BROOKLYN, Mich. -- NASCAR is all about feuds lately, especially Kyle Busch vs. Kevin Harvick. That particular feud did not have any presence in the MIS race, but another emerged – albeit briefly – after the MIS race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in a huff after the race and blasted Mark Martin in an interview, saying that Martin had been “careless” and pinched Jr. up into the wall.

“The defining moment probably was getting run into the wall by Mark (Martin). We had fixed the car, we were moving forward and we were doing pretty well at that point, but, you can’t do nothing about getting run over or getting run into the wall,” Jr. said. “I try really hard to take care of people and try not to be careless and I don't like putting up with carelessness and that really pissed me off what happened out there."

Jr. implied that had the situations been reversed, he would have been more polite to his teammate.

“I perceived that he didn’t know I was on outside. He come up there, he knew I was up there, but, he was just running hard. If they tables were turned, I would have been smarter and give him plenty of room than he did me. He is older me, been racing forever and knows a lot more than I’ll ever get or he has forgot more stuff than I’ll never know. Still, I take better care of people than that,” Jr. continued. “I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know. I just do a better job; I take better care of people than that. Hopefully, now that I know what to expect in a situation like that. I will still drive on the outside of him and hopefully he won’t run me in the wall.”
Martin was taken aback by Jr.’s comments and said he’s not a careless racer.

“I don’t have a history of having problems. I don’t think I have one now. I think we will get it sorted out. I feel like I give everybody on the race track respect. I made a mistake,” Martin said.

And then, as is to be expected, the two spoke, and Jr. accepted Mark’s version of what happened (that he was out of gas and lost control of the car due to air off Jr.’s car), and all is well in the Hendrick camp.

Except that 108-race winless streak for Jr., but that’s a whole ‘nother topic

Kyle Busch aching during race
Kyle Busch told the media after the race that he had “chest pain” during the race. After the race, though, it was clarified that it most likely just indigestion, so fear not KB fans. His health is not in danger.

Carl complains: Too much downforce, too hard to pass

You would think a guy who is still leading the points would be happy with the way the cars are designed, but apparently that’s not the case with Carl Edwards.

“ This is a great race track and track position is so important. Sadly, down force is such a big factor in these cars and I am really hoping that NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take down force away so the fans can see the guys race race cars and not race down force. That would be cool,” Edwards said after finishing 5th.
“All the cars are very close. So let’s say all of the cars are a tenth apart and you are behind two or three cars, your car is two-tenths of a second slow. You can’t make up. I am not whining. Denny earned this win and those are the rules we are under. Track position was huge and I just wish it wasn’t like that.”

First Carl, you are complaining, and second, I doubt many teams want to have less downforce.

But I’m not an engineer, so maybe I’m wrong. I’d be curious to hear what more mechanically inclined people would have to say about how these changes that Carl suggests would affect the cars. Or perhaps there are other ways to make track position less important and allow for more racing.

The delicate balance of creating speed and allowing for the best racing is something that should be talked about, so maybe Carl did a good thing by bringing this up. But I also think the fact that he didn’t win plays a part in his complaining.

Bayne back after illness
Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne returned to the Sprint Cup for the first time since his mystery illness, and he finished 16th in the Wood Brothers ride.

“I feel fine, so I’m ready and I’m back and it was good to finally get back in this Cup car. It wasn’t too bad for our first run back there, 16th-place finish. This team is doing a really great job this year. We struggled on pit road there for a little while, but we finally got that figured out at the end of the race, so that helped us. Then, the car was really tight into the center and loose off, so we fought that all day long up until the very last lap,” Bayne said.

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