NASCAR At Martinsville: Jimmie Johnson Displeased With Brian Vickers’ Late Spin

Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers are good buddies, and a little disagreement at Martinsville Speedway won’t change that.

But Johnson certainly wasn’t happy with Vickers’ late attempt at retaliation on Matt Kenseth, which resulted in a caution and ultimately cost Johnson a win.

Vickers was involved in a whopping five cautions during Sunday’s race, and the last one was a self-inflicted spin with seven laps to go. The Red Bull Racing driver had tried to wreck Kenseth, but missed and spun himself out instead.

Johnson didn’t appreciate the timing and directed some comments toward his Vickers.

“I mean, I certainly understand that if you’re unfairly wrecked, regardless of who that person is, there’s a chance retaliation is going to happen,” Johnson said. “After a fourth, fifth time with the same car in the crash, you start thinking about maybe you’re the problem. Something is going on – you’re having a bad day.

“You need to stop crashing for whatever reason.”

Johnson, who would have won the race had a caution not come out, said each driver has decisions to make on how they want to handle payback. And in Vickers’ case, he said, “I don’t agree with the way things were handled at the end.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Vickers’ spin was bad for everyone.

“Tony Stewart is sitting in Victory Lane smiling,” Johnson said, “and he’s real happy it turned out that way.”