Mears, Earnhardt Jr. put PIR incident behind them

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- It was no big deal.

Let's repeat that for those in Junior Nation who might still be hanging onto some conspiracy belief that there is more to it: last Saturday's incident between their beloved driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Casey Mears was no big deal.

Law in own hands?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't happy with Casey Mears and let him know it on the cool-down lap. Should NASCAR have set penalties for such infractions?

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• Your turn: Weigh in
• Video: Junior spins Mears
• Both drivers get probation

So say the two drivers who were involved in it and received six-race probation sentences for it from NASCAR. The incident began as the two were fighting for the 20th position with 11 laps remaining in Saturday's Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Mears ended up inadvertently tapping Earnhardt and sending him spinning into the wall. Earnhardt retaliated after completion of the race by spinning Mears during the cool-down lap, after which Mears' No. 07 car ran down Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevrolet as they came down pit road and rapped him a couple times.

"Me and Mears are cool," Earnhardt said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. "We've been buddies. What happens on the track stays on the track. It's good to be on probation every once in a while, I guess."

The two were teammates at Hendrick Motorsports last season. Mears now drives for Richard Childress Racing.

"We ended up texting back and forth this week; we kept missing each other's phone call. It's not that big a deal," Mears said.

Then, thinking of Earnhardt's vast fan base as NASCAR's long-running most popular driver, Mears amended that comment before describing what happened in his eyes. (Continued)