Brian Vickers Wins Talladega
Talladega Days- Brian Vickers Wrecks His Teammate
Wow, only Talladega could have produced that much drama in one weekend.
From Mark Martin’s astonishing announcement of his departure from long-time owner and friend Jack Roush and his move to MB2 Motorsports, to David Gilliland’s first career pole, to Jeff Gordon’s bemoaning of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s bump drafting tactics, to Brian Vickers bumping his way to his first career NASCAR Nextel Cup victory.
On the final lap of the 188-lap event at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson finally seized the opportunity he had been patiently waiting for, as he swiftly dove to the inside of race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. But before he could even pull along side the Budweiser Chevrolet, Johnson’s teammate and late race drafting partner Brian Vickers clipped the right quarter panel of the 48 Chevrolet, turning him into Earnhardt Jr. Vickers exited the melee unscathed and was awarded his first victory in NASCAR at the Nextel Cup level.
When Vickers climbed out of his GMAC Chevrolet in victory lane, the ruthless Talladega crowd booed deafeningly enough as to where the Mississippi residents were reporting noise complaints.
However, Vickers and the 25 team celebrated their first victory together, even though it was marred with chaos.
"I got into Jimmie and I hate it," he said. "The last thing I wanted to do was wreck either one of those guys, but what happened, happened. It wasn't intentional."
Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were livid and had no intentions on congratulating Vickers on a job well done.
After he climbed out of his damaged Chevrolet, Johnson said, "I had a great chance to make up some points, and I end up getting wrecked by a teammate…"It's absolutely uncalled for, completely out of line. I'm racing for a championship, OK? The only way to win [the race] was to crash us both."
Knaus was even more candid in his post-race rant. "I just don't think he has the talent to understand what he has underneath him."
Undoubtedly, Johnson and Knaus’ exasperation with Vickers has merit, but they must not forget that they would not have even had a shot at Earnhardt Jr if it wasn’t for Vickers.
Needless to say, Vickers is not making any, or maintaining any friends within the Hendrick Motorsports camp. As Johnson put it, "He's doing a great job of isolating himself."
Jeff Gordon was clearly embittered after he was involved in the ‘big one’ that was allegedly started when Johnson got into Carl Edwards. However, Gordon’s disgruntlement was directed towards Dale Earnhardt Jr and his style of bump drafting.
"That guy seems to be able to run into the back of people harder than anybody else. He's a great drafter. I love racing with him but, man, does he run into the back of people."
When hearing of those comments, Earnhardt Jr fired back by saying, "I pushed (him) into the lead five times and every time I do that he complains that I'm bump-drafting him in the corners and blah, blah, blah. So I'm just not going to push him any more."
At Daytona in July, Gordon complained of Earnhardt Jr’s driving style, so could it be- the media may be getting what they have always wanted, a Jeff Gordon versus Dale Earnhardt Jr rivalry.
Lost in this entire hullabaloo, Martin Truex Jr finished 5th and Jeff Green finished 7th, which were season highs for both drivers.
Quote of the week
Dale Earnhardt Jr regarding Jeff Gordon’s complaints
"There is so much grip here, my mom could drive these cars. So there wasn't no way I was going to spin anybody out. But I guess it makes Jeff Gordon a little nervous."
