Busch and Vickers both pointed fingers at Jr for causing the wreck.

Vickers said:

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.

How soon we forget! In 2006, Earnhardt Jr was leading at Talladega, contending for the championship, when Jimmie Johnson, running second at the time, went for the lead with then-teammate Vickers on his back bumper. Jr went to block the two cars, but then thought the wiser, and moved back up.

It was then that Vickers hooked Johnson into Jr, taking both Jr and Johnson out. The move won the race for Vickers. To this blogger, these incidents are the product of hard racing.

Vickers wanted to earn his first career victory, and did what he had to do to win. Right or wrong, he wrecked two championship contenders and one of them was his teammate. So, for Vickers to say what he said makes him quite the hypocrite.

Busch said:

It was just unfortunate that two guys got together that were a lap down and were fighting over nothing. … It looked [like a] pretty big [mistake] to me. It cost the winning car the chance to win the race.

Busch also seems to forget that he wrecked Jr in last year’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Jr and Busch were fighting for the lead, when Busch drove into the corner hot and slipped up the race track ending both of their chances for a win. Not to mention the countless times Busch has moved someone out of the way to win a race. (Note: Carl Edwards moved  Busch out of the way to win a race last season. Edwards basically said that he raced Busch the way Busch races him.)

Oftentimes, the dominant car does not win the race. Nor is any driver guaranteed a victory until they take the checkered flag.

Part of racing is dealing with lapped traffic, and guys fighting for the Lucky Dog. This is what you signed up for when you chose to become a race car driver, Mr. Busch.

I’m sure Jr was frustrated with the pit road mistakes. Any driver would be. Add in the fact that rain was threatening to shorten the race, and all drivers were up on the wheel.

When it’s time to go, wrecks happen. It’s a part of the sport. It’s a part of racing. And, in the end, all you can do is deal with it.

The victory is Busch’s seventh on the season, and the 18th in his career. He also has 18 wins in all three of NASCAR’s top series.

Top 5: Busch, Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton, and Jamie McMurray.

Rounding out the top 10 were Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann, David Ragan, and David Stremme.

Notables: Kevin Harvick (11th), Marcos Ambrose (15th), Jimmie Johnson (17th), Steve Wallace (20th), and Brad Keselowski (33rd).

Shortly after earning the Lucky Dog, Brad Keselowski’s No. 88 Navy Chevy lost power, and coasted into the pits. The engine didn’t blow up, it just shut off. He wound up 33rd.