Busch, Stewart clash in practice

Busch and Stewart, who crashed while fighting for the lead in the Daytona 500 a year ago, had yet another encounter on track to add to their list of clashes. The pair made contact while drafting in the final Bud Shootout practice at the end of the backstretch.

The No. 2 Penske Dodge of Busch hit the wall, while Stewart's car went sideways and on to the apron, bringing out the yellow flags. Then, while driving back to the pits, Busch caught up with Stewart and slammed the left side of his car against the right side of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota several times.

Their exchange continued into pit road, where both showed their feelings almost making contact again, before parking their cars and being called up by NASCAR officials to explain their actions.

After meeting twice in the NASCAR trailer, once after the incident and then before Saturday practice, officials decided to put the matter to rest for now. However, penalties could be announced next week.

"I will say it was highly emotional between two great race drivers," said NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter. "And I think by the end of last night's meeting and after this morning's meeting that they clearly understand that they better give each other a lot of space on the race track."

The incident also involved Denny Hamlin, who was hit by Stewart when he went sideways.

"That's part of racing," Stewart said on Saturday morning in a television interview. "That's part of what happens. It's no different than going to any Saturday night short track. What happened last night is over."

Busch also said he has left the incident behind and is now looking forward to tonight's Budweiser Shootout.

"Tony and I are competitors, we always have been and we're going to be just fine," he said in a television interview. "We're going to move forward, we know we need to help each other out in the future so that doesn't happen again."

The incident was not the only one in practice, as slightly before that reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was involved in a multi-car crash, ignited by Clint Bowyer tapping the rear of the second Penske car of Ryan Newman, also at the end of the backstretch.

Jeff Gordon, David Gilliland, Bill Elliot, Carl Edwards and Mark Martin were also involved in the crash.