A rap in Richmond set this NASCAR quarrel on simmer

Few noticed the move, but many in the garage were not surprised it happened. Or by what followed.

To understand how the Kyle Busch-Carl Edwards duel blossomed into a rivalry, go back to May 2, to Richmond International Raceway.

A fuse was lit at the track where the Nationwide and Cup series return this week. Busch bumped Edwards out of the way late in the Nationwide race. Three months later, Edwards exacted revenge at Bristol.

In May, Edwards was second when the caution flag waved 25 laps from the finish. The top three cars didn't pit, choosing to keep their track position. Everyone else on the lead lap, including Busch, did.

Ten laps from the finish, Edwards ran third, with Busch fourth and closing. As they exited turn 4, Busch hit the rear of Edwards' car, sending it up the track and allowing Busch to slip past.

Busch "just smoked my rear bumper," Edwards would say months later.

"I don't remember touching," Busch said last week of the incident. "But, I guess if I did, then that's the repercussions of Bristol."

It was easy to miss that moment. Busch, who finished third, had a last-lap dust-up with Steve Wallace that continued after the race. Busch walked to Wallace's car, telling him, "You mess with the bull, you get the horns."

Edwards, who finished seventh, clearly didn't forget Busch's on-track tap.

As Edwards shadowed Busch late in the Bristol Cup race last month, Edwards debated what to do.

"I just had to look at (Busch's) rear bumper and decide, 'Would you do this to me?' " Edwards said.

He already knew the answer. Edwards bumped Busch out of the way and went on to win. Busch ran into the side of Edwards' car after the race, and Edwards retaliated by spinning Busch.

That it came to this seemed inevitable.

"I don't think as a driver, among our peers, either one of them is looked upon as a dirty, dirty driver," driver Elliott Sadler said of NASCAR's two newest rivals. "I think they're looked upon as drivers that will move you to win a race. And as a driver, you know that you can race them like that."