Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards sparked
NASCAR's next great rivalry Saturday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and
while the two are currently first and second in the Sprint Cup Series point
standings, the feud could escalate heading into the championship "Chase."
After leading 415 laps, Busch appeared to be on the way to his ninth Sprint
Cup victory of the year, but Edwards nudged him aside with 31 laps to go as he
won the Sharpie 500 at Bristol for the second year in a row.
A frustrated Busch retaliated at the conclusion of the race by intentionally
bumping Edwards. But Edwards responded by driving into the right side of
Busch's car, spinning him around. While Edwards celebrated his sixth Cup win
of the season, Busch was summoned to the NASCAR hauler for a discussion with
officials.
A feud between Busch and Edwards has been developing throughout the season and
apparently reached its boiling point at Bristol. And this tug of war could
continue on.
"We'll race him that way in the Chase if that's the way he wants to race,"
Busch said.
But Edwards wasn't apologetic for what he did at Bristol.
"I feel like I was extremely justified to do what I did," Edwards said. "I
needed to do it, and that's the way it went. Let's make it real clear. I'm not
apologizing for it, and that's it. The score's even, and it just cost him more
than it cost me at the time, and that's the way it is."
Edwards recalled an incident he had with Busch in May at Richmond.
"Earlier in the year we had a Nationwide race and Kyle was a lot faster than
me and he went ahead," Edwards said. "He got to my back bumper and just smoked
the back bumper of my car and sent me up the racetrack, and after that said,
'Sorry, man, my car was just faster.'"
Busch, in his first year driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, is enjoying his best
season. However, it's not without his own share of controversy, particularly
in the Cup race at Richmond where he spun out fan favorite Dale Earnhardt,
Jr. in final stages of the event.
NASCAR has seen its great share of feuds in its 60-year history, particularly
Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison in the 1979 Daytona 500, Darrell Waltrip
and Dale Earnhardt in 1986 at Richmond and Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick in
the 2002 Nationwide race at Bristol.
But Busch vs. Edwards comes with just two races to go before the "Chase for
the Sprint Cup" championship begins September 14th at New Hampshire. Busch has
secured the top seed in the "Chase" by virtue of his eight victories. Edwards,
who has won three of the last four races, clinched the second seed.
With the two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA the next stop on the
schedule later this week, how long this feud remains is yet to be determined,
but one thing is for sure, it will create a lot of hype for the upcoming
"Chase."