Talladega, Ala. – Brian Vickers isn’t allowed to attend Hendrick Motorsports team meetings.
Now he might not even be allowed in the building.
Vickers stole his first Nextel Cup victory Sunday by nudging teammate Jimmie Johnson into race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., then skirting by the two spinning cars on the last lap at Talladega Superspeedway.
It robbed what looked to be a victory for Earnhardt and a solid chance for Johnson to resurrect his fading Nextel Cup title hopes.
And it certainly spoiled what should have been a crowning moment for Vickers, who has just six races left in his Hendrick ride before his impending defection to a Toyota team.
“I got into Jimmie and I hate it,” Vickers said. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck either one of those guys, but what happened, happened. It wasn’t intentional.
“It’s definitely mixed emotions for me, being my first win, but also what happened with Jimmie because he is my friend and also a teammate as well.”
But a rift has apparently been brewing since Vickers asked out of his Hendrick contract in June, and was locked out of team meetings shortly after.
Johnson, who wasn’t going to finish lower than second, wound up 24th and struggled to understand why the accident happened.
“Knowing the situation we’re all in, I would hope that someone would be a little more patient than they were back there,” he said. “I know he was trying to get his first win, but he was in a position to finish second or third the way that was, and he gave me a push from behind and pushed me into (Earnhardt) and off we went.”
The dramatic ending capped what had been a curiously calm event on Talladega’s sleek new asphalt. The UAW-Ford 500 was incident-free until 50 laps to go, when an 11-car melee crippled Jeff Gordon’s championship hopes.
A second accident set up a final restart with 10 laps to go and Earnhardt out front. Then points leader Jeff Burton got a flat tire and had to make a desperate pit stop while the championship board tightened up considerably.
With Earnhardt chugging along – and only 20 points out of the championship lead – the finish seemed secure.
But the two Hendrick drivers apparently had a game plan of hooking up to run down Earnhardt. They moved low together, and Earnhardt threw a huge block to prevent the pass. Vickers pushed, Johnson bobbled and as he was drilled in the back bumper, he slid into Earnhardt for the two-car crash.
Vickers defended the move, saying if he hadn’t have given Johnson a push they would have had zero chance of running Earnhardt down.
“If I would have not touched him and laid off of him, we would have finished 1-2-3, Junior, Jimmie and me,” Vickers said. “I apologize, that is the last thing I want to do is to get into Jimmie. But when the 8 chopped him, and Jimmie swerved, I just got him.”
It started a debate through the garage, with everyone choosing sides.
“Brian was just excited there,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not really that upset, I mean, that’s just the way racing goes here and sometimes you come out on the good end of those deals and sometimes you don’t.”
