Brian Vickers to return to racing at Las Vegas after health scare - MotorSportsTalk

Nearly seven weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a hole in his heart, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Brian Vickers announced on Wednesday that he has been given medical clearance to return to racing in early March.

Vickers is expected to be back behind the wheel of the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry for the March 8 Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“The doctors gave me a clean bill of health and said I will be better than before,” Vickers said in an MWR media release. “Now all of my focus is getting ready so when I return we are prepared to win races and the championship in my Aaron’s Dream Machine.”

During an examination in early December, it was discovered that Vickers, who has had prior health issues with his heard and blood clots, had suffered another setback.

“I was not feeling well in December, so I went to see Dr. William Downey in Charlotte,” Vickers said. “He discovered my body was rejecting a patch that was surgically placed over a hole in my heart a few years ago. He and Dr. R. Mark Stiegel immediately went to work on correcting the problem.”

MORE: Health issues to sideline Brian Vickers for early part of 2015 Sprint Cup season

Shortly after undergoing successful surgery to repair the issue, Vickers issued a statement that he would likely miss several early season races while recovering.

However, with Wednesday’s medical clearance, the North Carolina native will only wind up missing the first two races of 2015: the season-opening Daytona 500 (Feb. 22) and the following week’s race (March 1) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Team co-owner Michael Waltrip will replace Vickers in the No. 55 at Daytona. Waltrip is a two-time Daytona 500 winner.

The team has not yet announced who will replace Vickers at Atlanta.

Because it is a medical condition, NASCAR issued a statement Wednesday that despite missing the first two races, Vickers would still be eligible to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“With the clearance from his physicians, Brian Vickers has satisfied all necessary NASCAR requirements to resume racing on March 5,” the statement said.

“Further, NASCAR has reviewed the circumstances surrounding his situation and has determined that he will maintain Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup eligibility despite neither entering nor attempting to qualify in the first two championship events, provided he meets all other necessary eligibility requirements.”

This most recent episode marks the third time Vickers, 31, has been sidelined by health issues. The other two occurrences were in 2010 and 2013.

The 2003 Xfinity Series champion, Vickers has made 316 career Sprint Cup starts in his career, with three wins, 29 top-five and 77 top-10 finishes, as well as 12 poles.

As part of that tenure, he’s made 58 starts for MWR, with one win (New Hampshire, July 2013), eight top-five and 19 top-10 finishes, as well as one pole (Talladega, Oct. 2014).

In a note to his fans, Vickers wrote on his Facebook page: “Some great news. Can’t thank everyone who wrote in here enough for your thoughts, prayers and kind words… Very humbling.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports