Edwards outduels Busch

Carl Edwards isn’t conceding anything to Kyle Busch.

Edwards saw Busch lead 415 consecutive laps Saturday night in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, then used the bumper on his Ford to nudge Busch in the first turn on Lap 470.

That move caused Busch’s Toyota to wiggle just enough so that Edwards could drive by for his second consecutive win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“It’s one of those deals where I couldn’t get by him, I couldn’t get by him, and I just had to ask myself, ‘Would he do that to me?’ ” Edwards said after doing his trademark back flip off the car in Victory Lane. “And he has before, so that’s the way it goes.”

The win 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.

“They keep talking about rivalries,” Edwards said. “We might have one now.”

Busch, who still leads Edwards by 212 points in the standings with two races left in the regular season, said it’s unlikely his relationship with Edwards will improve soon.

“He hit me getting into Turn 1,” Busch said. “Whatever. Carl’s going to say he’s sorry, that he didn’t want to race that way, but he always does. We’ll take it, we’ll go on and we’ll race him that way in the Chase if that’s the way he wants to race.”

Busch finished second, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon.

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

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Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won the pole position for today’s European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain, after edging McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

It is Massa’s fourth pole position of the season, and he’ll be looking for his fourth victory after winning in Bahrain, Turkey and France.

Massa turned a fast lap of 1 minute 38.989 seconds on the 3.4-mile course around the eastern city’s port. Hamilton was timed in 1:39.199. BMW’s Robert Kubica was third in 1:39.392.

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Travis Thirkettle won both races in the NASCAR ACDelco Super Late Model 40-lap twin features at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.

In the first race, Thirkettle took the lead from Nick Joanides on Lap 26. In the second, he started from the pole and led the entire race

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Standings

*--* Driver Pts Behind 1. Kyle Busch 3,609 -- 2. Carl Edwards 3,397 212 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3,193 416 4. Jimmie Johnson 3,191 418 5. Jeff Burton 3,117 492 6. Tony Stewart 3,013 596 7. Greg Biffle 2,984 625 8. Kevin Harvick 2,972 637 9. Jeff Gordon 2,951 658 10. Matt Kenseth 2,921 688 11. Denny Hamlin 2,900 709 12. Clint Bowyer 2,855 754 *--*