The Bristol bump

BRISTOL, Tenn. – It was another "Bristol bump."

And it's what racing at Bristol is all about.

The bump.

It doesn't matter that the tight half-mile concrete track has been repaved, allowing for more than one racing groove. A driver will still find himself having to resort to the "chrome horn" to get his point across – and make a pass.

This time though, Kevin Harvick wasn't trying to take out Tony Stewart in the final laps of Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It wasn't as obvious or intentional as some other more well-known examples of the "bump."

Ironically, two of the more memorable bumps occurred between another pair of good friends – Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte.

The first came during the 1995 Bristol night race when Labonte wrecked but won, sliding backward across the finish line after Earnhardt bumped him a few hundred feet from the end.

The second happened four years later, also during the August race.

Once again Earnhardt bumped Labonte, but this time the results were different as Earnhardt went on to claim victory.

The sellout crowd that night went wild, with a crescendo of boos for the seven-time champion. Across the country, thousands of Labonte fans cursed Earnhardt.

After reviewing the incident, NASCAR officials decided it was just racing at Bristol.

That's pretty much the way NASCAR officials have viewed Harvick's bump of Stewart in the closing laps of Sunday's race. To recap, the two were battling for the lead when Harvick got a little loose, veered up into the side of Stewart, which sent him into the wall. Harvick continued on and wound up second, while Stewart, who led the most laps, limped his damaged car home in 14th.

In the aftermath, both men – who are great friends, by the way – were visibly upset, but for different reasons.

Stewart for losing any chance he had at winning, and that he added yet another race to an already long list of races in which he led the most laps but for whatever reason didn't win.

For Harvick, it was an embarrassing mistake for which he took full credit.

"I just plain lost it," he said.

It was the kind of mistake a driver of his caliber doesn't often make, much less want to be reminded of, especially when it takes out another driver.

"It's one of those deals where I was just trying to get all I could and just got a little too far," said Harvick.

Stewart chose his words carefully during a post-race interview on television.

"I thought I left him plenty of room, but I don't know," said a sullen Stewart. "I was far enough ahead of him that I didn't see where he hit me or when he hit me. I'm sure somehow it was my fault. I'm just sorry I got in his way."

Sorry he got in his way?

The sarcasm was classic Stewart.

Harvick knew immediately he was in the wrong and asked his spotter Billy O'dea to apologize to Stewart through his spotter.

The reply from Stewart's spotter: an f-bomb coupled with a threat to "get him (Harvick)."

Thinking the reply was from Stewart – it was later relayed to Harvick that perhaps Stewart's spotter was speaking on his own – Harvick told O'dea to remind Stewart about last year's Brickyard 400 when Stewart unnecessarily banged into the side of Harvick, denying him a certain second-place finish.

That incident led to a difficult couple of weeks for the two close friends, but they eventually patched things up and moved on.

It's likely the same will happen from Sunday's bump.

In the post-race press conference, Harvick was again asked to explain what happened.

He agreed to, only after calling the question "ignorant."

"I got down on the apron," Harvick said. "I lost the car. I hit the side of Tony. That was pretty much the end of it."

Having to explain his error was an awkward moment for Harvick. He obviously was embarrassed about the whole incident and would have preferred to just discuss it in private with Stewart and then move on.

"We'll handle it," said Harvick.

That conversation will likely contain some off-color language and a few ugly remarks. But, it will also likely include one of them pointing out to the other that neither of them ended up winning the race and that Harvick did have fresher tires and a better car at the time.

But, we'll never know.

That'll be for those two men to discuss between themselves.

Meanwhile, this makes for a great water-cooler topic for the next couple of days.

It sure beats having to listen to Stewart bad-mouth Goodyear for another week.