MARTINSVILLE, Va. –In 2013, for the second straight year, Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and team owner Michael Waltrip will share driving duties in the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, the team announced Friday.
Martin will compete in 24 Cup points races plus the Daytona Shootout, Vickers in nine races and Waltrip in the Daytona 500 and the two events at Talladega Superspeedway.
Vickers will drive the car twice each at Martinsville, Bristol and New Hampshire, as well as at the Sonoma and Watkins Glen road courses and at 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway. Waltrip ran the Kentucky race this year.
Whether the part-time ride will lead to a full-time ride for Vickers remains to be seen. Martin will turn 54 Jan. 9, but he shows no signs of slowing down. With three cars on its roster, MWR could add a fourth, if sponsorship is available.
“There’s no contractual obligation (for) 2014, but that’s my goal, and that’s their goal,” Vickers said. “That’s what we’re working toward. Right now we’ve got a couple things on our task list — run good. We’ve got nine races next year. Three are with Aaron’s (sponsorship), and six are unsold.
“We have to sell those six races, and part of that is going to be performing. Then, in 2014, we have to sell all of them. That’s what we need to do to make that happen.”
Vickers has posted four top-10 finishes in seven starts so far this season. He was fastest in Friday’s opening Cup practice session at Martinsville with a lap at 97.679 mph before qualifying second for Sunday’s race.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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