The contact turned Biffle's rear bumper until a liability, and NASCAR ordered the Roush Fenway Racing driver into the pits under caution to fix it.

Biffle fell back to 25th and rallied to finish ninth but wasn’t happy with the contact. He approached Johnson soon after the race and gave him a slight shove while Johnson was doing postrace interviews.

“Hey, you tore my rear bumper off you (expletive),” he told Johnson.

Johnson said: “I was inside of you,” to which Biffle responded: “You (expletive) ran into the back of me.”

Johnson again told Biffle he was beside him, and Biffle pointed his finger at Johnson and said: “You better watch it.”

Biffle began to walk away and Johnson lightly grabbed his arm and said: “If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it.”

Biffle didn’t want to talk that much: “We just did,” he told Johnson. “(Expletive) man, I had to go all the way to the back.”

They did talk for about another 15-20 seconds and both were fairly calm shortly afterward.

When asked if Johnson, who is tied for the points lead with three races remaining, is taking more than he is giving on the track as he races for his sixth title, Biffle did deliver a warning.

“If he’s running for the title, he better not tear my rear bumper cover off because that will be the last race he finishes,” Biffle said.

Biffle was battling the Hendrick Motorsports driver for sixth when the incident happened at a track that Biffle traditionally has not run well. Biffle’s rear bumper already was loose but the damage made it too much for him to race without it possibly falling off.

“It takes a lot to get a rear bumper to come off,” Biffle said. “I have got to look back and see what happened. He claims he was inside of me. It sure felt like he hit me from behind and rubbed it across.”


CHILDRESS DEFENDS GRANDSONS


Richard Childress fiercely defended his two grandsons Sunday, a day after Childress driver Kevin Harvick called Ty Dillon “a punk-ass kid” after they wrecked at Martinsville Speedway.

Harvick’s job might be safe but the relationship with Childress, the owner of Richard Childress Racing, soured after he called Childress’ grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon spoiled “punks” and “rich kids” following Saturday’s race.

“What happened on the track was one thing,” Childress said, “but the comments afterwards is where I’m really upset. … I’ll never apologize for giving my grandsons an opportunity, just like the France family, the Earnhardt family, the Wood brothers. You go down the list of the people that have been given opportunities.

“All of them didn’t make it. You’ve got to go out and earn what you’ve got, the opportunity in life to succeed. And these boys earned it.”

Harvick, driving a truck for NTS Motorsports, wrecked Ty Dillon under caution and stopped in Dillon’s pit stall after the wreck with about 12 laps remaining in the truck race Saturday.

“That’s exactly the reason I’m leaving RCR is because you’ve got those punk-ass kids coming up,” Harvick told Sporting News.

Childress, though, was still upset Sunday morning. Childress said 95 percent of drivers have had help getting into the sport from their family.

“These aren’t spoiled rich kids,” Childress said. “These are hard working young men that believe in what they’re doing. They knew they’ve got to go out and prove themselves. … It’s just not fair for someone to make a statement like that.”


HARVICK APOLOGIZES


Harvick apologized Sunday for calling Dillon “a punk-ass kid” after they tussled on the track in the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Martinsville.

Speaking on Fox Sports’ “NASCAR RaceDay” program Sunday, Harvick said he was overcome with the emotion of the wreck with a dozen laps remaining.

“There was just a lot of emotion involved,” he said on the Fox show. “I hate it for everybody at RCR. You go back and look at the things that happened, and sometimes you regret the things that you say for sure.

“Yesterday was definitely one of them. I hate it for my guys, and everybody working on the cars. Obviously, when those emotional situations come about, you say things that you really don’t want to say. I just want to apologize to all of those guys, work hard today and try and do everything we can to win the race.”

Harvick said Sunday that he had not talked with Ty Dillon.

“You never want to be in a situation like we’re in, and obviously, the short-track racing and everything that happened, you try to do the right things, and yesterday I didn’t do the right thing,” Harvick said.


HAMLIN, KAHNE CRASH EARLY


Denny Hamlin’s vow to win Sunday’s race at Martinsville, easing a season full of disappointment, was hindered in a crash less than halfway into the race.

Hamlin was racing in a tight pack of traffic on Lap 182 when he and Kasey Kahne collided and spun in Turn 1.

The wreck occurred shortly after a restart when the leaders appeared to check up, causing several cars to slam into each other. Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola also were involved and suffered damage to their cars.

“It was just an accordion affect,” Clint Bowyer said. “That’s just part of Martinsville.”

Kahne’s car got stuck in the grass after hopping the curb in Turn 2 and lost four laps while safety workers removed it. Hamlin returned to the track and was running in the top 10 again despite damage to his car.

Hamlin, who has four career wins at Martinsville, started on the pole but led just the first two laps before Jimmie Johnson got around him and Hamlin faded through the field.

Hamlin vowed Friday that he would be a force in today’s race and a contender to win.


VICKERS UPDATE


Brian Vickers said Sunday that he will be off blood thinners in three months and is confident he will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2014.

Vickers, who has missed the last two races because of a blood clot in his right calf, said he went to a doctor on Oct. 15 for a knot and pain in his right calf and was diagnosed with a blood clot. He was put on a blood thinner and cannot risk any sort of external or internal bleeding that could occur with a racecar crash.

Having missed the majority of the 2010 season because of blood clots and heart surgery to prevent future clots from moving throughout his body to his brain, Vickers said he has met with several doctors and has decided he didn’t want to remain on blood thinners the rest of his life in order to race and do other extreme activities.

“The risk is about the same either way, give or take a little bit,” Vickers said. “My passion and love is racing. I want to win a Sprint Cup championship. … I don’t want to be on blood thinners the rest of my life even if I’m not racing.

“I like to snow ski. I like to ride motorcycles. I like to skydive. I like to do a lot of things that most doctors wouldn’t agree with, period.”

Vickers said his initial clots in 2010 were caused by him being immobilized after a crash at Talladega and spending considerable time right afterward on a plane. Those clots were found in his lungs and legs.

His clot earlier this month was the result of a sprain in his right foot after a crash at Bristol in August and then being put in a boot, which constricted blood flow.


TWEETS OF THE DAY

What sports figures are saying in 140 characters or less.

“We Came.

We Saw.

We Conquered.”

— Darrell Wallace Jr. after winning the Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday at Martinsville.


QUOTE OF THE DAY


“This is a miracle sitting here,” — Wendell Scott Jr. at a press conference Sunday with Darrell Wallace Jr., who became the first African-American driver to win a major NASCAR race since Wendell Scott Sr. in 1963.

—  Contributors: Bob Pockrass, Jeff Owens