BRISTOL, Tenn. — They’ve avoided the talk of a two-man battle for the Sprint Cup championship for several weeks. Following Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the duel is on for Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

In a big way.

The season’s two dominant drivers went head-to-head on Bristol’s high banks, and for the second consecutive week Edwards got the best of the points leader. After using a strong pit stop to beat him at Michigan, Edwards did it this time on the track, using a bump-and-run move to get past Busch with 30 laps to go.

Busch didn’t like the bump and gave Edwards’ car a shot in the side on the cool-down lap. Edwards retaliated, spinning Busch out as the 160,000 fans screamed their approval.

“That’s one of those deals where I couldn’t get by him, so I decided to ask myself if he would do that to me,” Edwards said. “And he has done it before. Man, that was exciting. They keep talking about rivalries. We may have one now.”

Busch, after being called to the NASCAR hauler, let it be known that he won’t forget the move.

“It’s just unfortunate the way it turned out at the end, but we’ll just move forward and see what we can do heading into the Chase,” he said. “He hit me in turn one, and he’s going to say he’s sorry, that he didn’t mean to do it. He’ll always come back to say he’s sorry. That’s his normal fashion. That’s fine — I’ve come to know that now.

“We’ll race him in the Chase lke that if he wants to.”

Three drivers in need of a good finish to help cement their spots in the Chase did so Saturday.

Denny Hamlin, after doubting his team’s ability to make the Chase, had a strong third-place finish, while Kevin Harvick finished fourth and Jeff Gordon fifth. They were followed in the top 10 by Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan.

In closing the points gap on Busch, Edwards did not try to hide from his race-winning maneuver.

“I kind of just ran into him. That’s what happened,” he said. “It’s too bad we tore up the car after the race. I don’t guess he was happy about it. It’s not the best way to win a race, but I’m real proud of my guys. At Richmond he was coming up through the field and spun us out.

“There’s no doubt Kyle Busch has been the class of the field all season. I’ve got all the respect for the guy. He was real fast, but we can’t give up all the points going into the Chase.”

Edwards’ 1.9-second win is his sixth of the season, giving him and Busch 14 victories in the season’s 24 races. The two combined to lead 499 of the race’s 500 laps.

While the two championship leaders flexed their muscles, several other Chase contenders had problems. Among those were Jeff Burton, who finished 42nd after being involved in an early wreck; Kasey Kahne, who finished 40th; and Jimmie Johnson, who had early problems and wound up 33rd.

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