Brian Vickers gets the Maxim treatment, and you'll be jealous

Yahoo! Sports

Thu Feb 17 10:00am EST

Brian Vickers gets the Maxim treatment, and you'll be jealous

You know, mainstream publications that take on NASCAR usually trot out the old stereotypes, tout how the sport is failing, or mention that Dale Earnhardt isn't running very well of late. (Did you hear? It's true.) So credit Maxim -- yep, they're still in business -- for taking a, shall we say, unorthodox look at the life and times of Brian Vickers.

The article calls him "the best driver never to have won a Sprint Cup championship" -- a term with which Mark Martin and Kyle Busch might take issue -- but that's not what's got the proverbial garage proverbially buzzing. Since this is Maxim, the focus isn't on bump-drafting ... well, not on the track, at least. Consider this passage on Vickers' evenings:

Vickers follows the old routine: an insanely fastidious fitness regimen (hard biking, yoga, healthy meals) combined with hard drinking spells that fuel his relentless, connoisseur’s pursuit of [er ... let's just say "female companionship"] in all its forms. BV’s evenings can play out like the young-money equivalent of racetrack pileups: He gains velocity by consuming untold vodkas, lurches from club to bar to club, and staggers home with women in multiples. Whether he remembers anything the next morning is a crapshoot.

It's reminiscent of the Tony Stewart article in Rolling Stone from a couple years back, in which he said that all he cares about is "[female companionship], money and race cars," and indeed, both articles were written by the same writer, Mike Guy. (Fair warning for when he calls, drivers; he's going to expect you to talk about [female companionship.])

Anyway, while this may not make NASCAR brass too happy, it's not terrible. Having one of your drivers portrayed as a wealthy, partying icon of the smooth single dude isn't the worst thing in the world. Though I imagine the Red Bull hauler has become a much more popular tourist destination this week, if you catch our drift.

Back in the Fast Lane [Maxim]