Racing's season of feuds heats up at Chicago

In a season of racing feuds, the spat between Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson is only the latest. John Harrelson/Getty Images

TORONTO -- Call this week's column the "Feud Edition" as driver squabbles in Saturday night's NASCAR race at Chicagoland and a revival of the Paul Tracy-Helio Castroneves feud in Sunday's IndyCar Series race gave race fans some added entertainment.

Could there be more to come between these four drivers as the seasons progress?

NASCAR's newest feud involves three-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch, giving the stock car series some much-needed spark heading into an off-weekend before the AllState 400 at the Brickyard on July 26.

As Busch and Johnson were battling Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon for the lead late in the race, Johnson's Chevrolet drifted high and forced Busch's Dodge into a scrape against the Turn 4 wall. Busch then drove down and sideswiped Johnson to let him know he didn't appreciate the move. After the race, Busch fired a biting shot at Johnson, who is often criticized for being "too nice," both on and off the track.

"The No. 48, we got run into at Sonoma, we got run into again, starting to lose faith in his ability to be a three-time champion on the track," Busch said. "I'm disappointed. I gave him room and we got pounded into the fence. I had a left rear tire rub. Luckily we got a yellow, got her fixed and finished 17th, so a couple of runs spoiled by the No. 48 car. I'm not digging it.

"I guess it was just a late-race rumble there and we came out on the short end of the stick. I don't know what the problem is with Jimmie and me, but we're running into each other way too often it seems. I'm pretty livid right now, to tell you the truth."

Johnson, of course, saw the incident much differently.

"I think the No. 24 [Jeff Gordon] got inside of me and got me loose because he's on new tires and the two of us [myself and Kurt Busch] touched and he body slammed me after that," said Johnson, who was more upset with Denny Hamlin than with Busch. "That was the least of my problems, the bigger problem I had was when I was leading and the No. 11 [Hamlin] pushed me all the way through one and two and eventually I lost control and that's what put me back there.

"It was just hard racing. It was one of those days that I thought we had this thing won at one point and then the restart didn't work out so well for us. Everybody was out of control back in the race, body slamming. The No. 83 [Brian Vickers] and the No. 11 went at for a little bit. We were bump drafting down straightaways. That was some wild racing. I didn't think we could race like that on a mile and a half."

The increased incidents between Johnson and Busch may be a product of NASCAR's new double-file restart rule more than a personal grudge match. NASCAR instituted the side-by-side restart rule in June to add more excitement to its races. That puts drivers racing for position beside each other on restarts rather than lining up nose-to-tail in the running order.

Meanwhile, while Busch-Johnson may be NASCAR's newest feud, the one between IndyCar Series drivers Tracy and Castroneves has been going on since the end of the 2002 Indianapolis 500.

That's when Tracy passed Castroneves for the lead on the backstretch on lap 199, just as Buddy Lazier and Laurent Redon crashed behind them in the second turn. Tracy believed he was the winner of the Indy 500 that year but officials ruled the pass came after the call for the yellow flag. Tracy's team appealed and Indy Racing League CEO Tony George ruled it was a "judgment call" that could not be appealed, which left Castroneves the winner.

Castroneves upstaged Tracy again as Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto race was rapidly nearing completion. Tracy was set to blow by Castroneves for second place as the two cars ran side-by-side through Turn 4, but both crashed in the wall before Turn 5.

"We are like oil and water, that's for sure," Tracy said of his relationship with Castroneves. "We were racing hard and he didn't want to let me by. He had to save fuel and I didn't have to save fuel. I could see the speed differential at the end of the straight. I closed on him really rapidly. He didn't block -- he left me the room to get in there, I got in and then we hooked up wheel-to-wheel. I'm not saying he squeezed me and I didn't try to squeeze him. It was just one of those things."

Castroneves -- IndyCar's "Mr. Popularity" -- was loudly booed by the Toronto fans for the wreck that took out their national hero, Tracy. As Castroneves was walking back to the paddock after the crash, he had to pass Tracy's pit area. While some fans booed this year's Indy 500 winner, a young girl shouted, "That's OK, Helio -- we still love you."

Then, Tracy decided to come up and shake hands with his combatant. "I'm sorry -- we got hooked up and I couldn't get off of you and you couldn't get off of me," he told Castroneves.

Tracy may have had more reason to be upset with IndyCar Series president of competition Brian Barnhart than with Castroneves. Tracy believes he was ahead of eventual winner Dario Franchitti on a pit stop on lap 58. Tracy was on the race course while Franchitti was in the pits just as Ed Carpenter and Graham Rahal crashed in Turn 3 to bring out a full-course yellow flag.

But Barnhart ruled that Franchitti was in front at the end of the "blend line" that runs across the track at pit exit.

"I'm baffled as to why we didn't end up the theoretical leader of the race, because I passed Dario on the track while he was in the pit lane and they reversed the position on pit lane," Tracy said. "I've never seen that happen before in all of my days in racing.

"But if felt good to be out here in front of the hometown and show what I can do. I would have loved to have finished on the podium, but in my opinion and in my heart I was able to show everybody what I can do again."