Chicagoland: Vickers post race interview

BRIAN VICKERS , No. 32 Dollar General Stores Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

Was there anything left to challenge for the win at the end?

"We had a good car and we had the best car at times, usually towards the end of a run. Those guys would get so far ahead of us that we just couldn't catch back up to them. I thought we had a shot for it at the end and then Carl (Edwards) jumped on our outside and made it three wide. I always understood the rule as you had to stay in line or you got black- flagged, but they didn't black-flag him so maybe that's not the rule. It definitely cost us a shot at the win."

Was clean air or fresh tires more important tonight?

"I think it was a combination of two things. The 20 (Joey Logano) was probably the best car on the track at the time and he was already pretty good. Track position I knew was going to be a lot, but my gut feeling was the tires were going to be the way to go.

"Coming down to the restart I felt like it was going to be between us and the 18 (Kyle Busch), the fastest two cars with two tires. The track position mattered a lot but I don't think it was all that. I think a lot of it was the fact that we only had two, we didn't get four. The lefts provide -- at least for this tire at this track -- a lot more grip than people realize. The 20 (Joey Logano) car was good, it was pretty fast tonight."

-credit: toyota motorsports