CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Before Kyle Busch wrecked him for the second time in two weeks and the third time this season, I asked Kasey Kahne what it would take for him to get red-in-the-face mad.

You know, so mad that he would go out and retaliate the way Busch and others have done when they believe another driver has wronged them.

"I don't know," Kahne said last week in his usual soft tone. "It might happen."

Maybe it's time.

Maybe the only way for Kahne to send the message to Busch and others that he simply won't tolerate being wrecked -- even if it's unintentional -- is to send the Joe Gibbs Racing driver into a spin.

It probably won't happen, although Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race is the perfect setting since no points are involved. It's not in Kahne's makeup to retaliate, at least in such an obvious way as Busch did to Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Camping World Truck Series two years ago at Texas or the way Jeff Gordon did to Clint Bowyer last year at Phoenix.

His way of sending a message is more subtle, like the not-so-friendly tap he gave to Mark Martin after Martin crashed him at Richmond.

"At Richmond, I was really mad," Kahne said.

Kahne shows his anger the way the Mona Lisa shows she's happy: You have to look hard to see it.

But you could hear it Saturday night in the sarcastic tone he used to describe how Busch "screwed up" and what likely will happen this week.

"I imagine he will call me again tomorrow and say he's sorry," said Kahne, referring to the apology he got after Talladega.

Busch knows he messed up, just as he knew he did at Daytona and Talladega. You could hear it in his voice over his in-car radio even if you didn't get to hear it after the race. He left Darlington Raceway without talking to media after a late tire issue left him with a sixth-place finish in a race he dominated.

Kahne stayed and talked after a 17th-place finish that could have been a win.

Maybe he is reaching a boiling point.

"Well, he needs to quit. … I mean he's got to just race me," Kahne said of Busch, who's not known as a dirty driver.

But when asked how he would race Busch moving forward, Kahne gave the answer you would expect.

"I will race him the way I've always raced him, the way I have always raced everybody," he said. "You try not to screw up and take people out when you are around them."

Maybe he needs to make an exception. Like in school, sometimes you have to stand up to the bully to let them and others know they can't walk all over you without consequences.

Were it not for Busch, as I wrote last week when Kahne told of the Talladega apology, Kahne would be near the points lead instead of in sixth. He might be the one with a series-best three wins instead of Busch's teammate Matt Kenseth.

Maybe this will work itself out. Maybe Busch will pull over and let Kahne pass the rest of the season when he knows Kahne has a faster car.

But that's not in Busch's makeup.

So maybe it's time for Kahne to send a message he's not to be messed with, to let people know he's a serious championship contender.

The All-Star Race would be the perfect place.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch have agreed to stay away from each other the next time they compete on a restrictor-plate track.

They said it in fun on Monday when Busch called to apologize for wrecking Kahne in Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, but it would be a smart move.

Twice this season -- first in the February Daytona 500 and again on Sunday -- Busch wrecked Kahne in almost the same way. If Busch had done that to almost any other driver in the garage, there might have been a brawl.

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Jared Wickerham/Getty ImagesKyle Busch (18) wrecked Kasey Kahne (5) for the second time in two plate races this season.

If he had done that to Kevin Harvick or Tony Stewart, who were innocent victims in Sunday's Lap 42 incident that triggered a 16-car melee, it could have gotten real ugly.

Kahne's reaction?

"When I first got in that accident, I was sitting there and was like, 'Where is he?' I was looking for him and thinking, 'What should I do? Should I run down and grab him? Should we wrestle?'" Kahne said during a Tuesday event promoting the May 26 Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"See, that's what I'm thinking, but that's really not me. I just got in the ambulance."

Kahne appreciated Busch's apology, saying by the end of the conversation, "I told him at Daytona [in July] I'll stay away from him and he said he'll stay away from me."

He smiled as he said this.

That doesn't mean Kahne wasn't surprised a driver of Busch's talent wrecked him for the second time in as many plate races. It also doesn't mean he wasn't frustrated.

Were it not for those two crashes, Kahne likely would be no worse than second in points behind Jimmie Johnson instead of sixth, 84 points back. With a little luck, Kahne could be in the lead.

Consider: Kahne finished 36th at Daytona and 42nd at Talladega. He collected a mere 10 points between the two races. If he finished fifth in both races, which was entirely reasonable because he had a fast car in each, he would have another 68 points, without bonus points for leading a lap.

That would have put him in second, 16 behind Johnson.

If he won both races -- highly unlikely, but possible -- he would be at least tied for the points lead with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. If he led the most laps for additional bonus points, he would have the outright lead.

But Kahne isn't losing sleep over all the lost points. He was more upset that he lost the Las Vegas race to Matt Kenseth and that Mark Martin wrecked him at Richmond, where the driver has more control over his car than at Dega or Daytona.

"At Richmond, I was really mad," Kahne said.

Not that anyone could really tell. The soft-spoken Kahne is one of the nicest drivers in the garage. He seldom lets his emotions get the better of him.

And Kahne could tell from the look on Busch's face in the infield care center that the wreck wasn't intentional.

"It's that type of racing there," he said. "There is a couple of times when you're racing at other tracks and you get wiped out by the same guy and you're definitely in a much different place. I don't know. I just try not to let it bother me."

Kahne still needs to stay away from Busch at Daytona.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images/NASCARThe back of Kevin Harvick's car says it all for the new father.

LOUDON, N.H. -- Baby talk and triathlons.

That's what you may have missed over the past week as the Sprint Cup world focused on AJ Allmendinger's suspension for a failed drug test and the subsequent news and speculation.

If you didn't hear, Kevin and Delana Harvick became first-time parents -- no, dogs and cats don't count here -- on Sunday as Keelan Paul was born. That same day Kasey Kahne beat Jimmie Johnson in a triathlon in Charleston, S.C.

Friday's interviews surrounding both of these events were as entertaining as anything you'll see or hear this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I'll give you a few nuggets on each.

•  Harvick on Keelan having his own Twitter page: "Well, Keelan has his own everything because I didn't want some crazy-ass fan getting hold of his twitter name or his website."

•  Harvick on driving Delana to the hospital: "It wasn't very fast because she was obviously in a lot of pain. That was partly my fault because I made her wait too long, so we didn't make any real fast corners. I had been to the doctor's office several times so I knew where every bump was. So I didn't get yelled at, and that was my goal."

•  Harvick on whether Keelan has his own go-kart yet: "We're hoping for no go-karts. We're hoping for golf clubs. We're hoping that we go in a different direction there."

•  Johnson on having cramps in the triathlon the day after a hard crash at Daytona: "I went to the curb and was stretching my calves real quick, and a guy in a No. 24 hat came running up with a Bud Light and said, 'Hey, this will help, this will help.'"

•  Johnson on seeing a woman riding a beach cruiser during the bike portion of the race: "The only thing she was missing was a basket on the front."

•  Johnson on Kahne saying he beat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate by 27 seconds: "Oh, twenty-something."

•  Dale Earnhardt Jr. on whether Johnson has asked him to compete in a future triathlon: "Jimmie knows better than to waste too much time on that."

Hey, it can't be Allmendinger 24-7.