Daily NASCAR

by Holly CainDespite many calls for a swift and harsh penalty, NASCAR has decided against suspending driver Carl Edwards for an aggressive, retaliatory move in Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Calling the incident “unacceptable” NASCAR President Mike Helton announced Tuesday that the sanctioning body would not fine Edwards or penalize him any championship points, but instead place him on a three-race probation for Sunday’s frightening collision with Brad Keselowski and suggested Edwards and Keselowski need to sit down and “clear the slate.”

“There is a line. … and we’ll step in to maintain law and order when we think that line has been crossed,” Helton said. “There is a balance of wanting to do the right thing. … wanting the teams to race but us needing to maintain law and order too.”

Edwards, more than 100 laps down to the race leaders Sunday, crashed into sixth-place running Keselowski, sending Keselowski’s Dodge airborne and crashing hard on its roof along the front stretch grandstands. And the fact that Keselowski’s car got airborne on a 1.5-mile track was an even bigger issue in all this, according to Helton.

Edwards has repeatedly said he was glad Keselowski wasn’t injured and that he never intended the car to flip into the air. But, he has also maintained that it was absolutely his intent to settle a score with the young driver. Earlier in the race, the two collided and while Keselowski was able to continue racing, Edwards car suffered a lot of damage which was why he was so far off the pace.

Their more famous run-in, however, occured at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April when Keselowski’s car made contact with then race leader Edwards, sending Edwards Ford airborne into the front stretch retaining fence. Debris from the accident injured seven fans. Keselowski went on to win his first — and only — Sprint Cup race.

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NASCAR policies often ebb and flow in their enforcement. In the past we’ve seen a sanctioning body that really likes to loosen things up when people start complaining; but when that inevitable watershed event occurs enforcement gets ramped up again.

In true NASCAR form, this season brought us one of those promises of lighter enforcement. They wanted to foster an atmosphere of self-policing (within moderation of course). In response to that just more than a month ago Robin Pemberton looked at the gathered media and said, “Boys, have at it.”

Well Sunday in Atlanta, NASCAR got their wish; the boys had at it. After getting wrecked early in the race, Carl Edwards returned to the track 153 laps down and quite clearly took out the guy who helped him into the wall earlier.

That guy, Brad Keselowski, has made a name for himself in his very short career of getting involved in incidents like this one. Remember the Brad K. v. Denny Hamlin feud just a few months ago? Right or wrong, being aggressive and unapologetic about it is his style.

So with that, it was only a matter of time before an incident like this one occurred and it came as no surprise (to me at least) that Brad K. was involved.

I applauded NASCAR’s move before the season began and I still believe it was a good call. I think this incident though should be a wake up call to everyone in the garage. There’s self-policing and then there’s self-policing. Everyone needs to agree this sort of thing can’t be tolerated. Obviously Carl didn’t mean for Keselowski to get airborne, or expect that happen, but the possibility always exists at 200 mph.

That said though, I have a hard time justifying a suspension, and I’d be surprised if NASCAR issued one (famous last words). Even more, of all people to be calling for someone to get suspended for aggressive driving, it’s almost laughable that person is Brad Keselowski. By all means he deserves to be angry for what resulted from the payback; he could have been seriously injured (thankfully he wasn’t). But if ever there was a situation where that old idiom ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ applies, this is it.

No question, it’s unfortunate this happened. Frankly drivers should know better than to do things like this. While I can’t say what the proper punishment should be here, Robin Pemberton has said NASCAR will evaluate the incident further. If there are additional penalties, we’ll likely hear about them by Tuesday.

So what do you think? Was the retaliation justified? What, if any, should the punishment be for retaliating on track?

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, NASCAR Crashes

NASCAR told its drivers to “have at it” this season. After all, what’s a little bumping and heavy banging in the name of television ratings, improved attendance and high marks on fan surveys, right?

Four races into the season, however, even NASCAR has had to draw the line somewhere.

Across Carl Edwards‘ forehead.

Call it unintended consequences or simply a case of mixed messages. But NASCAR, Edwards and Brad Keselowski, who was on the receiving end of Edwards’ retaliatory 180-mph temper tantrum, are very lucky someone didn’t get seriously injured.

Running 156 laps down — yes, 156 laps down — Edwards intentionally turned his Ford into Keselowski’s sixth-place Dodge with seven laps remaining in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, NASCAR Crashes

NASCAR told its drivers to “have at it” this season. After all, what’s a little bumping and heavy banging in the name of television ratings, improved attendance and high marks on fan surveys, right?

Four races into the season, however, even NASCAR has had to draw the line somewhere.

Across Carl Edwards‘ forehead.

Call it unintended consequences or simply a case of mixed messages. But NASCAR, Edwards and Brad Keselowski, who was on the receiving end of Edwards’ retaliatory 180-mph temper tantrum, are very lucky someone didn’t get seriously injured.

Running 156 laps down — yes, 156 laps down — Edwards intentionally turned his Ford into Keselowski’s sixth-place Dodge with seven laps remaining in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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In order to be successful on race day, crew members must all be on the same page.  Knowing what to expect for the upcoming 500 miles (or laps…  or kilometers) can mean the difference between winning or finishing second.  Teams have gotten so big now, and have so many moving parts, that it’s vital for everyone to be as prepared as possible.  And the last chance to get everyone together before the race starts, is the closed-to-the-public pre-race meeting.

It happens every weekend.  About an hour before the green flag drops, crew members will disappear into team haulers for this all important meeting.  In it, crew chiefs will go over a variety of important information for the day, and many will give pep talks.

The information shared during these meetings often includes things like when the first pit stop will be and how far the car can go on gas, what adjustments the pit crew can maybe expect to make during the race, an update of the weekend’s happenings and how the car is running, a minute-by-minute schedule of pre-race activities (generators pushed off pit road, National Anthem, start your engines, etc), any post race tasks that need to be completed, and a variety of other topics.

Just like every good leader (especially in sports) many crew chiefs will also take this time to pump their guys up for the day’s activities.  Pit crews will be reminded to be smooth and accurate, and watch each other’s backs.  If they were good the week before, the boss will tell you to keep it up.  If you weren’t so good the week before, he’ll encourage you to stick to your fundamentals.  And behind-the-wall guys will be reminded to be prepared at all times for any situation.

Once the information has been relayed, and nobody has any questions, the team will break and crew members will go about getting changed into firesuits and completing any remaining pre-race jobs.  Then, it’s go time.

Farewell Suitcase Jake
We were all saddened today to hear that the sport had lost one of it’s legends.  “Suitcase” Jake Elder, who led some of the best drivers in NASCAR’s history, died at the age of 73.  He had been in declining health ever since suffering a stroke a few years ago.  During his long career, Elder sat atop the pit box for legends like David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, and Fred Lorenzen.  He also helped Dale Earnhardt win the 1979 Rookie of the Year.  For more on Elder, check out this piece by SPEEDTV.com’s Mike Hembree.

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