As the bickering boils in the world of NASCAR

SONOMA, Calif. - A Spring of Discontent could become the Summer of Hate in NASCAR.

Confrontations and conflicts have been constant this season. Drivers have fired more salvos at each other than in recent years. As the temperature rises and pressure increases, driver patience declines.

Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway continued a theme that started in January when NASCAR officials told drivers to "Have at it," NASCAR's way of encouraging drivers to show more emotion.

Drivers have. They've wrecked each other, called one another names and made personal comments about family members.

Some would say that it's just like the old days before corporate sponsorship caused drivers to hide their feelings.

At least five drivers left Northern California mad at Jeff Gordon or at least blamed him for their woes. Boris Said was mad at Tony Stewart for what Stewart did after the race. Those are just the examples that became public. Certainly, more drivers left fuming as cars returned to the garage crinkled, creased and crushed after a day on the twisting road course.

Among Gordon's detractors, upset about incidents on the track Sunday:

l Martin Truex Jr: "I guess Jeff figured he couldn't catch us on the race track, he was going to spin us out. Of course he said he didn't mean it, but he did it. It's stupid. I'm (ticked) off."

l Elliott Sadler: "(Gordon) spun Martin Truex and then just dumped me. I don't know what he was thinking. I've always raced him with respect, but I lost a ton of it for him today."

l Greg Biffle: "(Gordon) ran me off the track."

l Kurt Busch said he tried to give Gordon room late but Gordon still got into his car, causing Busch's right rear tire to go flat and cost Busch nearly 30 positions. David Ragan also blamed Gordon for an incident that caused Ragan to spin.

Gordon said afterward he owed Truex an apology and that the Sadler contact was more about "racing hard." Gordon also said he would not apologize about the contact with Busch.

"Kurt Busch had everything coming to him that I gave him because he gave it to me on the restart before that, so I don't feel sorry about that," Gordon said.

That makes Said's comments about Stewart seem almost tame with Said stating he was "kind of upset" at Stewart for running into him after the race.

With the series heading this weekend to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a tight 1-mile track, emotions could boil again in the garage.

Of course, it seems as if a new conflict brews each weekend.

The Carl Edwards-Brad Keseloswki feud - Edwards wrecked Keselowski at Atlanta in March - soon included Oak Ridge's Kevin Harvick when he called Edwards "fake as hell."

Edwards responded by saying of Harvick: "I have absolutely no respect for him. I think he's a bad person."

Car owner Rick Hendrick had to mediate a session between teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson after run-ins two consecutive weekends left Gordon upset at Johnson in April.

Kyle Busch said on his radio he wanted to kill teammate Denny Hamlin after an incident late in the all-star race last month and then a week later didn't back down from those comments. Hamlin responded by questioning Busch's maturity.

"Each year I think Kyle is going to grow out of it and he just doesn't and until he puts it all together that's when he'll become a champion," Hamlin said last month. "Right now, he just doesn't have himself all together."

Two weeks ago at Pocono, Joey Logano seethed after contact with Harvick sent him spinning late in the race. Logano, seemingly encouraged by his father, confronted Harvick on pit road. Afterward, Logano said: "It's probably not his fault, his wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do."

Harvick later detailed a series of events involving Logano and his father this season that upset him and said: "His father needs to step back and act like the rest of the dads and be happy that his kid is here. This isn't Little League Baseball anymore."

No, it's not. As these battles rage, each race weekend seems more like a dysfunctional family reunion.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long @news-record.com

nDrivers are creating a real-life soap opera as drama erupts on and away from the track.