Drivers vent out after race incidents

Kenseth had approached Gordon to apologise for spinning him out of third place on the final lap, but he was shoved in the chest by his angry rival.

"I was surprised," Kenseth said. "If I thought he was going to try to take a swing at me or something like that I probably wouldn't have gone over there."

"I showed him my displeasure," said Gordon. "I get fired up too. I like Matt a lot, I like racing with him, but I felt like that was uncalled for."

Kenseth accepted complete responsibility for the incident, which consigned Gordon to 21st position.

"He worked for his third place finish and he got it unfairly taken away from him in the last corner," said Kenseth. "I would have been ticked off, too.

"I probably should have known better than to go over there, but I just think that when you do something wrong you should try to be a man about it and go apologise."

Kenseth's own ire was directed at winner Kurt Busch, who had claimed the lead by tapping Kenseth sideways five laps from the end.

"It was as close as I came to wrecking," said Kenseth. "I worked hard for that spot all day and I didn't think that I should have got a cheap shot taken at me at the end of the race like that.

"I wouldn't have done that to him. Maybe I should do that to people and maybe I'd have more success."

Busch was unrepentant.

"He got loose. I bumped into him a little bit and that was our window to go for the lead," he said.

"If we're leading and he's running second and he bumps me out of the way, I'd understand. That's what goes on, man. This racing is awesome. Fans dig it.

"That's the big thing about Bristol. You have to come to race hard. You have to be able to hoist up the trophy at the end of the day without any grudges."

"If I get bumped by Kenseth the next week, that's cool. Maybe I was running too slow and I didn't deserve to win that day."