Earnhardt takes blame for wreck

Earnhardt made contact with Vickers on lap 125 of the Sprint Cup Series season-opening event while trying to get back on the lead lap, igniting a major accident that involved at least ten cars, including some of the fastest of the day until that points.

Speaking at Fontana, Earnhardt Jr said he made a mistake and lamented he had to get publicly on bad terms with Vickers following the incident.

"Well I mean I definitely could have used better judgment coming back up on the racetrack," Earnhardt Jr said.

"It's hard to tell. There was rain coming. I was a lap down so I had to get my lap back to even have a shot at winning the race and there was rain coming. It was early in the race, but the race was getting ready to be rained out. Everybody knew that.

"It's hard to say you know. When you're running real hard trying to win and you've got rain coming and you're a lap down and you need to get it back you race hard. I hate that it wrecked all them cars and I hate that me and Brian (Vickers) had to get on bad terms with each other.

"Those things I regret but I'm out there racing. Made mistakes before and probably won't be the last one that I make."

Vickers on his part said the incident is now in the past and denied there was any "media fight" with Earnhardt Jr going on. However he was pleasantly surprised at the support he has received from fans as some online polls have showed that even many Earnhardt fans blame the Hendrick driver for causing the accident.

"In a way I almost have to apologise to the fans because I just assumed that Jr being the most popular driver by far and away that this just was going to be my fault no matter what happened and everyone was going to side with him," said Vickers.

"But the fans as a whole have been really supportive and really judged the situation based on the actions and not in anyone's popularity.

"I don't really read a lot of news but I've seen polls where 90 per cent of the fans said it was his fault and 60 per cent of them claimed to be his fans, which really has been a shift from popular opinion from what I've seen in the past."

Vickers made up for the disappointment of last week's crash at Daytona by taking his first pole of the year at Fontana, while Dale Earnhardt Jr was slowest among the Hendrick drivers lining up 35th on the grid for Sunday's race.