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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brian Vickers said Dale Earnhardt Jr. intentionally wrecked him during Sunday's Daytona 500 and questioned why NASCAR didn't penalize Earnhardt.

The contact between Vickers and Earnhardt triggered a 10-car incident that eliminated some of the top contenders, including Kyle Busch.

Earnhardt and Vickers were racing to get their lap back when Earnhardt dived low on the backstretch and Vickers blocked. That sent Earnhardt below the double yellow lines that mark the out-of-bounds section. Earnhardt nearly got into the grass, came back up the track and made contact with the rear of Vickers' car, sending it spinning in front of most of the field.

"I beat him to the yellow line and then he just turned us," said Vickers, who finished 39th. "He hit me the first time on the way down, which is fine, we all do that. Then when he came back up, he just hooked me in the left rear and typically NASCAR penalizes (that).

"To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That's my biggest problem with it, but apparently he wanted a caution pretty bad."

Said Earnhardt: "It was accidental. I wouldn't want to wreck the field. He drove me almost down into the grass.

"He shouldn't have started that. At that point in the race, that was pretty reckless."

It didn't matter to Busch who was to blame. His race was done after leading 88 of the first 124 laps. He finished 41st.

"Some guys having bad days and not doing their best out there," Busch said. "Made their bad day our bad day and we had a problem."

BAD DAY: That incident was the only bad part of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s day. NASCAR held him a lap for pitting outside his box and he also missed his pit box another time.

"The right front tire was only an inch over the line and we lost a lap," said Earnhardt, who finished 27th. "I don't think that's a fair trade."

As for missing his pit box, he said he simply missed it.

"I can't blame anybody but myself," he said.

STRONG START: The newly renamed Richard Petty Motorsports placed three of its four cars in the top 10. AJ Allmendinger, who has sponsorship only to run eight races this year, placed third. Elliott Sadler finished fifth with Reed Sorenson ninth. Teammate Kasey Kahne was 29th

PIT STOPS: Defending 500 winner Ryan Newman finished 36th in what was his second backup car after his primary and first backup cars were damaged in incidents earlier in the week. &ellipses; Rookie Joey Logano's car was hit and sent sliding into the inside wall. He finished 43rd. "I don't think I should say what I'm feeling inside," Logano said. "I'm not very happy." &ellipses; Scott Speed was the top finishing rookie, placing 35th.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com