Jeff Owens: Can Busch-Edwards feud rival past great rivalries?

COMMENTARY

NASCAR may be on the verge of having a full-fledged rivalry, one the sport has needed for a long, long time.
     
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are a feuding, as they say down South, and it couldn’t come at a better time.
     
With the Chase For The Sprint Cup fast approaching – and the NFL and college football, NASCAR’s chief competitors for TV viewers, about to kick off – nothing could be better for the sport.
     
Fans, the media and even NASCAR officials have said all year that NASCAR needs a healthy rivalry to stir things up and spark interest. And who better to provide one than the two drivers currently dominating the sport?
     
With 14 wins between them and with them headed for a championship showdown, Busch and Edwards are primed to engage in an ugly, name-calling, fender-banging, fist-shaking battle for the ages.
     
Edwards fired the first shot Saturday night at Bristol when he bumped Busch out of his way for the win. The move angered Busch so much that the name-calling and threats of retaliation officially began.
   
But will this little quarrel, which seems to have been brewing for a while, sustain itself long enough to develop into a full-fledged feud, long enough to engage fans, prompting them to draw battle lines and take sides?
   
Let’s hope so.
   
It’s been way too long since we’ve had anything resembling a good, ole- fashioned feud.
   
Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart have had a few spats over the years, resulting in angry words and bent sheet metal.
   
And few will forget the Kurt Busch-Jimmy Spencer bash that resulted in Busch getting a bloody nose and Spencer a one-race suspension.
   
But neither of those disputes lasted very long.
   
The Gordon-Stewart rows were more like kindergarten tantrums. Stewart was more than willing to be the class bully, but Gordon was always a bit too nice to really fight back. Their biggest throwdown came in 1999 at Watkins Glen, and, honestly, how much of a rumble can you really have at a road course?
   
The Spencer-Busch dispute ended because the authorities got involved – both NASCAR and, briefly, the police – forcing the two hot-tempered drivers to merely resort to insults.
   
The last real NASCAR feuds were back in the 1980s, and most of them revolved around one man – Dale Earnhardt.
   
Old Ironhead tangled with everyone. Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd. For years he was public enemy number one in the garage. But eventually, those battles all fizzled as Earnhardt turned his bad-guy image into a marketing machine. And, let’s face it, how mean can you be when your chief initiative is selling souvenirs?
   
Earnhardt tried to create a rivalry with Gordon in the ’90s, but, off the track, they were friends and business partners, so the type of disdain needed to fuel a real feud never materialized.
   
Likewise, Earnhardt had some great battles and on-track skirmishes with Rusty Wallace, but again, they were friends, and it’s hard to hate a guy who worships the ground you walk on.
   
One of Earnhardt’s greatest crimes was wrecking Terry Labonte to win at Bristol in 1999. But, again, Earnhardt and Labonte were buds. Instead of being furious, Labonte went hunting with Earnhardt a few days later.
   
Since Earnhardt’s death in 2001, NASCAR hasn’t even had anyone of substance to stir things up. Guys like Stewart and Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick have tried, but NASCAR and their sponsors have muzzled them to the point where they’re nearly choirboys now.
   
Fans have longed for a rivalry between Gordon and Earnhardt Jr., but it hasn’t happened, mainly because, well, Earnhardt Jr. just hasn’t been very good.
   
Now they are teammates, and it’s hard to have a real rivalry with a teammate. Plus, now, neither one of them are very good.
   
So, Busch and Edwards represent the best opportunity in a while for a full-fledged, hate-your-guts feud.
   
Can they do it?
   
They both certainly have what it takes.
   
Busch has shown that he can be as ornery and nasty as anyone. He has perfected the smirk and frown and can fire clever zingers with the best of them. (Comparing Edwards to Mr. Ed was classic.)
   
Like his older brother, Busch has a mean streak, one that rubs both fans and competitors the wrong way. Fans like to say that the really mean drivers would wreck their own mothers to win a race. Busch would wreck his mother and call her names.
   
When fans turned on Busch early this year, he embraced and relished the role, taunting and thumbing his nose at them during every victory celebration.
   
Busch has made it clear that he doesn’t care what fans think of him. Good guy or bad, he just wants to win and will do whatever it takes.    

In essence, he’s the perfect NASCAR bad guy.
   
Edwards, on the other hand, has the makings of a white-hat hero fans can pull for.
   
Though some question his sincerity, Edwards has developed an image of the All-American boy next door, the type who cuts the neighbors’ grass and carries groceries for old ladies. His broad smile and aw-shucks personality have endeared him to many fans.
   
Though he also has a combustible temper that always seems to boiling just below the surface – and has occasionally erupted – Edwards tries hard to foster the public perception that he is really a good guy.
   
When things don’t go his way, he grins and bears it and is almost gracious to a fault.
   
But, like Busch, he can be a demon on the track, charging through the field like a bull in a china shop and sometimes running roughshod over the competition. He’s not afraid to ruffle some feathers and, as he showed at Bristol, will use his bumper when he has to.
   
Busch drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, Edwards for Roush Fenway, both NASCAR superpowers.
   
Busch drives a Toyota, Edwards a Ford, creating yet another natural rivalry among automakers and car buffs.
   
But perhaps most importantly, both are here to stay. They have established themselves this year as big winners and perennial contenders, and that is not likely to change anytime soon.
   
Though Busch is 23 and Edwards 29, both are budding superstars and will be drivers to beat for years to come.
 
If they can keep swapping paint, trading verbal jabs and getting under each other’s skin, maybe they can develop a true, deep-rooted hatred for one another.
   
Then we’ll finally have a true rivalry and a legitimate feud.