Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, NASCAR Crashes

It was more like a pat on the back than a slap on the wrist.

In fact, NASCAR practically gave Carl Edwards a “high-five” Tuesday afternoon in handing out a meager, guess-we-gotta-do-something, three-race probation to the high wattage driver for his dangerous on-track retaliation Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Footage of Edwards intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski late in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race — Keselowski’s car launched in the air and slammed down on the retaining wall — has made the network news and piqued interest overseas.

Even the tabloid show Inside Edition was asking NASCAR President Mike Helton questions after his announcement that Edwards would not face any severe penalties for his high speed “gotcha”.

Part of what makes this case both rare and interesting is that there has been so much outrage and so many calls for a driver to be suspended for his actions on-track.

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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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photo: John Clark/NASCAR This Week

HAMPTON, Ga. - The skies are clear, the weather is warming and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is starting the Kobalt Tools 500 on the pole.

One effect is that Atlanta Motor Speedway is expecting some walk-up ticket sales that might have seemed likely until Earnhardt, stardom’s prodigal son, lapped the 1.54-mile track at 192.761 mph on Friday.

"A lot of things can change over a period of time, and we’ve seen race teams completely change their identity, almost, in off-seasons before," said a hopeful Earnhardt. "I hope that’s what we’ve been able to do. Hopefully, that off-season and the changes we made are definitely what we needed."

After finishing a fast-closing second in the Daytona 500, Earnhardt was one of many drivers who thudded back to earth in the succeeding races in Fontana, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., finishing 32nd and 16th, respectively. The Kobalt Tools 500 marks the third consecutive race the intermediate tracks that serve as the foundation of the Sprint Cup schedule.

"It’s just a matter of time," said Earnhardt. "If we keep performing like this (i.e., winning the pole), it should start leaking over on our performance on Sunday, and we can get to where we want to be as a race team. We’ve made a lot of changes. We tried to make the right ones in the off-season. We tried to sort of forget about what happened last year and try to come into this season with a renewed sense of confidence, and you try to get rid of the bugs from the year before, and it really has a lot to do with how confident you are in what you’re getting ready to do."

"We just got beat down last year, and we figured we would have a chance to start new this year. It’s just a better race team, and they’re working really well together, and they are a really good group of guys and I just hope that we can have some success because they deserve it."

The goal is to build on the promise of qualifying and run well from beginning to end of a 500-mile race.

"Every race is sort of different in how it goes," said Earnhardt. "When people say there are teams or players that are the total package, or whatever, that’s just really where we’ve got to go as a team. We’re not the total package. We’ll either hit on it, or we’ll try our tail’s off to make it happen.

"We’ll either do it … or we won’t."
 

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the 10th fastest car during Friday’s practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but managed to secure the pole later in the day for today’s Kobalt Tools 500. (Photo: Getty Image)

HAMPTON, Ga. - How much of NASCAR’s slump is directly attributable to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s?

It would be pretty unfair to saddle Earnhardt - who is, after all, doing his best - with blame. It would also be unfair for NASCAR to intervene in his behalf. Should NASCAR be so inclined, it would be hard to do since there are so many eyes watching closely.

As NASCAR frets about attendance and ratings that have peaked and drifted downward in recent years - not to mention profits, stock price and budgets - it has to be more than coincidence that the slump coincides with hard times in Junior Nation.

From 2000 through 2004, Earnhardt won 15 races. In the five seasons since, he’s won three. In the past three, he’s won one.

It was a shock to the Nation’s system that Earnhardt jumped to the Sprint Cup Series’ best team, Hendrick Motorsports, in 2008. Many of Earnhardt’s fans had previously cultivated a certain enmity toward the Team of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Dutifully, they set their differences aside. They accepted their hero’s decision to move his rear to the best seat in NASCAR.

And … nothing much happened, which, understandably, was a major bummer.

Many fans cite a growing, general indifference. Some happen to be wearing Earnhardt Jr. gear as they discuss it. They gripe about the racing not being as good, about the cars all looking alike … in fact, "alike" is a broadly used term of derision. Many NASCAR fans - or, to cite oft-used words, "former NASCAR fans" - think the cars are too much alike, the tracks too much alike and the drivers too much alike.

But what many of them have against, say, Kyle Busch - who isn’t "just alike" with anyone else in history - is that he isn’t Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This isn’t to say that all the other complaints don’t have validity. It’s to say that they might not be as apparent, or seem quite so important, if the preeminent driver in terms of popularity weren’t struggling.

It’s entirely possible that some eyes that might not be watching otherwise - particularly in the comfort of their living rooms - will be watching today, in large part because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is starting on the pole.

Inquiring minds want to see if he can win again, and to borrow from the lexicon of military commanders, the situation on the ground is starting to look promising again.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports

A revitalized and resurging Mark Martin won the back-pats and gotta-luv-it grins of NASCAR nation with his incredible five-win, championship runner-up effort in the 2009 season.

And he enters Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway ranked third in the Sprint Cup championship, looking every bit the contender at age 51 that he was at age 50. And age 40 and age 30, for that matter.

He won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500 and has two top-five finishes in the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet through the first three races, proving he’s still competitive on the race track even as his contemporaries have moved into the broadcast booth.

This isn’t a trek into the tired, age ol’ debate of whether NASCAR drivers are athletes. It’s an acknowledgment that Martin is and that others in NASCAR may be finally catching on.

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