NASCAR president Mike Helton announced Tuesday that Carl Edwards would receive no serious penalties from Sunday’s incident with Brad Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR has placed Edwards on probation for the next three races. Helton said that both team owners had talked to their drivers and NASCAR and has agreed on the probation. NASCAR will also be bringing the drivers together to work out any problems they might have.
Helton said the bigger issue to them was why the Keselowski car went airborne. That’s something not typically seen at a 1.5 mile racetrack.
Sunday Edwards was parked by NASCAR after he tapped Keselowski on lap 323 of the Kobalt Tools 500. Keselowski’s Dodge was turned backwards, lifted up and slammed hard into the wall. The car slid to a stop near the entrance to turn 2 and Keselowski was able to walk away.
“It’s important for all of us to step back and separate the issue of what happened with the 99 and the 12 (Keselowski) on the race track and the fact that the 12 car went airborne,” Helton said. “We had not seen a car get airborne much on a mile and a half race track and that’s something that is very important to us and we’re going to study very closely and figure out things we can do to help prevent this very quickly and in the future. This is a very important element of all this.”
Shortly after Sunday’s second incident, NASCAR told Edward’s to take his Ford to the garage and go directly to the NASCAR hauler. Edwards drove his car backwards down pit road into the garage area.
The entire incident might actually have begun earlier in the race when it appeared Edwards got a nudge from Keselowski on a restart and was sent up into the wall between turns one and two.
Edwards and Keselowski have a history of a less then cordial relationship on the track. Last April at Talladega, a tap from Keselowski sent Edwards Ford airborne and into a fence, injuring several fans. There was also an incident in the season opening Nationwide Series race at Daytona involving Keselowski and Edwards. Unfortunately the big loser that day was Dale Earnhardt Junior who was swept up and endured an upside down ride in his Chevy.
While the Talladega tap and the Daytona melee, along with Sunday’s first incident may have question mark as to guilt, the second tap from Edwards Sunday was pretty obvious to many.
In the offseason NASCAR said they would out the job of policing back into the drivers hands. And according to Helton, parking Edward Sunday and calling him into the hauler was along the lines of their edict.
“We take what Carl did as serious and are reacting to it accordingly,” Helton said. “We made it very clear to him that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers,” Helton said about the chat in the hauler. “We believe the driver of the 99 (Edwards) understands our position at this point.”
Did Sunday’s incident call for action outside the drivers hands for over-aggressive driving? Absolutely. But the message NASCAR sent Tuesday by not punishing Carl Edwards beyond a three race probation reaffirms their vow to put the policing back in the hands of the drivers. In the end that will make NASCAR better for the racers and the fans, while ensuring that that the sanctioning body still maintains overall control.
“There is a line you can cross,” Helton said. “We will step in to maintain law and order when we think that line has been line has been crossed.”
Comments
The only good out of this deal (for nascar) is that nobody has written anything about how many people showed up at Atlanta dressed up as seats.
Oh, that's right, the race wasn't at Auto Club Speedway.
I just want to say I see a double standard for the star drivers and the other drivers. "Example-Carl Long had been using the same motor for three to four races and nascar took his motor and fined him 200,000 because the motor was over used. Now you take Carl Edward that was 150 laps down come back for one reason to wreck Brad because he thought he was done wrong, when he is really the one who was wrong. And only get off with a three races probation.
All Nascar has done is move one step closer to being the WWE! Nascar made the decision to now allow a driver 150 laps down to come back on the track and let them affect the outcome of a race by intentionally wrecking someone! Edwards robbed the fans of what looked to be a great finish between Busch and Montoya.
I wonder what would have happened if it was someone like Robby Gordon who aggressively pursued the 12 and then ultimately sent Brad's car airborne? I doubt his sponsors could put significant enough pressure on NASCAR to keep his penalty light and not have it affect his chances to make the chase. Carl Edroids is dodging a bullet on this one. I hope he doesn't catch one on the track.
Looks to me that Carl Edward did what needed to be done, Brad Keselowski has be picking a fight with Edwards even last season in the Nationwide serises. Keselowski took out Edwards at Daga last season, and for some strange reason, he started the same old crap this year. It was a job that needed to be done, Edwards stepped up to the bat.
I challange anyone who wants to know the truth, to watch Brads hands at Talladega and further, watch the first replay. You Will see that Brad Hit Carl~!
The wing may be part of the problem but it's the space between the gas tank and the bumper that is the real problem~!
Now knock it off Boys and Lets go racing~!
Snag~
Carl Edwards is not the person we all believed him to be. He is a wolf in sheeps clothing. Many of us thought of him as a Ritchy Cunningham or Opie, but he is more like Jeckle and Hyde. He is nothing but a bully and i'm to the point of not rooting for him anymore. He was one of my favorites. I'm not a big Brad fan either, but he is a hard charging racer and why should he have to "lift" for the veterans and give them room. As a racer, I didn't give anybody anything. They earned there spot in front of me. Too bad and sorry about your day if you thing since your a veteran racer and think you deserve respect. You deserve what you can get with the car you have for that day. Nothing more. I almost became a fan favorite at Crown Point Speedway when it was still open because I raced just as hard for 15th as I would for a top 5 and I didn't care how long you raced before I got there. AND I MADE MY OWN RESULTS! Brad is very talented, and I think the veterans don't like him stealing their thunder
Who is sponsoring the Bristol Nationwide race?... SCOTTS. This is Na$crap, follow the $$$! Na$crap will sell their soul for a $1. Three race probation for Carl, no surprise there. Watch him in the SCOTTS car at Bristol.
Looks like Nascar is following the Madhouse example. In the old days Carl Edwards would have been known as a dirty driver. Now young drivers trying to work their way up the ladder will be influenced by Edwards actions and Nascars' reaction. Allowing demolition derbies will not fill seats and make the France family richer. At least I hope not.
Hutch said it best. If anyone thinks there wasnt a high level meeting between Fox,AFLAC,and NASCAR before the punishment was announced,your fooling yourself
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