Vickers grateful to be back after being told 'it's not looking good'
Over the past couple months, Brian Vickers has spoken more than once about his excitement over returning to the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.
But when Vickers -- who missed the season's first two races while recovering from offseason heart surgery -- actually strapped in his race car on Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it felt different.
Instead of just talking about coming back -- the "never give up" spirit that brought him back -- he is back.
And he couldn't be any more thrilled about it.
"The first two times I've put this (fire) suit on, it's been for photo shoots or commercials or media," Vickers said about 45 minutes before heading out for Friday's lone Sprint Cup practice at LVMS. "Today it's to actually use it, and it felt a little better zipping it up today than it did the first two times, because it's here. It's real, and I can't wait to get in that car here in a few minutes."
After undergoing emergency surgery in mid-December to replace an artificial patch in his heart, Vickers was unsure if he would ever be able to drive again. The serious nature of his condition was made all the more vivid by the fact that the three-time Sprint Cup Series race winner has been down this road before.
Brian Vickers was back driving a race car Friday for the first time since offseason heart surgery.
In 2010, Vickers competed in only 11 Sprint Cup Series races before doctors discovered blood clots in his legs and lungs. Vickers also had surgery to repair a hole in his heart -- which doctors repaired with the artificial patch -- and was out the rest of the year.
The Thomasville, North Carolina, native made a full recovery for the 2011 season and drove a partial schedule in 2012 for Michael Waltrip Racing, but was sidelined once again in October 2013 for more problems with blood clots.
Vickers returned at the 2014 Daytona 500 and drove the full season for MWR before experiencing his latest health emergency a couple weeks before Christmas.
On Jan. 21, doctors cleared Vickers to race again -- with the stipulation that he must skip the season-opening Daytona 500 and last weekend's event at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Vickers didn't mind waiting, after initially being led to believe he may never return.
"Going into the surgery, it was certainly a question I asked several times throughout the process ... 'Am I going to be able to race again?' And early on it was like -- I think they were trying to set expectations -- and they were like, 'It's not looking good.' They didn't want to say, 'No,' but they were a far cry from, 'Yes.' They needed to really kind of get in there and get into my heart basically -- which kind of sounds weird to say -- and kind of figure out what's going on before they could really give me an answer, but they were kind of setting the bar pretty low.
"I kind of dealt with that and then as they learned more, as they came out they were like, 'OK, we definitely know what happened and why and we fixed it and we're not worried about it moving forward, so we think you're good to go.'"
While being sidelined was nothing new for the 31-year-old driver, it didn't make missing the season's first two races any easier.
"It's tough being out of the car," said Vickers, who joined the Sprint Cup Series in 2004, a year after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series title. "When ... it's a Saturday afternoon (and) you're watching the XFINITY race, it's a race you're not necessarily supposed to be in, and as a race fan you just enjoy it. You just enjoy watching a sport you love. But when it's a race and a car that you feel like you're supposed to be in with your name on the door, it's tough. It's really tough, and there's a lot of emotions, a lot of challenging emotions kind of to deal with that."
Vickers was in attendance for the season's first two races as team co-owner Michael Waltrip and MWR development driver Brett Moffitt filled the seat of his No. 55 Aaron's Dream Machine.
"I've been at the track the last two weekends with the team kind of supporting them and being on the box and being on the spotter's stand and being on the tower and just kind of moving around and trying to learn and just pick up little things that could be beneficial in the car, but I can tell you it's the last place I wanted to be," Vickers said.
But Vickers, who was 33rd-fastest in Friday's Cup practice, is finally back where he wants to be -- and he doesn't take it for granted.
"There are certainly times where I wasn't sure if I was ever going to be back and then you kind of deal with those emotions and then all the sudden you're back and then you have to deal with those emotions," he said. "I couldn't be more thrilled about it. I think to a large extent a month ago, I was as curious as probably some of you were as to how I would feel Friday morning. I can tell you I couldn't be happier. I was talking to someone on the way in and they asked what my emotions were going into this.
"I kind of look at it like a win-win. If we go out there and do well, that's great. And even if we don't, just being able to get back in a race car again and go 200 (mph) is incredible. No matter what the outcome, I'm happy to be here and happy to be back in a car again and get a chance to do something I love."
