He once was considered an up-and-coming star at mighty Hendrick Motorsports.

Now, Brian Vickers is often reduced to an afterthought on Nextel Cup race weekends -- but that's because more often than not, he hasn't even been able to stick around long enough to compete in the actual race.

If he does make the race, it's usually a different story. Then, driving his No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, he's often proving to be someone who catches the attention of the more established Cup teams and drivers.

Just more than halfway through the Cup season, heading into this Sunday's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Vickers has made just 10 of 19 races in Team Red Bull and Toyota's inaugural season. But he has one top-five finish and two top-10 finishes, which is better than the seven drivers directly ahead of him in the 2007 points standings.

Despite missing nine races, Vickers is 39th in points. That's better than Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann, two other Toyota pilots who have appeared in 13 races each. Vickers also has led laps in four races, while Jarrett and Reutimann have yet to lead a single lap in any race.

"This season definitely has had its ups and downs," said Vickers, who finished a season-high fifth after running up front during much of the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in May. "There have been parts of the year where we've done really well, and there have been parts of the year where we haven't. I don't think anybody foresaw it being this tough as far as missing races -- but we also didn't foresee leading laps and contending for wins and top fives and top 10s."

It's enough to make Vickers think his Red Bull team is not far away from getting over the hump. Being outside the top 35 in points -- he's a full 200 points behind Paul Menard, who has made 13 races and sits in 38th, and 359 behind fellow Toyota driver Dave Blaney, who has made 17 races and sits in 35th -- makes it difficult.

That means Vickers has to make each race on speed. Even then he sometimes thinks he's in and gets bumped at the very last minute, such as when Menard, one of the last cars qualifying, bumped him off the starting grid and out of the race at Chicagoland, where he usually runs well, two weeks ago.

"It's been really difficult, real tough, just being so close," Vickers said. "We've come so close so many times and then something has happened to take us out of contention for it.

"That's been really tough to deal with, but you just keep working hard, keep trying. That's all you can do. It's just the situation we're in, and it's making us a better team because of it."

The good news for Vickers, according to the driver, is he is certain his team is getting better all the time.

"I would say that we've definitely made some gains, probably more in the Car of Tomorrow area than anywhere," he said. "You know, it just takes time. I don't think we're any better on our speedway stuff than we were at the beginning of the year, but I think we're definitely better in our Car of Tomorrow stuff -- and in our intermediate stuff we were already pretty good. Again, it's just part of the new team process. Everything takes time, and no one wants to give it time."

Well, almost no one. Vickers said he feels privileged Team Red Bull does indeed appear to be giving him and his race team the valuable time that they need to get more consistently competitive.

He said it helps Red Bull is both team sponsor and team owner, eliminating some of the stress that oftentimes develops between those two entities when results on the racetrack don't meet expectations.

"Obviously we all want to make races and we all want to win races. But they've been pretty understanding," Vickers said. "Really, a lot of it relies on them -- because they are the sponsor and the owner. It's not like the sponsor can call up the owner and tell 'em to get their act together, you know what I mean? They're one and the same.

"We've just got to figure out how to fix things. Toyota has made a lot of gains in the engines, and that's helped a lot. We've still got a long way to go. Our speedway cars, Red Bull knows we've got a lot of work to do there and that we're not nearly where we need to be. Even the last race in Daytona, we were half a second off in qualifying. We made the race because of rain. We weren't a half a second off the pole; we were half a second off of where we would have had to have been to make the race. So they know there are gains to be made there, and other places as well.

"So really, there's not any pressure -- because it's not like the sponsor is calling up and venting about bad results -- because the sponsor and the owner are one and the same. It's definitely been nice. I think it's a good relationship. I think it's working out well for everybody involved."

Just not on the Nextel Cup race days when he isn't racing.