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Dale Earnhardt Jr. found himself in a very familar spot; leading the race with a handful of laps to go. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out quite as he wanted them too and he was the victim of a racing deal that saw his chance at a victory turn into a 23rd place finish.

You see, Dale Jr. was leading the race and the laps were winding down and teams Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vicker’s were waiting to make their move until the white flagh flew signaling one lap to go. This is when the melee began and it ended with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson both spinning into the infield and Brian Vicker’s going to Victory Lane. What led to the wreck was Jimmie Johnson had a run on Earnhardt and he apparently waiting a tad bit too long to pull out from behind Earnhardt to make the pass and Brian Vickers who was helping Johnson to stay up with Earnhardt tried to pull up behind Johnson for second. But it looked like Jimmie Johnson had to slow up a bit because he didn’t have Earnhardt cleared and Vicker’e ended up clicking Johnson in the rear quarter panel causing him to spin directly into Earnhardt and they both spun off the track into the infield.

The wrecked put Dale Jr. at the end of the lead lap in 23rd and Jimmie Johnson finished a lap down in 24th place. This touched off a very raucus response from the very partial crowd at Talladega and Brian Vicker’s was greeted to a loud chorus of boos when he climbed out of his #25 Chevy Monte Carlo SS in Victory Lane. As you would expect Johnson and Earnhardt weren’t exactly thrilled at what happened on the tract that caused them to go from the front of field to the back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually congratulated Vicker’s on his win and chalked the wreck as a racing deal. Unfortunately, Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus were so gracious; both of them took their turns blasting Vicker’s.

Here are some comments from Johnson and Knaus after the race:

"I just can’t believe it. Here we go all day long, I had a great chance to make up some points, and I end up getting wrecked by a teammate," he said. "Knowing the situation we’re all in, I would hope that someone would be a little more patient than they were back there.

"I honestly don’t think Brian was trying to wreck us, I think he was trying to help us," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "I just don’t think he has the talent to understand what he has underneath him."

Here is what Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to say:

"Brian was just excited there," he 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."

The points standings got a bit tighter with points leader Jeff Burton had a little trouble and that allowed the Top 5 drivers to get back into Chase with 6 races to go. The flat tire Burton suffered put him a lap down and he finished 27th and he lost too many valuable championship points.

It was a very disappointing race for Jeff Gordon, he was looking to get a good finish at a track that he has won at 4 times in his career. Unfortunately, he got caught up in a multi-car wreck and his day was done. He finished 36th and all he could do was whine about Dale Earnhardt Jr. bump drafting. I guess he needs to talk to his team mate (Vicker’s) who used the bump drafting to put Jimmie Johnson in the position to even have a t at passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon has been whining about Dale Jr. bump drafting for quite some time and it is getting pretty tiring that he singles out Earnhardt and yet many drivers bump draft at the restrictor plate tracks (Talladega and Daytona).

Top 10 finishers

1. Brian Vicker’s

2. Kasey Kahne

3. Kurt Busch

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Jeff Green

8. Mark Martin

9. Carl Edwards

10. Bobby Labonte