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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Earnhardt, Vickers Trigger Big One
It’s safe to say that following the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers have a strong difference of opinion while sharing some responsibility for the biggest wreck of the day...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 15, 2009   Daytona Beach, FL
Ryan Pemberton (2R), works with crew members to repair the #83 Red Bull Toyota of Brian Vickers after suffering damage during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500. (Photo: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

It’s safe to say that following Sunday’s Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers have a strong difference of opinion. And they both share some responsibility for the biggest wreck of the day, one that inexorably altered the outcome of NASCAR’s biggest race.

The two drivers were a lap down in the 500, Earnhardt because of a pit-road penalty imposed by NASCAR, Vickers because he pitted out of sequence due to a tire issue. Just after the track went green on Lap 124, Vickers was the first car one lap down, with Earnhardt directly behind him. As the pack tore down the backstretch, Earnhardt got a run on Vickers and tried to pass him on the bottom of the track. Vickers threw an aggressive block, Earnhardt tapped his Red Bull Toyota and sent it spinning, causing a 10-car accident.

Although Earnhardt escaped unscathed, others weren’t so lucky. Kyle Busch, who led more than half the race, was taken out and so was his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, another potential race-winning car. Carl Edwards got heavy damage in the wreck, as did three-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

And afterwards, Vickers and Earnhardt were crystal clear about where the blame belonged — on the other guy.

“We’re all racing for the ‘lucky dog’ there and my goal was to keep Junior behind me and I went to block him,” said Vickers. “I beat him to the yellow line and then he just turned us. He hit me the first time on the way down, which is fine, we all do that. Then when he came back up he just hooked me in the left rear and typically NASCAR penalizes. I think the 38 (Jason Leffler) was penalized five laps yesterday for doing the same thing (during the Nationwide Series race). I guess they’re not going to penalize him for it. It’s kind of sad. To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That’s my biggest problem with it, but apparently he wanted a caution pretty bad.”

Earnhardt predictably saw it differently. “I had a really, really good run and Brian, he was side-by-side with somebody for the lead and I went on the inside and he drove me down,” said Earnhardt. “Down almost into the grass below the line, and I didn’t have much control over the car at that point. I was just trying to get back on the race track and I hit him in the quarterpanel and spun him out.”

Earnhardt said Vickers was the cause of the wreck. “He shouldn’t have started that,” Earnhardt said. “It would have never happened. If he had held his ground, who knows? He would have probably got the lap back or the position back eventually, but at that point in the race, it was pretty reckless.”

DAYTONA 500 RACE RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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