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photo credit: kevin c. cox/getty images BRISTOL RACE RESULTS SPRINT CUP STANDINGS WINNING TEAM PRESS CONFERENCE SECOND & THIRD PLACE FINISHERS INTERVIEW

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) - Carl Edwards isn't giving up anything to Kyle Busch and his domination of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, especially when it counts the most.

Edwards saw Busch lead 415 consecutive laps Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, then used him bumper to nudge Busch in the first turn on lap 470. That move caused Busch's car to wiggle just enough so that Edwards could drive by on his way to his second consecutive victory.

The triumph was also the sixth of the season for the Roush Fenway Racing driver, allowing him to close the gap of bonus points he's likely to face when the 12-race Chase for the championship begins. Busch has eight wins, and each is worth 10 Chase bonus points.

After taking the checkered flag, Edwards was making his cool down lap around the track when Busch drove up and bumped his car. Edwards clearly wasn't amused, and when he responded by driving the nose of his car into the right side of Busch's, the fans cheered wildly.

Busch finished second, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon, three drivers needing good nights to bolster their playoff prospects.

Ryan Newman was sixth and was the only car not in Chase contention in the top 10. Clint Bowyer was seventh, followed by Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan. - ap

MORE: One could call it payback time when Carl Edwards gave Kyle Busch a tap in order to sail by the points leader to score the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race win 30 laps later. Considering that earlier this season, Busch bumped Edwards and later simply said "I was faster than you"! Well tonight on the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, Edwards can claim the same comment.

"The way this works is a real smart racer explained it to me this way after he wrecked me and I was real mad. He said, 'I just had to look at your rear bumper and decide, would you do this to me? And you had before, so it was a real simple decision.'," explained Edwards on his move to the front. "Earlier in the year we had a Nationwide race and Kyle was a lot faster than me and he went ahead and got to my back bumper and just smoked the back bumper of my car and sent me up the race track.

"Afterwards he said, 'Sorry man, my car was just faster.' So, in my mind, I had to ask myself when I went down there in the corner, 'Should I lift and brake early and do the best I can, or should I just kind of give him a little tap and see what happens.'," continued Edwards, "so that's the way it went and that's the decision I made. I'd do it again."

Even though he now has back-to-back victories, both in the 2008 season and at the late summer Bristol race, Edwards did gain points on Busch in the overall standings. The two still lead the points for this year's championship as the series gets closer to the 'Chase for the Cup'.

Busch finished second, nearly two seconds in the rear to Edwards who today notched his 13th Cup career victory and his sixth of the season. Both drivers will indeed be in the final cut for the Chase; 30 points separate the two racers.

"It was all going fine there till the end -- just a tough break for us and this M&M's Toyota team. Steve Addington (crew chief) and the guys built us a fabulous race car," said a disappointed Busch. "We could get through traffic way better than anybody, and it was really a cool car to have and be able to work with. Just unfortunate the way things came down at the end, and we'll take it and we'll go on here these next couple of weeks and try to get ourselves a win and in the 'Chase' and throughout the 'Chase.'"

To add to the drama, after the checkered flag Busch placed his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota alongside Edwards and bumped him. Edwards retaliated in his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with his own bump. While it was Busch's turn to be unhappy, the race winner commented afterwards in the post race press conference: "Here's the deal, that doesn't mean anything. He's raced me that way and that's the reason it went down like that."

Busch commented on the post race action and his thoughts on if NASCAR would hand out a penalty to him, "it's NASCAR's decision and their discretion. He spun me out. So I just, you know, got into him a little bit and let him know that I didn't appreciate the way he passed me and he retaliated and ended up spinning me out. So, couldn't tell you."

In the mix at the end was Denny Hamlin who was himself challenging his teammate Busch in the No. 11 JGR Toyota. He ended third in the Saturday night showdown.

"We had a good car but we didn't have a car that could run with the 18 (Kyle Busch) or 99 (Carl Edwards) it seemed like. On the long runs, we were as good as the 99, but the 18 seemed to be the class of the field," said Hamlin. "It was a solid day, and we did what we had to. I didn't have to really race guys too hard and guys really didn't race me too hard. It was a good day for us."

Rounding out the top ten tonight were Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and David Ragan.

The Chase starts at the New Hampshire International Speedway on September 14th and there are two races before the final run for the title. Labor Day weekend will see the drivers face-off at California Auto Club Speedway followed by Richmond International Raceway one week later. Things on- and off-track are definitely heating up even as the temperatures start to get cooler as Summer fades away.

Stay tuned, things could get very interesting before the 'Chase' even starts. - motorsport.com

MORE: Carl Edwards nudged Kyle Busch out of the way to take the lead with 31 laps left in Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, angering Busch and adding fuel to a possible emerging rivalry, en route to his sixth win of the 2008 Sprint Cup season.

Busch, who had dominated the event after taking the top spot on lap 55, bumped his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing Ford on the cool-down lap to express his frustration with Edwards’ winning move. Edwards then retaliated by spinning Busch before heading to victory lane amid a chorus of cheers.

“I just had to ask myself, 'Would he do that to me?'” Edwards said of the nudge that allowed him to grab the lead. “And he has before. They keep talking about rivalries - we might have one now.”

Said Busch of the bump that propelled Edwards to the win: "It's just his normal fashion - that's fine. I've grown to know that now. You know, to pass a guy, to hit him getting into the corners and chatter his tires is what he did."

JRG's Denny Hamlin, Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick and Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon completed the top five on a night when there was significant movement among those vying for the final spots in the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup.

The big gainers were Hamlin and Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer. Hamlin moved up a spot to 11th in points while Bowyer moved from 13th to 12th. With just two races remaining before the 12-driver Chase field is set, Hamlin is 57 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan while Bowyer is 45 points ahead of Ragan. An accident at Bristol sent Gillett Evernham Motorsports' Kasey Kahne out of the top 12 and plummeting three spots to 14th, 56 points behind Bowyer.

Busch led 415 laps and spent most of the night on cruise control after taking command with a bold move to the inside of Edwards and Gordon as they were held up early by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Juan Pablo Montoya who was fighting to stay on the lead lap.

Busch led comfortably before being challenged by Edwards on several restarts in the final 150 laps. It was on a restart with 34 laps to go that Edwards finally made his move.

“I kind of just ran into him," Edwards said. "That’s what happened. It’s too bad we tore up the car a little bit after the race, but I guess he wasn’t happy about it and I can understand."

While Busch and Edwards lamented their differences, others pondered what might have been.

Trouble came in many varieties and ruined the nights of multiple contenders. And it took less than half a lap for it to find Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Starting 40th, the Hendrick Motorsports received a pass-through penalty for jumping the initial start at the beginning of the race when he shot by several cars on the outside coming to the green flag. In answering the penalty, Earnhardt Jr. lost a lap that he never got back.

Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick teammate, Jimmie Johnson, encountered problems next - in the form of a severely damaged right front fender sustained from a brush with Phoenix Racing’s Sterling Marlin on lap 27. Following two extended stays on pit road, the two-time defending series champion returned 14 laps down.

It wasn’t long before others joined in the misfortune. First among them were Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s Martin Truex Jr. and Red Bull Racing’s AJ Allmendinger, who crashed in turn 3 on lap 97 when right front tire issues sent Truex up the track into Allmendinger’s path.

The chaos continued with a three-car wreck involving Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton, Furniture Row Racing’s Joe Nemechek, and Marlin on lap 195. Burton, who entered the race fifth in the series standings, was spun by Nemechek while slowing to avoid the spinning machine of Marlin – who broke loose from contact with Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. Damage in the crash forced Burton to retire with a 42nd-place finish.

“I don’t know what happened in front of me – two cars got together,” Burton said. “I was getting into the corner and the car behind me just didn’t see it and ran over me.”

Burton wasn’t the only Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup contender whose night ended in an accident. Kahne and Bowyer both took part in a seven-car melee on lap 217 that forced officials to red flag proceedings for just over 12 minutes. Bowyer continued with minimal damage but Kahne wound up in the garage with a 40th-place finish.

“We had a good race car and it’s a shame we got caught up in that mess,” Kahne said. “The crash happened so fast. I just saw cars wrecking everywhere in front of me and there was nothing that I could do.”

Also involved were Hornish, Hendrick’s Casey Mears, Robby Gordon Motorsports’ Robby Gordon, Ganassi’s Reed Sorenson and Michael Waltrip Racing’s Michael Waltrip. - scenedaily.com

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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP)—When rain washed out Sprint Cup qualifying at Watkins Glen International this month, a frustrated Boris Said had to park his No Fear Racing Ford for the second straight year at his favorite track.

“I used to get angry when this happened. Now I just get depressed,” he said. “I think last year I was a little more angry. Now, I’m just rolling with the punches.”

Considering the youth movement afoot in NASCAR, it’s remarkable that Said is even striving to compete full-time in Sprint Cup as his 46th birthday nears.

“I guess if 10 years ago somebody told me I’d be in NASCAR part-time or anything, I would have told them they were crazy,” he said. “I feel proud of the kind of unique career I’ve carved out in motorsports. I just love being part of the sport.”

Said’s childhood wasn’t the happiest—his parents split before he entered kindergarten and as a teen he hung out with the wrong crowd until he landed a job in a motorcycle shop. Instead of getting in trouble, he fixed motorcycles.

“That’s all I really ever did,” said Said, whose fun-loving demeanor belies a savvy sense of entrepreneurship.

That and sell popcorn. After seeing actor Jack Klugman plug some flavored popcorn on late-night television, Said opened a popcorn shop between a toy store and a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor in Stamford, Conn. He had 32 flavors, one more than the pioneering ice cream store chain.

Between the two jobs, Said saved enough money to buy a Honda-Yamaha franchise at age 22, becoming one of the youngest motorcycle dealers in the country.

Turns out racing was in his blood. His late father raced cars and drove in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics for the U.S. bobsled team. So it was understandable that when Said, who never really got to know his dad, went to the Formula One Detroit Grand Prix in 1985 he fell in love with the sport.

Said soon sold his motorcycle dealership to concentrate on racing full-time. Despite advice from an instructor at the Skip Barber Racing School in Lime Rock, Conn., who told him he didn’t measure up, Said quickly began to make his mark in the Corvette Challenge series, even with pit crews that often consisted of friends who showed up to watch him.

Said begged owners for rides and often slept wherever he happened to be when night fell. One such night changed his life.

“I was driving back in a box truck from Florida and stopped about 2 in the morning at a car dealership,” Said recalled. “I hooked up the hose in the back and was showering, and all of a sudden a cop pulled up and told me I couldn’t stay there. I just drove next door and it just happened to be Tom Milner’s building. I didn’t even know it until he woke me up in the morning.”

Milner owns PTG Racing in Winchester, Va., the two quickly became friends, and a couple of years later he finally gave Said the break he needed.

“He was almost like a father to me. When I was struggling in racing he kept me employed,” said Said, who drove for Milner for more than a decade. “All my life people have told me it can’t be done, but I’m a firm believer that if you work hard enough it can be done. I’ve proved it.”

No argument there.

Career highlights include: rookie of the year honors in the Corvette Challenge series; three straight Sports Car Club of America championships; a Trans-Am title in 2002; a win from the pole at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium; two wins in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona and a victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the signature events of sports car racing in America; and three years ago Said became the first American to win a 24-hour event at the Nuerburgring Nordschleife, a 15 1/2 -mile road course in Germany that requires more than 100 shifts per lap.

Success in the highly competitive top three tiers of NASCAR—Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman trucks—hasn’t been so easy. He has one victory, in the truck series at Sonoma in 1998, and 22 top-10s in 116 starts. He has, however, proved that he’s more than just a road course specialist.

In May 2006, Said, veteran crew chief Frank Stoddard, and Mark Simo announced the creation of No Fear Racing, which receives technical support, engines and Ford Fusion bodies from Roush Fenway Racing and has SoBe No Fear, an energy drink, as its sponsor. Less than two months later, in only the team’s second race, Said stunned the NASCAR world by winning the pole for the Pepsi 400 on the high-speed banks of Daytona. He led nine laps during the race and finished fourth, losing the lead to eventual winner Tony Stewart with two laps to go.

Said calls it the highlight of his career. He wants more.

“I’m not giving up just yet,” declared Said, whose No. 60 team has made only two starts this year and plans only one more, at Talladega. “Given the opportunity with a full-time sponsor, we could compete with these guys. We’ve shown we can do it every time we race.”

Said, who was recruited by ESPN to be an in-studio analyst this year and has acquitted himself well despite skipping every rehearsal meeting, would be a welcome addition to the Cup garage, where drivers often seem like robots, spewing the same answers to the same questions week after week.

“I think he’s awesome,” four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon said. “I think he brings a lot of entertainment to the series. We’d love to see him out there. All the different types of cars that he’s driven and he’s had success in proves what kind of race car driver he is.”

“He’s all about giving and just a huge asset to our sport,” said Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports and one of many Cup drivers tutored by Said on the fine points of road racing. “His personality is second to none—larger than life. I’d love to see him full-time, and I think if he ever got the right chance with the right people he could make it work.”

As Said’s racing career has blossomed, so, too, has his unique fan base, most of whom don Afro wigs made to look exactly like Said’s head of curly brown hair.

Said’s take the first time he saw a group of “Saidheads” at Watkins Glen?

“Frightened! I see guys like Jeff Gordon and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Kasey Kahne, in all their fan clubs there are cute little girls yelling their name,” he said. “Me? I’ve got a bunch of 35-year-old guys (and gals) wearing wigs yelling my name.

“But after I met them and started thinking about it, if I wasn’t racing I’d probably be one of those guys.” - ap


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