I apologize for the absence of a column last week. I had spent the weekend in Ohio and Michigan for the race in celebration of my birthday on Sunday, Aug. 17, — the Cup race.

As for the night race at Bristol, well, it was as should always be expected — a shakeup in the standings, good racing, a a new “good, wholesome” feud and the inevitable pileup or two.

Carl Edwards, who captured his first pole of the season and last week’s Michigan winner, also won the Sharpie 500. Edwards’ No. 99 Ford was also in Victory Lane the year before beating Kasey Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge to the finish line. However, this year it wasn’t Kahne who lead the most laps only to be passed by Edwards in the closing laps. Instead, it was Kyle Busch that was the unfortunate one.

Busch had led 415 consecutive laps (Kahne lead a total of 304 last year) and looked to be well on his way to his ninth Cup win of the season. The only factor or common knowledge insight, was that the driver leading at half-way or leading the most laps hasn’t won at Bristol in years. Apparently, no one informed Busch on that little tidbit, but following last years fashion, with a slight altercation, Edwards wanted to prove the fact right with a pass on Busch.

This pass wasn’t as friendly as his typically tends to be. On lap 470, with 30 laps left, Edwards, in second, tapped Busch’s No. 18 Toyota causing the car to wiggle a little, but a little was just enough as Edwards made his way around Busch’s car. Without another caution to add to the eight already existing cautions, Edwards soared across the finish line in the lead. But right after he did so, Busch decide to pay him back.

During the cool-down lap, in which all the drivers had crossed the finish line and proceed to go back around the track at a slower pace and head to the garage, Busch drove up next to Edwards. Instead of congratulating Edwards on a job well down, Busch bumped him back, much like Edwards had done a few laps earlier.

Apparently Edwards didn’t appreciate it because he turned the nose of his Ford in the right side of Busch’s Toyota. Busch spun around and according to all the news outlets “the crowd went wild” with cheering.

Busch got out of his car for his post-race interview(s) and had some not so good comments about Edwards. He even made comments degrading Edwards as a “Mr. Ed”-like figure saying Edwards would apologize and say he didn’t mean to do it because he “doesn’t race like that.”

Normally, that very comment would be true, but Edwards, remembering previous instances with Busch on the track, said during his own post-race interview that he did mean to do it and only thought of what Busch himself would have done in his shoes.

Both drivers are ready for the Chase, Edwards locked himself in after this most recent win, and both drivers are ready to race each other to the championship finish line with a brand new, “good, wholesome” feud.

Both Busch and Edwards may have locked themselves in but a few other Chase driver had problems while others were able to prosper in others misfortune.

Jeff Burton and Kahne were involved two separate wrecks, neither of which were of their own making. Burton was fortunate, he didn’t fall any in the standing, Kahne was the unfortunate soul as he finished 40th for the second consecutive week, slipping yet another three spots to 14th in the standings, 56 points out of 12th spot. (After Michigan, he fell from eighth in the standings to 11th, due to a blown engine.)

Kahne’s misfortune was Clint Bowyer’s gain. Bowyer was tied for 13th spot with David Ragan before Saturday’s race. At the conclusion of the race, Bowyer, who was also involved in the wreck with Kahne, managed to finish in the Top 10 and move up to 12th in the standings. Ragan still holds 13th with a 44-point lead over Kahne.

This does not sit too well with me, nor does it sit very well with any of the Kasey Kahne fans. We have to let things play out, but boy was I hoping this season wouldn’t be like the 2006 season when he was 11th in the standings, 90 points out of 10th and literally raced his way into the Chase. He won at Fontana and finish third at Richmond making up the 90 points deficit to finally make his first Chase appearance.

The 2006 season was the last time the Chase consisted of only the Top 10 drivers. By today’s standards, Kahne would have been in, in fact, Kahne was one of the reasons for the new format. Having had the most wins of the season, Kahne was very close, obviously, to missing the Chase. NASCAR decided to change the format. It appears, however, that Kahne may be in the same predicament, minus the most wins, as he was two years ago.

The Kahne fan in me shall continue to hold her breath and close her eyes the next two weekends and has to wait and see.

Don’t miss:
From Fontana

• Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday night at 6:30 on SPEED
• Camping World RV Service 300 (Nationwide race), Saturday night at 9:45 on ESPN2
• Pepsi 500 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday night at 7 on ESPN