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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Edwards Rips Harvick
Carl Edwards calls him ‘a bad person’ in response to Kevin Harvick’s criticism...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted March 19, 2010   Bristol, TN
The feud between NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick goes back to 2008. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards wants to talk to Brad Keselowski on Saturday before commenting on their controversial incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway March 7, in which Edwards intentionally wrecked Keselowski and sent his car flying into the fence.

But Edwards is responding to criticism of him by Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who has had his issues with Edwards in the past and called Edwards “fake.”

“I have absolutely no respect for Kevin Harvick,” Edwards said Friday before practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I think he’s a bad person. That’s my opinion. I’ve told him that. We’ve had our deal before and his actions through that interaction were so devious and underhanded and cowardly that, it’s like, I just have no respect for him.

“… When people like that question me, it makes me feel better because if those people were lined up patting me on the back I’d be on the wrong side of what’s right and wrong. And I truly believe that.”

Earlier in the day, Harvick was asked about a comment he made on a radio show this week in which he called Edwards “fake.”

“You can’t be the nice guy and the bad guy and the bully,” Harvick said about Edwards on Friday at Bristol.

Edwards and Harvick got into a physical confrontation in 2008 after Harvick criticized Edwards for causing a wreck at Talladega. After Harvick criticized Edwards on TV at Talladega, Edwards left him a nasty note, which was leaked to the media. Edwards then confronted Harvick in the garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway, leading to an altercation that ended with Edwards grabbing Harvick around the throat.

Edwards also denied Friday that he has anger issues – a common criticism of him considering he was 153 laps down when he wrecked Keselowski at Atlanta and has had other confrontations with drivers, including Roush teammate Matt Kenseth.

“People are going to say what they do,” Edwards said. “That’s all they can say about me because it’s hard for them to accept that I am a decent guy. If you go ask all the people who know me, all the people around me, go ask them and they’ll tell you.

“Go take those people who are talking and ask the people around them what kind of person they are, and they’ll tell you. That’s just the way it is.”

Former Roush teammate Mark Martin defended Edwards on Friday at Bristol.

“I think Carl is a stand-up guy and a really, really fine young man and I think that he sure didn’t mean for that to happen [Keselowski’s car getting airborne at Atlanta],” Martin said.

Edwards car owner Jack Roush said what he has told Edwards will stay between the two of them. He said that while he doesn’t condone Edwards’ action, he understood them.

“Brad Keselowski wrecked Carl three times if anybody was watching,” Roush said. “If my driver had wrecked somebody three times I would have had issue with that from my side.”

Edwards and Penske Racing’s Keselowski are scheduled to meet with NASCAR officials Saturday, Edwards said.

“[What I’ll be] glad to talk with Brad about is that whatever he wants to do is fine, but once it affects … my business, my team, all that stuff, I have to address it,” said Edwards, who was angry over a wreck on lap 40 at Atlanta as well as previous incidents in the last year at Daytona and Memphis. “That’s it. It’s no deeper than that. It’s only between him and I and what happens on the race track. … It’s really simple.

“I treat everyone the best way I can possibly treat them, that’s the way I was raised, but I stand up for myself. That’s simple. If somebody doesn’t respect that, then that’s their problem. Doesn’t really matter. “

Roush said he was never worried that Edwards would get suspended by NASCAR, which parked Edwards for the remainder of the Atlanta event and then put him on three-race probation.

“I never gave that [suspension] a thought,” Roush said. “NASCAR had made it clear that they wanted the drivers to do things on the race track to generate more excitement and to be less inhibited by NASCAR’s restrictions, and what Carl did would not have occurred in the circumstance we had last year, where it was clear there would be more stringent or more strict view of NASCAR’s point of view.”

And will paybacks continue?

“NASCAR wants and the fans expect some amount of contention, competition, conflict and angst that goes with the things that happen on the race track,” Roush said. “To what degree, how that frustration will manifest itself and what is acceptable and what is not is subject to NASCAR’s determination.”

Whether he changes on the race track remains to be seen, but Edwards indicated he will continue to handle these situations off the track in a similar manner.

“All those people that say whatever they say know that if I have an issue with them, I go speak to them,” Edwards said. “I don’t run around behind their back and talk like little girls. That’s what a lot of them do. I learned that wasn’t cool in about fifth grade.’’

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