Earnhardt Jr., rival crewman have words

CONCORD, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a bit of a verbal tiff with one of Kevin Harvick's crewmen Sunday evening at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Just past the midway point of the Coca-Cola 600, the rear brakes on Earnhardt's Chevrolet locked, causing him to spin out in Turn 4.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. Credit: Autostock

After several pit stops made in an effort to remedy the situation, Earnhardt was exiting pit road and suddenly stopped, threw the car in reverse and tore back down the pit lane backwards.

During his trek to the garage, Earnhardt entered Harvick's pit stall just as Harvick was coming down the pit lane.

Once parked in the garage, Earnhardt was standing alongside the No. 8 Bud Chevrolet as his crew nestled about underneath trying to repair the rear brakes, when a member of the No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet pit crew walked up and voiced his displeasure to Earnhardt.

"Well, I was backing through the pit stall -- I got my brakes locked up, right - and fell out of the race. Not real happy," Earnhardt said. "Backing out of my pit stall to get to the garage opening and I must have run over (Harvick's) air gun or something. They were pretty upset about it, come down told me they owe me one.

"That's fine with me. Any time, any place."

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Entering the Coca-Cola 600, Earnhardt had posted six top-fives over a 10-race span, including a win at Talladega, and surged to within 20 points of the Winston Cup Series points lead.

Moreover, he hadn't had a DNF all year.

"It wasn't a great car but it was decent," said Earnhardt, who now trails points leader Matt Kenseth by 160 points. "We were going to hang around there and get something out of it."

"This is where we had the DNF, so the string's over and I ain't got to hear about it no more."