Will Earnhardt and Busch renew rivalry at Richmond? (cont'd)

Of course, it's not that simple. For Earnhardt, run-ins with Busch serve as a subtle reminder that he's often upstaged by the driver he replaced. For Busch, run-ins with Earnhardt serve as not-so-subtle reminders of the popularity gap between himself and the biggest draw in the sport. Last year's spring race, after which cardboard cutouts of Busch were burned in effigy, only cemented his status as Junior Nation's public enemy No. 1. That the contact seemed unintentional hardly seemed to matter.

“

I think the media plays it up as they want to, and if it's good for the sport it doesn't matter to me. If it sells tickets, that's all that matters -- to get people in the stands.

”

KYLE BUSCH

"I don't think it helped all that much," said Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt's current and Busch's former teammate. "Certainly the hard-core Junior fans didn't appreciate it, but I think the way Junior handled it afterward was pretty good. And if Junior got out and handled it in a way [that] was angry or handled it differently, I think it could have lasted much longer. But I think last year Kyle had such a special year with all that he did and all the success that he had, that people were willing to tolerate some of the bumps along the way because it was obvious that he was just driving his butt off."

The more fervent members of Earnhardt's fan base might disagree. Regardless, it's clear that there's a great deal of personal tension between the two drivers, and it goes back to the late 2007 shuffle at Hendrick, and it's often obvious whenever Earnhardt and Busch get around each other on the race track.

"He doesn't like a Hendrick race car, and everybody knows what he says on the radio every time he gets around us and all the things he says," Earnhardt said. "He just doesn't have a good perception of any one of us, and I guess me."

Junior isn't necessarily alone. "Kyle has a chip on his shoulder against everyone. I say that in a good way," Johnson said. "I was a teammate of his, and have watched him stare at me and just want to beat us and just want to outrun us. And I think he looks that way at everybody on track at any point in time. He's just competitive that way, and it's kind of a motivational tool that I think he uses and he has, teammates included. He doesn't want to have any friends out there and he's just doing what he can to win."

And if Earnhardt is in his way -- well, everyone knows what might happen there. About 112,000 people witnessed it a year ago.

"I think he's probably over it, and so am I," Earnhardt said. "At least I hope he's over it. We'll find out, I guess."