It didn't last, though, as Harvick returned the favor in the third and fourth turns, spinning Hamilton out and relegating him to 13th place.

"He's just trying to be (Dale) Earnhardt. Earnhardt knows how to do it. He don't," Hamilton said about Harvick, who took over Earnhardt's car after The Intimidator died in a crash in the Daytona 500 in February.

"If he came over here and said something, me and him would have a fight right about now."

Harvick, who finished 22nd, was called into the pits and penalized one lap by NASCAR for what the governing body said was rough driving.

"Bobby got into us a little bit and we just kind of returned the favor," he said. "I guess that's not what they wanted to see."

He also thought his status as a rookie isn't helping.

"I watched several guys go out there today and spin people out," he said. "I think it might have something to do with the rookie stripes on the back of the car. But hey, it's their call and they do what they want to do. They didn't feel it was right, but I didn't feel it was right that Bobby Hamilton knocked us out of the lead. "It's an eye for and eye, and that's the way we race."

Bangin' Burtons
Ward and Jeff Burton grew up about 60 miles away from Martinsville in South Boston, and are among the fan favorites here. But neither was too popular with other drivers after Monday's race.

Ward Burton was exiting pit road when he bumped the rear end of Todd Bodine's car as Bodine was heading into his pit. The impact spun Bodine's car around. Bodine had to back up, make another lap around the track and return to the pits for his service.

"That was my fault," Burton said. "I was yelling at my spotter and everybody said, `Go, go, go.' I'm going out, and Todd is pulling in, and all I saw was a blue car."

Shortly thereafter, Jeff Burton nudged Dave Blaney's car exiting the second turn, sending Blaney's car into the wall as Burton drove on.

Extreme speed
Don't count Jeff Gordon among the drivers who think the Winston Cup cars need to be slowed down next week at Talladega Superspeedway, the 2.66-mile oval that is the largest in NASCAR.

"They're slow enough as it is," Gordon said. "They just need to do something to not make them bunch up so much."

The last time the Winston Cup series went to Talladega, in April, cars raced two- and three-wide all day and Bobby Hamilton averaged 184.003 mph to win the first caution-free Winston Cup race in nearly two years.

Hamilton raced in the middle of the pack for much of the race, surged from 15th place into contention and passed Tony Stewart with two laps to go. Hamilton's was the 37th lead change of the 188-lap race.

Gordon said he'll either be in front or at the back next week, where restrictor plates limit speed and drivers and spectators alike are always on the lookout for a huge crash.

"If I'm up towards the front, I'm going to try to stay there," Gordon said. "If I get shuffled back, I'm going to the back. I'm not playing around in the middle. It's just ridiculous in the middle of that pack."

Gordon, aiming for a fourth Winston Cup championship, finished ninth in the Old Dominion 500 and now leads Ricky Rudd by 334 points.

Back of the field
Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Dave Marcis all had to yield their starting positions and start at the back of the field.

Burton wrecked his primary car in practice Saturday when he ran through some oil dropped by Ricky Rudd's car and drove his backup. Burton's was the 41st car off the line at the start; he finished fifth.

Harvick's car was qualified 35th by Rick Mast because Harvick was in Memphis, Tenn., for the Busch race, which finally went off Sunday, and Marcis' car was qualified in the 25th spot by Dick Trickle.

Harvick had the lead until a run-in with Bobby Hamilton with 28 laps to go and wound up 22nd after being assessed a one-lap penalty. Marcis finished 32nd in only his third start this year.

Pit stops