pass to get his lap back on two separate occasions, leading a lap for five bonus points, and being one of only 13 cars to finish the race on the lead lap.

As the race was winding down, Vickers looked poised for a solid tenth-place finish, but tenth just wasn't good enough for the Red Bull driver. He wanted ninth - and took it. The hustle paid off with the #83 team's first top ten finish of the season, and its first lap led, moving the car from 13th to ninth in the overall standings, and locking it into the top 35.

"This is sweet!" Vickers admitted, "The team did a great job today, and I'm pumped about our first top ten finish of the year!

"The top 35 rule is so stressful. I felt like I was racing for a championship today, trying to get every spot at the end of the race that I could! Everything just seems to be clicking for us right now and that's a great feeling."

The fourth race of the season finally saw both Red Bull Toyotas in the field, the decision to substitute veteran Mike Skinner for the inexperienced AJ Allmendinger paying off immediately for the #84 team.

It was not all good, however, as, despite valiant efforts to produce a competitive race car, the 500-mile race turned into a 500-mile test session for Skinner. From green flag to chequer, the Truck Series regular described the car as 'treacherously loose' and relentless rounds of adjustments only improved the handling enough to capture a 27th-place finish, bumping the #84 up three places in the overall standings to 43rd, still a long way out of guaranteed qualification.

"The car was so loose throughout the whole race that none of our adjustments could even fix the handling of the car," Skinner commented, "But these guys never gave up trying and that's half the battle. We managed to keep the fenders on, and used the entire 500 miles to really evaluate the car. This was a test session - and it showed us that we've still got a lot of work to do."