The Nextel Cup Squabble Season has produced at least 11 rounds of mayhem among drivers in just the first five races. This weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway likely will be the last chance for a time for drivers to settle scores. After that, the circuit heads to the high-speed Texas Motor Speedway, where even the angriest of drivers usually restrains himself.

"Most people at this level have the respect for one another, and for life itself, not to pay somebody back at Indianapolis or Texas," driver Brian Vickers said.

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But he said that doesn't mean the proverbial hatchets have been buried. "Nobody forgets the big stuff," Vickers said.

ROUND 1

Daytona International Speedway, Budweiser Shootout

After finishing third in the 72-lap, non-points Shootout, Stewart, the defending series champion, climbed on a familiar soapbox, preaching about the dangers of restrictor-plate racing. "We're probably going to kill somebody," he said. Although he didn't mention drivers by name, Kyle Busch apparently was one who set him off during the race Shootout.

ROUND 2

Daytona 500

Preacher Stewart apparently missed the message of his own sermon after the Bud Shootout.

He didn't seem to be fazed by NASCAR's warnings and new penalties for rough driving, either. Early in the race he and Gordon tangled off Turn 2, damaging both cars.

"I think it could have been avoided by both of us," Gordon said.

ROUND 3

Daytona 500

An early-race run-in in Turn 2 set the stage for a major encounter in Turn 3. On lap 109, Stewart veered left entering Turn 3, sending Kenseth off the track. Both were penalized by NASCAR, and both were hot afterward.

"Tony went out and said all that stuff earlier in the week," Kenseth said. "He's worried about people's lives and everything, and then he's going to wreck you on purpose at 190 [mph]. I wasn't too happy with that."

Stewart's response: "I guess Matt didn't think anything when he got me sideways over in [Turn] 2 either. He should have thought about that first. ... He has no room to complain. He started the whole thing, and I finished it."

ROUND 4

Daytona 500

The two side-swiped each other late in the race, with Busch drawing a penalty from NASCAR.

Busch's explanation: "I got a little bit loose off of Turn 2; I think it was from the 20 car [Stewart] pushing me a little bit. ... I ran him below the yellow line, I guess, but I moved back up and gave him room."

Stewart's response: "Kyle Busch, he's the one guy that's probably going to hurt somebody out here. ... He's what we like to call a bird with no feathers. He just doesn't know where he's going. He had a fast car. He just needs to learn how to drive the thing."

ROUND 5

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

In the final 80 laps of the UAW Daimler-Chrysler 400, Stewart and Busch raced each other particularly hard for second place. On lap 256, Stewart bounced off the wall while racing Busch for fourth. He finished 21st; Busch was third.

Said Stewart: "There's just an etiquette. ... There's absolutely no reason to hold a driver up when there's 80 laps to go."

And Busch: "If I might have aggravated Stewart a little bit, I apologize to him for that."

ROUND 6

Atlanta Motor Speedway

The most entertaining feud of the season began with a misunderstanding. On lap 118 of the Golden Corral 500, rookie David Stremme slipped up the track into Harvick, who was knocked into Busch, who hit the wall. Busch, apparently not knowing Stremme's role in the collision, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade about Harvick over his car's two-way radio. The insults evidently were relayed to Harvick, who also felt Busch tried to run him into the wall after the initial incident.

ROUND 7

Bristol Motor Speedway

While answering questions on other subjects, Harvick volunteered a string of one-line insults of Busch:

• "I think I'd have probably whupped Kurt Busch before now," he said in response to a question about any regrets he may have had in his career.

• "Obviously he forgot about getting punched in the nose the last time from Jimmy Spencer." (Spencer popped Busch in the garage at Michigan in 2003 after a dust-up on the track.)

• "I'll still tell you what I think. I'd still like to whip his [expletive]."

• "Before the year is over, [Busch] will make a fool out of Roger Penske." (Penske recently hired Busch to drive his No. 2 Dodge.)

• "It's hard not to pick on a guy when his ears are pinned back." (Busch has acknowledged having surgery on his ears in the offseason.)

Bristol Motor Speedway

Busch used his race car to respond to Harvick, beating him to the finish line as the two finished first and second in the Food City 500.

"[Harvick] likes to talk a lot," Busch said. "We like to race."

Harvick still had the incident in Georgia on his mind.

"I hate to see Kurt Busch win. He's such a whiner," Harvick said, adding that while he won't tear up his race car to pay back Busch, he's not forgetting anything. "If I have to, I will take it out on him."

ROUND 9

Bristol Motor Speedway

Truex was livid after being spun by Gordon and Stewart in separate, yet related, incidents in the 500. Truex, apparently holding Gordon up in retaliation for an earlier spin, wound up being spun into the wall by Stewart, who was trailing the two as they rubbed fenders down the backstretch on Lap 437.

Truex, on the initial incident: "[Gordon] just flat spun me out. I don't know why."

On the second run-in, in which he wound up being spun by Stewart: "I was probably doing something I shouldn't have done."

Said Stewart: "They said [Truex] had a problem with [Gordon]. I don't care if he wants to settle it, but settle it in the bus lot later on."

ROUND 10

Bristol Motor Speedway

With five laps to go in the 500, Busch knocked his former teammate out of the lead to win the race.

Kenseth, who called the race-winning move a "cheap shot," seemed taken aback by the turn of events. "As good of a relationship as Kurt and I have had, and as good a friends as we've become, and as much as we've always respected each other on the track — teammates or not teammates — I couldn't have done that to him," he said.

"He hit me so hard I did everything but wreck. I don't think I could have done that to him and brought my trophy home and felt good tonight and been smiling and sleeping."

Busch said it's all part of racing on short tracks.

"That's what goes on," he said. "This racing is awesome. Fans dig it."

ROUND 11

Bristol Motor Speedway

Finally, something akin to fisticuffs. In the frantic last-lap scramble at Bristol, Kenseth knocked Gordon sideways while racing for third place. Kenseth took the spot, and Gordon fell to 21st. In the pits after the race, Kenseth said he started toward Gordon's car to apologize. But before he could utter a word, Gordon, still wearing his helmet and HANS, ran at him and shoved him back with both outstretched arms. Officials restrained Gordon at that point.

Gordon's explanation: "He wrecked me [and] I wasn't happy about it. I showed it to him after the race. ... I showed him my displeasure. I get fired up, too."