Edwards, Harvick make news off track

NASCAR Carl Edwards (60) races Kevin Harvick during Friday's Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards stayed in the news all last week, but for all the wrong reasons.

First, his mistake near the end of the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was rehashed over and over. That wreck knocked him, Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle and several other Chase contenders out of the contention in that race.

Then at Lowe's Motor Speedway, he and Kevin Harvick, who was involved in the Talladega wreck and criticized Edwards afterward, scuffled in the garage.

Some speculated that Harvick was mostly playing mind games with Edwards.

Harvick is one of the best in the garage at getting under another driver's skin.

But Dale Earnhardt Jr. told reporters that he didn't believe mind games were being played.

"I just think that there is just a disagreement there," he said. "It's probably nothing more than that. It's just a big disagreement between two guys."

After the Bank of America 500, it seemed like a moot point as ignition problems dropped Edwards out of the group of Chase favorites, a group that has shrunk to just three at this point — leader Jimmie Johnson, Bank of America 500 winner Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle, winner at New Hampshire and Dover.

EDWARDS