Edwards, Busch move on, hard feelings still remain

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kyle Busch insists there are no problems between him and Carl Edwards. They're friends, he says. Best friends.

"I might text him later so we can go get some In-N-Out Burger," Busch said sarcastically Friday at Auto Club Speedway just before practice. "No, wait. He doesn't eat that stuff probably. Maybe salads."

Play nice, boys

NASCAR has placed Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards on probation for the next six races.

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Their haulers are parked beside each other in the garage, but the tone of Busch's comments left little doubt that the two most successful drivers this season are not as close as their transporters. That evidence came to a head last week at Bristol, when Edwards' bump-and-run pass of Busch was ultimately the race-winning move. On the cool-down lap, Busch bumped the side of Edwards while Edwards retaliated by spinning Busch (watch video).

Edwards refused to apologize for the action, saying he thought if the roles were reversed that Busch would do the same to him -- and that he had in the past, pointing to a previous race at Richmond earlier this season (watch video).

But Busch said that's not true.

"It's kind of the reason why I didn't go get payback right away," he said when asked if he would have bumped Edwards. "I could have easily just drove off into Turn 3 and tore him right in the left-side quarterpanel and spun him out. I didn't do that. I tried to race him clean and get back by him. I got bogged down by Denny [Hamlin] and we started racing a little bit. I never laid a tire mark on him and got back by him. But it was too late to run down Carl.

"People always say that I'm out there running into people and knocking them out of the way. I'm not doing it on purpose, I'm telling you."

Both drivers were given a six-week probation period by NASCAR on Wednesday for their post-race antics. Neither discussed the conversations they had with NASCAR officials, but they did offer their opinions on what the discipline meant.

"I don't think it means that if you get into another driver and spin him out that you're going to get suspended for a race," Busch said. "I think it has to do with the way that you got on probation, that if you do the same thing that you did again that the repercussions are going to go up with possibly a suspension or something like that. Keep your post-race antics down to a minimum. I would have to get the correct wording from NASCAR if I took out another driver if I would get suspended for it, but I don't believe that's the case." (Continued)