Kenseth unsure of what provoked Edwards' actions

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Matt Kenseth doesn't care if his teammates like him, but he does want their respect.

On Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kenseth spoke publicly for the first time since his post-race incident with Carl Edwards at Martinsville.

Feuding mates

Carl Edwards said he feels like an outsider at Roush Fenway and David Caraviello says that's not good for RFR as the teammates need each other in order to succeed.

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"We haven't talked since last week and I don't really see at this point, a big reason to or anything that's going to get solved," Kenseth said. "We'll carry on like always, and be professionals, and keep working together and try to get everybody at Roush Fenway working good."

While Kenseth was being interviewed on television following the Subway 500, Edwards came up, pushed Kenseth and then faked throwing a punch, which came close enough to make Kenseth flinch (watch video). Edwards later apologized for the incident, but Kenseth said he'll believe it when he sees a change in attitude.

"It helps if you get an apology, but ... I think the main thing is that actions speak louder than words," Kenseth said. "Anybody can call and say the words. I've heard them actually a lot of times from there.

"You can go run into people and then walk up next week and say, 'Hey man, I'm really sorry.' And then you can run into them again next week and say, 'Hey man, I'm really sorry.' And you can do that again. Well, pretty soon when you walk up and say you're sorry, you say, 'OK, he doesn't mean that.'"

After hearing Kenseth's comments, Edwards reiterated that he's gone to the effort of trying to explain his side of the situation.

"I guess all I can say about it is I've said the way things went down, I wish they hadn't gone that way and I've apologized for it," Edwards said. "My belief is that we should try to work it out. I called him. If he doesn't want to, that's his prerogative. He can do that."

Kenseth said he and Edwards have very different personalities, but a lack of personal interaction shouldn't affect their ability to work together.

"There have been a lot of teammates that didn't necessarily get along that have been very, very productive, including some people that have been at our stable," Kenseth said. "So I don't think that really has anything to do with it. I think the key word there is probably respect. I think you've got to respect your teammates and respect all your peers out there, and if you do the right thing, most times people are gonna do the right thing back to you, so I think that's the main thing."

Kenseth said the entire incident has generated more publicity that it deserved.

"We've worked fine together," Kenseth said. "There have been several instances where he's come and talked to me or I've talked to him about things or whatever. I think it's maybe blown out of proportion.

"I honestly didn't realize we had any problem. I saw exactly what you guys saw, what everybody's been watching on You Tube. I watched it, too, and that's all I know. I don't really know what provoked all that."

Still, Kenseth expects the organization to continue to work together, despite Edwards' fears that there is a lack of "team spirit" at Roush Fenway Racing.

"I think everything on the team is great," Kenseth said. "Honestly, I know there were comments about team spirit and all that, but besides the two of us for whatever reason, team morale is maybe not at an all-time high but it's pretty high. Right now, all the crew chiefs are getting along better than they were a year ago, they're sharing information better and they're understanding each other and our crew chiefs understand the drivers and engineers and all that stuff. I think from a team standpoint, it's great.

"Hopefully, in the end, it'll be a positive. I think he's probably got more stuff to work through than I do. I don't feel like I've been a big cause of his problems."

Kenseth said when Jeff Burton was at Roush, he was considered the team leader. When asked if he should handle that role now, Kenseth replied in the negative.

"I don't think I'm that guy," Kenseth said. "I don't think I'm really cut out to be that guy, but I'm not sure that you need it either. We're all racing for our own teams. We're all helping each other. We should all be able to act like professionals.

"I don't think you need one driver within the team to stand up in front of everybody and tell them how things are gonna be or whatever. We're all equals and all of our input should matter and we should all figure out how to work together."

Owner Jack Roush said the team is trying to learn from this incident and move on.

"I've been engaged all week trying to understand what the reasons were and what the frustration was behind the conflict between Carl and Matt, and I think we have the measure of it," Roush said. "Certainly, Carl realizes that he wasn't a friend to Matt, and Matt, I think, is anxious to have Carl get some relief from the dilemma he finds himself in.

"We're working our way through the aftermath of the conflict that was regrettable, and I think in the future, in a scenario where there will be conflict and differences of opinion, that we'll be able to avoid that confrontation."