Vickers Says He Didn’t Hit Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was upset during Thursday’s Gatorade Duels at Daytona, when he accused Brian Vickers of running into him several times, damaging the Daytona 500 pole-winning No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet enough to render it uncompetitive.

Earnhardt blasted Vickers over his team’s radio, claiming the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota driver was “drifting up and knocking the [expletive deleted] out of both of us. Just BS.” Earnhardt finished 21st in the second Gatorade Duel, while Vickers finished in 10th.

On Friday, Vickers said any problems with Earnhardt were news to him.

“I’m not sure exactly what he’s referring to, to be honest with you,” Vickers said of Earnhardt. “I was only around him twice. One time, we were running third I think and he had a big run, he passed us on the outside and then went on. The other time, I was side-by-side with him and (Matt) Kenseth put us three-wide and that was pretty much it. Those were the only two times we were next to each other so I’m not sure what he’s referring to. I was only around him twice. One time he went by me and one time I went by him. That was pretty much it. There was no real altercation, I’m not sure what he’s talking about.”

Vickers and Earnhardt, of course, have a little bit of history at Superspeedways.

At Talladega in the fall of 2006, Earnhardt was leading on the last lap, with Jimmie Johnson second and Vickers running third. Heading down the backstretch for the final time, Johnson pulled out to pass Earnhardt, but was struck from behind by Vickers’s car. The contact shot Johnson into Earnhardt, those two wrecking at the entrance to Turn 3 as Vickers drove by for his first Sprint Cup victory of the season.

The roles were reversed in last year’s Daytona 500, when Earnhardt went below the yellow line on the backstretch, came back up and made contact with Vickers, causing a multi-car pileup that took out some of the top contenders in that race.

Vickers bristled noticeably when asked to compare last year’s Daytona 500 and the contact with Earnhardt in the Duels on Thursday. “Last year he (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) ran below the yellow line and then he turned up and wrecked me so how is that similar to last year?” Vickers said Friday.

As for the Daytona 500, Vickers said he welcomed NASCAR’s new and relaxed attitudes about driver behavior.

“As far as the bump drafting and the rule, I think it’s great that it’s back in our hands — it should be,” said Vickers. “We don’t need to be babysat. I think we looked like a bunch of pansies at Talladega. With someone telling us that we’re not allowed to bump each other. Having more flexibility in that area, I think you’re going to see more passing because of it as well. It’s not going to change a lot. It’s not like we’re going to run down into Turns 3 and 4 and just start hitting each other because if we do then we’re just going to crash. I don’t think you’re going to see a huge difference there.”

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