"That's a bunch of crap right there," Jeff Gordon said. "Anybody who races back under the caution like that, I don't know where his mind is. (Robby) did a great job. He won the race fair and square, except for that move right there. I don't care if they call it a gentlemen's agreement or not. What he did, especially to his teammate, is absolutely ridiculous."

To which Robby retorted, "Do you really think I care what Jeff Gordon says, honestly? Let's not talk about bull crap here. The guy has won enough races. I don't why he is so sore. I guess he doesn't like it when somebody comes in and rains on his parade."

But rivalries aren't just driver vs. driver. Team rivalries have become increasingly common. Roush Racing likes to gear itself up for skirmishes with Rick Hendrick Racing. Robert Yates Racing likes to out-do Joe Gibbs Racing. And there's a new budding rivalry that has developed between Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc.

It's quite clear Harvick, teammate Robby Gordon and new teammate Steve Park (who used to drive for DEI) have no love lost for DEI's Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip and Jeff Green (who used to drive for RCR before being fired after his run-in with Harvick). It should be quite interesting to see how both teams go at it at Daytona on Saturday. Suffice it to say, RCR would like nothing better than to deprive DEI of yet another restrictor-plate win at Daytona (or later this season at Talladega).

Speaking of RCR, the late Dale Earnhardt was not only the most high-profile driver in Winston Cup, he was also one of the most vilified. When it came to rivalries for Earnhardt, it was simple: It was him against everyone.

	“	You don't have friends or make friends on the racetrack. You beat 'em. That's your job. ”
		— The late Dale Earnhardt

"You don't have friends or make friends on the racetrack. You beat 'em. That's your job," Earnhardt once said.

Since his tragic death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt and his "me against the world" legacy has been hard to replace. If anything, we've come to see parts of his fiery spirit and win-at-all-costs philosophy adopted by several drivers, including Jeff Gordon and defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart, who obviously have little love lost among themselves for the numerous scrapes they've had over the years.

Can anyone forget how Stewart smashed into Gordon on pit road at Bristol (Tenn.) a few years back? That was no love tap. It was one rival making sure he got his message across to the other rival.

Or, how about Wallace? He's still lamenting being pushed out of the way by Gordon at Bristol last year, preventing him from getting the win. Wallace has now gone more than two years without a ride into Victory Lane, and he's still ticked off at Gordon. He even said so during the preseason media tour in Charlotte back in January.

"We had that race won," Wallace said. "I haven't forgotten that, and I'm not going to forget it for a long time. I can only hope that maybe I'm put in a position to repay the favor to (Gordon) sometime this year."

Not only is there inter-team rivalries, there's even inter-family rivalries. Jeff Burton loves beating older brother Ward (and vice-versa), just like Kenny and Mike Wallace try to best older brother Rusty. Or, how about Terry Labonte trying to show up younger brother Bobby? Or, how about Geoff Bodine going head to head with brother Brett?

Second-year driver Jimmie Johnson, who has developed a reputation along with current points leader Matt Kenseth as being two of the cleanest racers in the business, laughs when asked whether he believes in rivalries and supposed conspiracy theories that favor certain drivers. Among examples cited are how NASCAR has supposedly fixed things to let Dale Jr. win the last four races at Talladega, or Junior's win at Daytona in July 2001 on his first return to the 2.5-mile tri-oval that claimed his father's life five months earlier.

"(Is the answer) because we're basically a bunch of circus clowns running around the race track?" Johnson said with a laugh. "I don't know. There are so many opinions and so many opportunities for fans to voice their opinions and media that pay attention that you're going to have a million different points of view on it all. Everybody is entitled to have an opinion. There is always going to be controversy. I think that's what makes the world go 'round."

Dale Jarrett, who seems to have become everyone's punching bag this season -- is it any wonder why he's 29th in the standings heading to Daytona for Saturday's Pepsi 400? -- hates getting beaten every week, but he also likes the rivalries and battles that have developed of late.

	Robby Gordon drew the ire of teammate Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon when he passed Harvick under yellow at Sears Point.

"I think it's been tremendous," Jarrett said. "I think, certainly, for the sport and looking at what's good for our sport, having Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., battling for the championship is going to make for tremendous press for the second half of the season. Matt Kenseth has done just a remarkable job, and as I look at Matt and his team, it reminds me so much of watching in years past teams that won championships and how they've been able to, at times, take days that weren't going to look so good and make good days out of them. They've been very consistent. On those days when their car is good, they've taken advantage of that. And when it's not so good, they've made some very good calls in the pits, and Matt's done a tremendous job of driving. If they can continue this, it's going to be very difficult.

"It's been an entertaining first half of the season. We had some really good races -- side-by-side close finishes at the beginning -- and I look for more of that in the second half. Kurt Busch has certainly shown that he can win at any type of race track, so I think we're going to see more of that and probably even more winners in these next 20."

Ironically, even some of the highest-profile rivals can become supporters of each other in certain instances. A perfect example of that is Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. When it comes to restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega, Earnhardt has excelled tremendously, as has teammate Michael Waltrip.

And while he's banged countless fenders with Stewart at other venues, Earnhardt actually has seemed to adopt Stewart at times when they've been racing around the sport's two biggest racetracks, to the point where some people call the No. 8 and No. 20 unofficial teammates at Daytona and Talladega.

"We both know that we run really well together," Stewart admits. "I guess to a certain degree we are unofficial teammates. My teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Bobby Labonte, when we're able to run together we typically run well. I think Bobby's philosophy on running together is different than Junior's and mine. Basically, you just find guys you're comfortable running with, and I'm very comfortable running with Bobby whenever I can.

"But it seems like Junior and I somehow always find each other and get with each other and have the confidence in one another to know that whoever's leading, that the guy behind him knows that if the guy in front makes a move, the guy in second is going to go with him. That's the confidence Junior and I have together. When you have the pairing that Junior and I have, we trust each other and it gives us a level of confidence that not too many drivers have found with other drivers. He's real comfortable with me, and I'm real comfortable with him. Our view is that if we get together, then we can go by everybody. As long as we end up getting grouped together, we always get back to the front -- no matter what."

With 20 races remaining until we crown a new NASCAR champion, not only is the racing going to get hotter as the summer wears on, so too are the rivalries between guys like Stewart, the Gordons, Earnhardt, Marlin, Harvick and Wallace, among others.

There's no question we're going to see plenty of more scrapes, crashes, finger pointing and trash-talking coming up.

Why, with the parity we've seen in the first 16 races thus far this season, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more rivalries and ongoing battles develop between drivers.

And isn't that what Winston Cup racing is all about?

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com.