Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr at Odds After NASCAR Race at Talladega

It started at Daytona in July. Jeff Gordon was less than thrilled with Dale Earnhardt Jr's driving style. "If they're going to have a freakin' rule, tell them to have a freakin' rule," he lamented. "The 8 car is driving into people every freakin' corner."

Earnhardt Jr and Gordon are NASCAR's two most identifiable figures, and throughout their careers they have seemed to be able to play nice out on the track. Perhaps they were only tolerating each other.

After being involved in the 12 car crash at Talladega, Jeff Gordon once again avowed his displeasure with the bump drafting techniques that Earnhardt Jr often uses.

"The thing I don't understand is that NASCAR has been talking about bump-drafting for I don't know how many times we've come here and to Daytona," Gordon said, "and they said it in the driver's meeting (Sunday) and they weren't doing a thing about it out there…That guy (Dale Earnhardt Jr) 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."

That statement provoked the usually unperturbed Earnhardt Jr into a near verbal assault on the four-time NASCAR champion.

His retort was, "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…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."

Earnhardt Jr was advised by NASCAR officials later in the race to tone it down, however, he seemed more bothered by Gordon's comments than he did about being wrecked on the last lap by Brian Vickers.

Earnhardt Jr has always respected Gordon and his amazing accomplishments, and Gordon has respected Earnhardt Jr, mainly because of the admiration he had for the late Dale Earnhardt, as well as the driver Earnhardt Jr has become, which is why the two have seldom feuded, but there comes a point in time when there can only be one 'big man on campus'.

Little things that one does may become a nuisance to the other, and over time, bad blood may develop. And that seems to be taking place between NASCAR's two rock stars.

Brian Vickers

After the fireworks that ensued on the final lap of the UAW Ford 400 at Talladega, when Vickers hit Jimmie Johnson, turning him into Earnhardt Jr, a lot of fans are calling for Brian Vickers to be canned from Hendrick Motorsports. Would that really be the answer? Would firing Vickers now change the fact that Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are mired in the bottom half of the top ten in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship?

Brian Vickers was guilty of poor judgment when he took out Johnson and Earnhardt Jr, but he isn't the cause of all the problems at Hendrick Motorsports.