Vickers says NASCAR admitted scoring mistake
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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NASCAR admitted to Brian Vickers that it made a mistake in placing the Red Bull Racing driver behind Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s Mark Martin prior to a restart during the waning laps of the LifeLock 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
For Vickers, that admission was important. Vickers said he had passed Martin two laps prior to the caution coming out. He believes he could have had a chance to win the race if he hadn't had to restart behind Martin.
Vickers went to the NASCAR hauler after the race to talk to NASCAR officials.
“They said, ‘We made an honest mistake – the 8 car [of Martin] was supposed to be behind you,’ ” Vickers said Tuesday during a NASCAR teleconference. “That’s all you can ask for. It’s like when a driver on the race track gets into you, it makes all the difference in the world if they call you the next day and say, ‘Man, I’m sorry. I messed up. I’m sorry. Let’s just move forward from here on.’
“And I totally respect that. I’ve made many, many, many mistakes in my life, and I probably will make many more. The important thing is to just own up to it and move on.”
Vickers ended up finishing fourth.
“I was pretty upset by it and rightfully so,” Vickers said. “I wanted an explanation of why that took place. I felt like in a lot of ways it cost us a shot at the race. There’s no guarantees what would have happened, but it definitely hurt us.”
So what can NASCAR do? Not much, Vickers said.
“Unfortunately in our sport, and if I was sitting in the tower, I couldn’t do it any different – you can’t just call timeout and go look at the replay and sort it out,” Vickers said. “You look at a football game and they get a bad call on the field, they call a timeout and they look at the replay, they fix it, and they move on. That’s one call.
“For those guys, it’s 43 calls up in the tower; they have 43 positions to sort out every caution, not one. It’s a tough job, and they can’t just halt the race. They’ve got guys running out of fuel, the race is coming to an end, and it’s time to go green and get the checkered out there.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Brian Vickers
Comments
8 responses to "Vickers says NASCAR admitted scoring mistake"
Paul Baumgarten said:
Jun 17, 2008 at 1:34 PMBummer for him.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMcReal Name said:
Jun 17, 2008 at 3:34 PMbummer for him...and GREAT BIG whoohooo form jr. nation
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» Confirm Abuse Reportemily bagwell said:
Jun 17, 2008 at 6:59 PMWell, Brian can appease himself with crashing Junior close tio the finish line at Talledega. Junior was diplomatic in his comments about Brian and so I hope he keeps his trap shut about Junior---Yes, it is a big Wooo--hoo!!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
Jun 17, 2008 at 10:37 PMWow they admitted their mistake but let Jr break the rules. Typical of NASCAR :(
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmarilyn miller said:
Jun 18, 2008 at 5:10 AMJunior was diplomatic in his comments about Brian becuase he won - if Brian would have won and jr was put back could your hear the fans but since it was the other way people don't care - maybe it's time people look after the not so popular guys - just becuase jr is popular doesn't make it right
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSue Carter said:
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:32 AMBrian is a class act. He had a problem, he went to the officials and solved it. Like he said, "admitting to their mistake" was what he needed to hear. Way to go Brian
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» Confirm Abuse Reportemily bagwell said:
Jun 18, 2008 at 12:48 PMNo, Marilyn, Brian won the race at Dega after he crashed out Junior and at that time, his teammate, Jimmy Johnson.I agree that ALL the drivers deserve fair treatment and we couldn't have racing if we didn't have all of them. my point is He wanted to win at Dega and he did what he had to do--cauised a crash. Junior needed a win and did what he needed to do---saved gas!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBeth Csubak said:
Jun 18, 2008 at 12:56 PMVickers did the right thing and was very professional about it. I was at the race and I knew that he was ahead of Martin. NASCAR has come out and said there is really not a rule about what Jr. did, they told him to lay off and he did. Saving gas is done by everybody and has been done for many years. Give it a rest!
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