Drivers express concern about Vickers, mysterious illness: #48-Jimmie Johnson has talked to former teammate and good friend #83-Brian Vickers and said there is still some mystery about the blood clots that have sidelined the 26-year-old Red Bull Racing driver. Johnson and Vickers were Sprint Cup teammates at Hendrick Motorsports from 2004-2006. Vickers, who was hospitalized in Washington, D.C. Wednesday with blood clots in his veins, will miss the Autism Speaks 400 this weekend at Dover International Speedway and will be replaced by friend Casey Mears. "It's still so new that they're still learning and trying to understand exactly what's going on with him," Johnson said Friday at Dover. "I spoke with him, he's in good spirits and certainly hope that they get to the bottom of things and get him healed up and back in the race car as soon as possible. From when I spoke to him last night, there's still a lot of question marks and concerns and trying to understand just what in the world is going on. Until they can find out what's going on, there's a lot of worry and concern. It's weird to talk to a guy and I talked to him on the phone and he was just happy, not necessarily happy about being out of the car, but healthy and sounds fine and normal. But there's obviously something going on."
"Sitting out a race, or two, three, four, five or 10 ain't going to ruin his career," v#31-Jeff Burton said. "And it's not going to make it to where he can't be competitive. So it's certainly not what he wants and to him I'm sure it feels like the worst thing that can possibly happen. But the main thing is that he's healthy. I've had to be out and it's not a pleasant experience, but he'll be OK."
#11-Denny Hamlin said he has exchanged text messages with Vickers and worries himself about blood clots following knee surgery earlier this year. "When I went through the surgery with the knee they said that the only chance I have to miss the race the rest of the season was if I got a blood clot," Hamlin said. "They said the chances of that were, I think, 5 percent, at the time. I was a little worried about it because they said you've got to go on thinners and [that will] take a while to kind of clear you up. So hopefully it's something minor with Brian. I don't know what it really stems from and where it came from, but we're definitely thinking about him here at the race track."
#18-Kyle Busch, who had several run-ins with Vickers last year, opened his interview session with the media by talking about Vickers. "I hope Brian Vickers has a speedy recovery and can get back and join us here shortly back to the race track," Busch said. "[It's] tough what he's going through. I know he's probably sitting here like you and I right now wondering why he's not in a race car, but hopefully his issues get taken care of here quickly."(SceneDaily)(5-16-2010)