In the waning moments, the real Bristol struck back (cont'd)

"I thought I left him plenty of room, but I don't know," he said after placing 14th Sunday. "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."

Added Harvick: "It was mine to lose at that point, and I lost it. I got up under there with [two] laps to go, it was time to go, and I clipped the apron and I just lost the thing. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't want to spin out. It was just one of them deals where I was trying to get all I could."

Food City 500

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
2.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
3.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet
4.	Greg Biffle	Ford
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
6.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
7.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
8.	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet
9.	David Gilliland	Ford
10.	Matt Kenseth	Ford

• Complete Results | Standings
• Laps | Videos | Photos

The drivers weren't the only ones upset. After the race Harvick radioed for his spotter to apologize to Stewart's spotter for the contact. Harsh words ensued up on the roof of the 160,000-seat facility.

"I told my spotter to go over there and tell him what happened, and the first thing his spotter did was say he was going to whip somebody's ass, and if Tony didn't do it then he was going to do it. Tony and I are big boys, we can handle that, and we don't need somebody who doesn't have anything to do with anything," Harvick said.

"If his spotter wants to have a bad attitude about it, then we can all come down here and we'll handle it. Nobody is going to have a good attitude about getting wrecked. I understand that from Tony's standpoint. But his spotter was out of line, and I didn't appreciate it."

Oh, but there was still more to go. The accident forced a green-white-checkered finish, with Hamlin in front. His fuel low and his car on a banked racetrack, he swerved left and right to try to slosh gas toward the pickup as the field approached the final green flag. When he got there, it looked like he was standing still. Burton, Harvick and Clint Bowyer zoomed by for a 1-2-3 Childress finish, leaving the Gibbs trio stewing over what might have been.

"It was our race to win," said Hamlin, a refrain surely shared by his teammates. "This is so frustrating, to have days like this. I don't know what I have to do to get good luck. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. ... We just can't finish the job. It seems like it always comes down to the end here, and we're always on the wrong end of everything."

For the Gibbs team, it was a familiar sting. This is the same organization that found all kinds of creative ways to lose races last season, while Hendrick Motorsports compiled a closet full of trophies that propelled them toward a 1-2 finish in final championship points. Joe Gibbs' team already has one win this season. But as last year clearly indicated, the early ones that get away hurt even more in the end.

"You're kind of judged off your last race," J.D. Gibbs said. "For us to not be able to capitalize on great cars ... You don't have cars that good every weekend. We've had a great run of some good cars, but unless you capitalize on it, they're kind of wasted. That's the frustrating part. The encouragement is, hey, we can put them together and be fast again next week. But over time, you've got to make sure you maximize that."

Easier said than done at Bristol. She may go into hibernation every once in a while, allow for a few runaway winners, take her time to adjust to the all changes thrust her way in so short a time. But eventually, she wakes up again. And as everyone saw Sunday, the old girl can be a little cranky when she first gets out of bed.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.