Roush drivers to settle differences?

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CONCORD, N.C. -- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was as upset that Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards flipped him off during Saturday night's Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway as he was that the two had an altercation.

"I wasn't mad that he ran into us coming off Turn 4," the Nationwide points leader said Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he and teammates Trevor Bayne and David Ragan were promoting the October race. "It goes a little deeper than that.

"He gave me the finger going down the back straightaway and that is kind of what fired me up."

Following their scraping of sheet metal early on, Stenhouse went on to win at Iowa after his engine blew coming off the final turn thanks to Edwards, who -- blinded by smoke and oil -- ran into the back of his teammate and shoved him across the finish line.

Stenhouse said the two still haven't spoken about the earlier incident, but he expects them to settle any differences before this weekend's race at Watkins Glen International.

"I'd be maybe a little sour about it if we wouldn't have won," Stenhouse said. "Winning cures a lot of things."

Stenhouse said Edwards has had issues with his aggressive driving style for several weeks.

"He wasn't too happy with us at Indy (Lucas Oil Raceway) when I kind of slid up in front of him on the restart," Stenhouse said. "I think that (Iowa) might have been a little payback and maybe he was jacking with me.

"He likes to mess around a lot. He might have been messing around. I don't know."

Stenhouse was so mad at the time that he radioed to crew chief Mike Kelley that he owed Edwards one.

"I felt like I did," Stenhouse said. What about now?

"I don't think so," Stenhouse said. "He paid me back. He got me across the finish line."

After the race Edwards said that he has to stand his ground even if it's against a teammate.

"Sometimes, it's not all roses," he said.

Edwards also said he spoke to Kelley, who told him his driver believes Edwards hates him.

"That might be a little much," Stenhouse said. "Carl has helped me out a lot in my career. It's good racing with him. ... It's just a product of everybody running hard and running up front. It gets frustrating sometimes."

Ironically, had Edwards not announced last week that he was not leaving Roush Fenway Racing for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012, Stenhouse and Bayne would have been in line for Edwards' Cup ride.

Now, Bayne likely will return to a part-ride Cup ride in the No. 21 Wood Brothers car and run a full or part-time Nationwide schedule at Roush. Stenhouse said he has no definitive plan other than he'd like to run a full Nationwide schedule for Roush and part-time Cup schedule.

Stenhouse mentioned that Richard Petty Motorsports, which gets chassis and engines from RFR, might be looking to expand.

"I don't want to jump in too early (in Cup) and get in over my head," he said.

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com

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• NASCAR writer for ESPN.com
• NFL, college football writer for 20 years
• National award winner in motorsports coverage