Red Bull cars make top 35 in Cup

Scott Speed's car had dropped to 36th place after he didn't finish at Phoenix following a multi-car pile up where he got involved. Brian Vickers was put behind the wheel of his car for the last race of the season with the aim of securing Speed a spot on the grid for the first five races of 2009.

Vickers didn't have a particularly good race, but a 32nd place was enough to secure 35th in the car owner standings for the No. 84 car that Speed is set to drive at the start of the 2009 season.

"I'm disappointed because I wanted to end this year with a win," said Vickers. "The guys have worked so hard. I am happy though that we accomplished what we set out to do, and that was to get this 84 car into the top 35 in owner points.

"That will be a huge weight off the team's shoulders going into Daytona next year. Scott (Speed) did a great job in the 83 today, too. I'm happy to see him running so well."

Speed out-ran his teammate at Homestead and excelled during qualifying, putting Vickers' usual ride on the front row, something his teammate had accomplished only once this season.

The former Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One driver finished the race in sixteenth, scoring his best Cup result to date, in only his fifth Sprint Cup start.

"We had a really good car all night," said Speed said. "The first half of the race we were a little loose getting into the corners, but as the sun went down and it got cooler out, the car tightened up a bit.

"This was a good race for us. We finished every lap, stayed out of trouble and came home with a good finish. I felt like I had a really good feel for the car and learned a lot so it was a nice to end the season on a high note."

Australian Marcos Ambrose was 'in the bubble' in the owners' standing ahead of the season finale, but he was involved in an incident with Reed Sorenson and could only manage a 42nd place finish which left him having to qualify on time for the first five races of his first full season in the Sprint Cup.