Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth Feud Resurfaces at Martinsville

Jeff Gordon made sure that Matt Kenseth didn't end up as Martinsville's winner after Kenseth rooted Gordon out of the lead on the final restart at the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 Monday, and the drivers ended up pointing fingers at other.

Oh, there was plenty of fender-banging between the two afterward, too.

Is this 2006 all over again?

The exciting final laps of the rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway reignited the hottest feud in NASCAR from four years ago, all thanks to surprising trip to pit road for the leaders after a late caution.

With Denny Hamlin and his four fresh tires just behind them, leader Gordon had to get a smooth restart on NASCAR's first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish to stay ahead of Hamlin's black No. 11. What he didn't account for was Kenseth's aggressiveness.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened on the restart," Gordon said. "I got an OK restart. Spun the tires a little bit, got going. I looked at my mirror, 17 was pretty far behind me. Made sure I didn't drive in too deep. Next thing I know, I got nailed."

Kenseth, who had restarted third just behind Gordon, dropped deep into turn one and played bumper cars with the No. 24, sending the Chevrolet sliding up the track.

"I did go in there and I did get into Jeff a little bit, really not that hard, and I got under him and everything was fine," Kenseth said of the initial contact. "[Then] he just took a left as hard as he could take one and ran me down all the way into the marbles."

Gordon tried to stop Kenseth's progress to the lead as the pair raced for the point on the backstretch, though immediately after the race he wasn't entirely sure who had hit him in turn one.

"If he hit me, I'm glad I did what I did on the back straightaway," Gordon said. "If a guy gives you a cheap shot like that, he doesn't deserve to win the race, in my opinion."

The contact continued to turn three as Hamlin closed in. Gordon got into right rear of Kenseth's Ford, sending the No. 17 up the track and Hamlin to the lead. Kenseth would slide far out the groove and wind up with an 18th-place finish, enough to make him regret a move typically not seen by the calm, cool and collected Wisconsin driver.

"It was a dumb move on my part," Kenseth said after the race, though still irritated about Gordon's retaliation. "I should have just finished third and collected some points and got one of our best finishes at Martinsville, but I figured I'd go for the win, which, I guess in hindsight, was probably a mistake."

Mistake or not, the contact -- only made possible by an eyebrow-raising trip to pit road under caution with just 7 laps to go for Hamlin and his teammate Kyle Busch -- seems to have raised the tensions between Gordon and Kenseth again that had seemingly been settled after Gordon's win at Chicagoland Speedway in 2006.

That day, Gordon was closing on a leading Kenseth late in the race and spun the No. 17 coming off turn two in what many viewed as payback for a previous incident at Bristol Motor Speedway in March of that season. Gordon would win at Chicago.

The previous run-in between the former champions of NASCAR's top division at Bristol ended in quite a memorable fashion. Kenseth spun Gordon on the final lap while both ran in the top-10, though not for the win. Then, a decidedly angry Gordon emerged from his car -- helmet and all -- and made a beeline to Kenseth, who tried to talk with Gordon.

Gordon, though, didn't want to listen and gave Kenseth a two-handed shove that sent Kenseth sprawling backward. It was the most anger fans had seen, by far, from the typically good-natured Gordon.

The feud, though, seemed to end when Gordon got his revenge at Chicagoland a few months later and we haven't heard of any major issues between the two since.

Thanks to Martinsville, though, we may well be seeing more of Gordon vs. Kenseth in 2010, especially if you ask Kenseth.

"That's about the third time he took me out of a top-three finish," said Kenseth. "I'm about tired of that."

Gordon seemed to be taking it stride after realizing he was only in position to win thanks to what turned out to be a winning pit road call by Hamlin.

"That's how quick and easy things can change in this sport," Gordon said. "You know, it's something that I'll laugh about tomorrow."