Racing to be the first car one lap down, Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took out some of the strongest front runners during Sunday's Daytona 500.  Running down the backstretch, Earnhardt Jr. looked to make a move under Vickers at the front of the pack. Vickers threw an aggressive block forcing Earnhardt Jr. beneath the yellow line. Instead of letting off and blending back in line, Junior drove into the left rear corner of the No. 83, getting him loose and sending him up the track and into the lead pack of cars.

When the smoke settled, nine cars had been involved, including some of the most dominant cars in Sunday's race. After leading 88 of the 125 laps up until that point, all Kyle Busch could do was climb from his wrecked race car. Teammate and another of the dominant cars, Denny Hamlin was also involved in Vickers' and Earnhardt's mess. Unlike Busch, the No. 11 was able to continue on but was out of contention. Front runner Jamie McMurray sustained damage in the incident, along with Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and others.

While Vickers took a trip to the garage with a wrecked race car, Earnhardt Jr. was able to sneak through without any damage. An obviously aggressive move on both Vickers' and Junior's part, neither was penalized for aggressive driving. During Saturday's Nationwide Series event, an incident between Steven Wallace and Jason Leffler saw NASCAR penalize Leffler five laps for aggressive driving. Clearly an unwarranted aggressive move, Earnhardt Jr. escaped a penalty much to the disappointment of Brian Vickers.

"We were all racing for the 'lucky dog' there and my goal was to keep (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. behind me and I went to block him - I beat him to the yellow line and then he just turned us," Vickers said as his crew went to work making repairs. "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. I think the 38 (Jason Leffler) was penalized five laps yesterday for doing the same thing. I guess they're not going to penalize him for it. It's kind of sad. 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."

"Penalize me?" Earnhardt Jr. responded when asked if he was concerned of an aggressive driving penalty. "For what? I got ran into and sent below the line. What the hell? I don't want to go down there, I didn't aim to go down there, I got sent down there."

Both Vickers and Earnhardt Jr. found themselves a lap down when the field went back to green on Lap 123. The driver of the No. 83 was put a lap down after pitting under green right before the caution fell for David Stremme's blown right rear tire. Earnhardt Jr. was running fifth and charging hard at the time of the caution, but a one lap penalty for pitting with his right front tire mired the No. 88 Chevrolet a lap down and left the driver frustrated.

"He went to block me and hit me in the fender and sent me down to the grass and trying to recover my car I got back into him and sent him back up the race track" Earnhardt Jr. explained after he climbed from his car during the red flag period. "I don't hate it for him, but for everyone else that got wrecked."

This incident shows that NASCAR needs to reevaluate their restart rules even further. A number of cars that were serious contenders for the win were taken out by two cars racing to be the first car one lap down. With the 'lucky dog' rule in place, NASCAR should put those cars one lap down and more behind those on the lead lap. Double-file restarts are not the problem in most cases, the problem - much like Sunday's incident - comes when lapped cars get tangled racing for that coveted position and take out those on the lead lap. Don't hold your breath for a rule change anytime soon, but Vickers' and Earnhardt Jr.'s actions show that something needs to be done.