The Pure Michigan 400 had some shocking moments Sunday, including a verbal feud between Hendrick Motorsports teammates #24-Jeff Gordon and #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘Tell the f’’ 88 he can thank me later for not wrecking him,’ Gordon said on his radio during the race. ‘That was f’’ stupid.’ Earnhardt had moved in front of Gordon midway through the race with a pass Gordon felt was a little risky. Team owner Rick Hendrick sided with Earnhardt: ‘Man, you didn ‘t do anything. Just drive that thing to the front.’ Earnhardt finished fourth. Gordon finished a disappointing 28th after an engine failure, but later talked about the incident in the garage. ‘He took me four-wide, then slid up in front of me in Turn 2,’ Gordon said of Earnhardt’s pass. ‘I had to check up and it could have wrecked all of us. It wasn ‘t the smartest thing to do, especially to a teammate. But he chose to do it and it all worked out. I don ‘t care who does it, I ‘m going to show my displeasure if they do something like that.’(ESPN)(8-20-2012)
UPDATE: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. has no regrets about how he drove against #24-Jeff Gordon on a restart Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, but NASCAR’s most popular driver laments how radio chatter turned a difference of opinion between the Hendrick Motorsports teammates into a firestorm. ‘I personally carried on a little bit on the radio about it; just curious about it,’ Earnhardt told USA TODAY Sports during a Tuesday interview at Hendrick Motorsports. ‘In retrospect, to try not to let ESPN or anybody like that make a big deal out of it, I should have not said anything at all so there wouldn ‘t be any footage worth editing. But truth be told, the fact that we were teammates allowed that conversation to happen. If it was Brad Keselowski and me, I would have never known he was mad. I would have never cared that another driver was upset with me because for the most part what happened between me and Jeff happens dozens of times in one race, but the drivers never play it out like me and Jeff did because the radio conversations and lines of communication aren ‘t there.’ Earnhardt said he and Gordon are ‘fine’ with each other and sorted it out with a text exchange after Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, and they met again at Hendrick’s campus Tuesday for the team’s weekly debriefing of drivers and crew chiefs.(USA Today)(8-22-2012)
