Not even Johnson immune to Talladega's harsh reality (cont'd)

As the three headed out of Turn 2, Johnson made his move to the inside of Junior. But as Vickers followed his teammate, he tapped the back bumper of Johnson, sending him into Junior. As the two cars slid out of control into the infield, Vickers stayed in the gas and led the field back around to the checkered flag for his first win (watch video).

Vickers was apologetic when he reached Victory Lane.

"I got into Jimmie and I hate it," Vickers said. "The last thing I wanted to do was wreck either one of those guys, but what happened, happened. It wasn't intentional.

"It's definitely mixed emotions for me, being my first win, but also what happened with Jimmie because he is my friend and also a teammate, as well."

Johnson, who wound up 24th, was understandably livid.

"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 know he was trying to get his first win, but he was in a position to finish second or third the way that was, and he gave me one hell of a push from behind and pushed me into [Earnhardt] and off we went."

Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, understood that Vickers was trying to help when things went wrong.

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

And Junior, who finished one position better than Johnson, took things somewhat in stride, even if his loyal fan base was more interested with showering the winner with boos and beer cans.

"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."

Both Johnson and Earnhardt rebounded the next weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway with top-five finishes, but their fortunes went in opposite directions from that point forward. While Johnson would go on to record five consecutive finishes of first or second and win the championship, Junior's title hopes took a huge hit with a finish of 22nd at Martinsville. He wound up fifth in the final standings.

As for Vickers, he's still searching for win No. 2. He suffered through a season of growing pains with Toyota's Red Bull operation in 2007. This season, he has three top-fives, including finishing a distant second to Kahne at Pocono, but nothing comes close to that one day in early October when he found himself in the middle of a controversial last-lap finish at Talladega.