Brace yourself, Kyle Busch. Brad Keselowski isn't in a forgiving mood

  Kyle Busch (18) slips by a spinning Brad Keselowski, after turning him around in a fierce battle for the lead late in Friday's Nationwide 250. Will Keselowski return the favor in Saturday's 500? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BRISTOL, Tenn.

   THE NASCAR NOTEBOOK

   During Saturday night's pre-race Bristol 500 introductions, driver by driver, each man gets to speak a little peace...or make a statement:
   Brad Keselowski, who clearly isn't forgiving or forgetting getting 'dumped' by Kyle Busch in Friday's Nationwide 250, aroused the crowd of 100,000-plus with the curt statement: "Kyle Busch is an a**!"
   And that certainly fired up his fellow drivers.
   AJ Allmendinger  followed that right up by saying his peace to the crowd: "I just hope I'm ahead of Brad and Kyle when all that goes down."
   To which Tony Stewart chimed in: "Unlike AJ, I want to be right there when Brad and Kyle get together, because I want to see a hell of a wreck."
   Carl Edwards? Remember his run-in with Keselowski at several tracks this season? He got to pick some theme music for his intro: War's 'Why can't we be friends?'

   
  The particularly Friday incident at issue: Busch put a 'slide job' on Keselowski while the two were battling for the lead late in the race, by passing him on the inside and then quickly sliding up right in front of Keselowski. But Keselowski didn't back off, as Busch had hoped. Thus Keselowski ran into the back of Busch. The two keep going, with Busch getting a bit sideways and Keselowski regaining the lead. In the next corner however Busch 'dumped' Keselowski, and boasted about it in victory lane.

  
  In this economic climate, the idea of NASCAR ordering teams to switch from carburetors to fuel injection might seem a bit much.
   However, NASCAR officials are handing out more specs for those planned fuel injected engines, and it looks like the two companies that are vying for the right to sell the systems are Bosch and McLaren.
   It is unclear how the new engines will be 'tested.' Probably at the Daytona Bud Shootout and Charlotte's All-Star events, since they're not points races. And possibly at other special tests TBD.
  

   Jeff Byrd, Bristol Motor Speedway track president, couldn't be on hand for Saturday's historic 100th Cup event at this amazing half-mile. But he's expected home Tuesday after the latest round of medical treatment. He is doing well, but will need time to regain his strength.
  
  

   Two high-level Daytona execs have been pushed out the door the past week, and more top departures are expected, in what insiders say are moves to cut top-salaried figures, regardless of what they might actually be doing.
    What might happen at other International Speedway Corp. tracks is unclear. Most are not considered nearly as top-heavy as Daytona.
    Tracks aren't making as much money these days at when the economy was booming, so race purses in 2011 are expected to be cut too.

  
  Affordable racing?
   Sounds like an oxymoron.
   Like Banjo Matthews, the legendary stock car innovator, emblazoned on the side of his Asheville production shop: "Where money buys speed."
   Still, Bruton Smith's 'Legends Cars' operation does pretty well, all things considered.
   Maybe that $1 million Summer Shootout last month at Charlotte Motor Speedway didn't draw the 800 or so cars hoped for, it was still a pretty good package. And Smith says if he can find a sponsor for the $1 million, he's got another TV deal for that race week in the works.
   Now $13,000 for a Legends car – which of course comes complete with a Bruton Smith sanctioning body, officials, and various events – certainly sounds pretty good, compared to the price of one of these NASCAR Sprint Cup stockers – which some top teams budget in at $750,000 apiece (personnel, testing, engines, and all included).
   And now Smith and Ray Evernham plan to expand that huge grassroots Legends operation with an Evernham-designed dirt-track version....getting its first on-track runs this weekend, at East Lincoln Speedway, just west of Charlotte.
   No, Erin Crocker won't be at the wheel. But Smith is trying to get the AP's Jenna Fryer at the wheel for a bout at the dirt track, which Evernham owns.
   The Evernham car will be similar to Legends asphalt cars, and similarly priced.
   Evernham says he envisions the new series as "entry level" to open-wheel dirt-track racing.

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