CONCORD, N.C. - Jimmie Johnson (pictured right) said Friday that he and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Brian Vickers have talked and “everything’s fine” as they try to put last week’s incident at Talladega Superspeedway behind them.

As Johnson tried to pass Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead on the final lap of the UAW-Ford 500, Vickers tapped Johnson, sending Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. spinning and Vickers to his first career win.

“It’s racing,” Johnson said. “It’s like I’ve said all along. I know it wasn’t intentional. We had a great opportunity to make up some points.

“But life goes on. We’ve got to worry about this weekend. Last weekend is last weekend, and it’s all good.”

Johnson sits eighth in points, 156 behind leader Jeff Burton with six races remaining heading into the Bank of America 500 Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“I really just have to go out and do all that I can and score as many points as possible and see how it falls into place,” Johnson said. “We’re pretty far out, and it’s going to be tough to make up the deficit that we have.

“But the way this Chase has started and the way every year the Chase has been that I’ve been a part of it, it’s so unpredictable. Anything can happen. Just when somebody looks like they’re safe and secure, something crazy happens and they lose a lot of points. So I’m just going to do all that I can and see what happens.”

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