Vickers, Allmendinger star during Sunday's NASCAR race - MotorSportsTalk

In seventh and eighth place on Sunday were two drivers who haven’t really figured into too many NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in the past, Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger.

Vickers, continuing his comeback trail after health issues have plagued him two of the last four seasons, posted his second top-10 result of the season in seventh in the No. 55 TreatMyClot.com Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Like several others, this was a result that probably wasn’t as good as how well he ran over the course of the day. Vickers spent much of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 in the top three. But a couple setbacks caused the end frustration.

“The guys did an awesome job in the pits all day except for one stop,” Vickers said. “They were laying down some incredible stops. Unfortunately we had a big mistake that cost us like 20 spots on one of the stops. We battled back from that all day and then fought traffic.

“We finally got to the front and then a bunch of guys stayed out on old tires on the green-white-checkered which kind of caught us off-guard. We just ran out of time. The 40 (Landon Cassill) stayed out on old tires and we had nowhere to go. All the guys dropped down to the inside and went four wide and we were just kind of stuck. I tried to make a move and just couldn’t make anything out of it.”

Allmendinger, meanwhile, brought the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team its best result since 2011 in eighth. He raced at Fontana in the IndyCar Series finale last October; little translated except extra track time in a completely different type of machinery.

He was another driver affected by the late-race caution caused when Vickers’ MWR teammate, Clint Bowyer, spun from second place.

Still, he climbed from 11th into eighth on the last lap with a low-line move.

Proud of my race team. Everyone at @NASCAR47 team is working so hard. Good @CharterCom Chevy all day yesterday. Good top ten.

— AJ Allmendinger (@AJDinger) March 24, 2014

Vickers ranks 13th and Allmendinger 22nd in points after the first five races of the year.

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In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

Vickers, Allmendinger star during Sunday’s NASCAR race

SuperMotocross set to introduce Leader Lights beginning with the World Championship finals

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