Tension builds between Roush drivers

Edwards and Kenseth made contact during the race twice and later, Edwards pushed Kenseth aside as he was about to give a television interview. He was clearly showing his anger and later he moved his right arm as if he was about to punch Kenseth on his face, before turning and leaving the track.

"I was not going to punch Matt," Edwards said on Friday about the incident, which was caught on tape by the TV crew that was about to talk to Kenseth.

"I was just real angry at him at the time and I wanted to get rise out of him. I didn't punch him. That's the thing when you really look at it. That's how it went down."

This week Edwards publicly apologised for his behaviour during a media teleconference and said he was willing to settle the issue. He even called Kenseth during the week but was unable to talk to him, saying he left him a message. However Kenseth did not return the call and has yet to speak to Edwards.

"As far as just Carl and I, we haven't talked since last week," Kenseth said on Friday at Atlanta. "I didn't call him back. It's one of the things that I don't know how to fix.

"He can tell me whatever he wants, but that's what happened. Actions speak a lot louder than words and until you see the actions are telling you different, that's probably when you'll feel better about it."

Edwards said during the week that he and Kenseth had not been talking to each other much for the past few months, but Kenseth later denied this. But adding pressure to the situation inside Roush Racing, Greg Biffle also shared his view with the media and was critical of Edwards, something that the Busch Series points leader didn't like.

"I learned a lot this week," said Edwards. "People don't always understand what's going on and what's really happening, and I can say that I really learned how people felt about me which is nice because it definitely seems from what I've learned this week that a lot of people don't mind walking around feeling a certain way about you and they don't say how they feel until it's popular to say it."

On Friday, after claiming pole for Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Atlanta, Biffle was less critical although he still pointed the finger at Edwards. He also said that the team needs to settle the dispute and that it all goes down to what happened on the track between the pair.

"I feel like we've thrown a lot of stones over the last week at everybody involved in this thing," Biffle said. "But, really, the moral of the story is that Carl was a little bit out of line and I think we all know that and he's admitted that.

"We just need to mend that relationship between him and Matt and they need to race each other better on the race track, and that's what this boils down to. It doesn't boil down to a personality conflict. It doesn't boil down to how a person acts. It doesn't boil down to who is friends and who isn't friends."

It remains to be seen if Kenseth and Edwards finally settle their differences, which probably started at Kansas when they had an incident during the Busch Series race. However, Kenseth believes that they should be able to rise above that and contribute to the team even if they don't get along. He said their issue is one about respect.

"I don't want to call people out and bring names up, but there have been a lot of teammates that didn't necessarily get along that have been very, very productive, including some people that have been at our stable and been very, very productive," Kenseth added.

"So I don't think that really has anything to do with it. I think the key word there is probably respect."

Edwards and Kenseth will be starting Sunday's Nextel Cup race from 16th and 17th on the grid respectively.