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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Enjoy this. Savor it. Rejoice in this rare spectacle of racing: A rivalry.

NASCAR fans have longed for such a mano-a-mano battle, but the combatants rarely fulfilled those hopes.

Now, fans can debate something other than driver swaps and ticket prices.

Kyle or Carl?

No need for last names. You know them. They're the ones winning more often than anyone else. They finished first and second Saturday night but the race between the two turned personal at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Now, there's no middle ground. Pick a side.

Was Carl Edwards wrong to bump Busch out of the lead with 31 laps to go and take the win? Did Kyle Busch act like a spoiled child when he ran into the side of Edwards' car after the race? Was Edwards a poor winner for then spinning Busch?

Just as they did on the track, neither driver relented afterward.

"We'll race him like that in the Chase if that's the way he wants to race,'' Busch said upon finishing second to Edwards.

"We'll see what he says when he gets wrecked.''

Edwards understood Busch's anger, but Edwards showed no remorse for his winning bump. "Let's make it real clear, I'm not apologizing for it,'' he said.

Edwards' comment came well after he took the checkered flag, giving him plenty of time to come up with a delicate apology if he wanted.

Not this time.

"I feel like this ... score's even,'' he said of his budding feud with Busch. "It just cost him more than it cost me at the time. That's the way it is.''

Edwards said he paid Busch back for an incident during the May Nationwide race at Richmond. Edwards said Busch "just smoked the back bumper of my car'' and knocked Edwards out of the way as they raced for position.

When Edwards pestered Busch late in Saturday's race, Busch's rear bumper was a large target. Debating how aggressive to race, Edwards relied on a racing proverb a veteran once shared after Edwards confronted him about an on-track incident.

"He said,'' Edwards stated, not naming the wise elder, "I just had to look at your rear bumper and decide if you would do this to me and you had before.''

With the Richmond incident still vivid, Edwards' decision was easy. Bye-bye Cup win No. 9 for Busch.

As car owner Joe Gibbs consoled and calmed Busch after the race, Gibbs' son, J.D., approached Edwards.

J.D. Gibbs' message?

"You reap what you sow,'' Edwards said Gibbs told him.

"I explained to him that's why that happened that way,'' Edwards said.

Actions on the track, words off it and now days to discuss. This is what NASCAR has failed to deliver to fans for years. Numerous winners each season, a car meant to be equal and too friendly relations among drivers have kept NASCAR from enjoying a rivalry that triggered interest.

Fans tried to make Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt rivals but their best years on the track rarely matched. Plus, they were business partners off the track. Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon had their battles -- often at the short tracks -- but it didn't carry over to other speedways.

The last great rivalries? Those involved Waltrip, Petty and Pearson not Johnson, Stewart and Martin.

Kyle and Carl? There's no guarantee it will last. It could collapse under the weight of fan expectations, but Saturday was the needed spark to set it free.

Such an incident seemed inevitable. They've won seven of the last nine races. They've finished first and second three times during that stretch. They've combined to lead more than half the laps run in those races.

Running that close to each other leads to conflict. Saturday night, it did.

While fans might not have seen all the wrecking at Bristol as they like, they saw a rivalry debut with barbs and bent sheet metal.

"They keep talking about rivalries,'' Edwards said. "We might have one now.''

It couldn't come soon enough for many fans.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long @news-record.com