Edwards' honesty at Bristol was refreshing

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After following Kyle Busch for all those laps around Bristol, running second to the multi-colored Toyota that has dominated most of 2008, Carl Edwards took matters into his own hands and did his part to make The Chase for the Championship a little more interesting."That's just the way it is. It's just racing. I have a lot of respect for the guy and he was real fast, but we can't give up points when they're right there for us to take," said Edwards, who disposed of NASCAR's top dog by sending him up the track.What was refreshing and new - particularly on the short tracks where erratic emotions rather than calm composure usually win out - was Edwards' sheer honesty."I had to ask myself when I went down there in the corner, 'Should I lift and brake early and do the best I can, or should I just kind of give him a little tap and see what happens.' So that's the way it went and that's the decision I made. I'd do it again," he said.This wasn't an impulse move on the part of Edwards, a man often caught up in his emotions. Last year in video taken at Martinsville and put up on You Tube, Edwards had a heated conversation with teammate Matt Kenseth on pit road following the race, then made a move as if to punch Kenseth but held up.But do unto others as they would do unto you at Bristol, right, Carl?"That's one of those deals where I couldn't get by him and I just had to ask myself, 'Would he do that to me?' He's raced me that way and that's the reason it went down like that. In the back of my mind all I could think about was Richmond in a Nationwide race when he was trying to get through the field and pile drove me," he admitted.Joe Gibbs offered some irony by dipping into the Book of Galatians on Edwards, saying he would reap what he sowed at Bristol. Funny about that coming from Gibbs, who himself made headlines last week for reaping some penalties for what his team sowed on the way to a post-race engine test.Earlier this month, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen received a two-game suspension after openly admitting he ordered pitchers to throw at opposing hitters in retaliation.If you follow baseball, you know that nasty truth is a given - it's really "Man lands on the moon" old news - but it's unspoken. Managers and pitchers can retaliate, no problem; they just can't talk about it.In a national election year when truth will probably be scarce, Edwards openly laid claim to the latest Bristol "bump-and-run," explaining it carefully so everyone, including Kyle, could understand.It was direct and without excuses. It was an intentional move and not that old cop-out of "one of them racin' deals." It was timely and unapologetic. It was an admission of guilt without one trace of contrition.In an interesting race during a ho-hum year, Bristol and pressure of the points race revealed a facet of the sport you can never really rely on - honesty.(Bill Whitehead writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at wwhitehe(at)ircc.net.)