While the incident was clearly a mistake acknowledged by both drivers, the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion decided to call into Junior's "Dale Jr. Download" podcast on Tuesday to ... clear the air.
Johnson explained that his water bottle got dislodged from its holster inside the car and caused him to miss the call from spotter Earl Barban that Earnhardt was close behind him exiting the corner.
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"I think we were both pretty shocked ... I clearly came out to the wall with all intentions to have the entire race track to myself," said Johnson, who explained that he truly did not see the No. 88 Chevrolet. "... Is your mom OK with me?"
Johnson was referring to the backlash of Junior Nation, with Earnhardt's mom Brenda even chiming in via text to Junior.
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"Yeah, she's a trip. She texts me after every race and usually they're pretty funny. She doesn't mean to be funny, but she's new to social media ... she's new to texting, to be honest with you, as you can tell by her shorthand," Earnhardt said. "It's funny to share with folks what she says, sometimes. She's old school and been around racing a long time.
"She's fine and (you and I are) all good. Fans think that whenever we have a run-in that we're going to get mad at each other, but teammates don't get mad at each other too often."
Earnhardt went on to say, "As wild as it was, I knew it was a mistake. I knew it wasn't like he just wasn't giving me room. I knew how hard we hit, and I was like, 'he didn't even know I was there.' "
Earnhardt also mentioned a time at Bristol Motor Speedway when he and former teammate Jeff Gordon got into each other ... but that was a bit of a different result.
"Me and Jeff ran into each other at Bristol ... well, I ran into him and cut his left rear tire," Earnhardt said. "Now, that, he was mad. So, that's understandable. But I knew when we hit, Jimmie had no clue that I was even there."