T1B

The two drivers have a muddled past, with Keselowski having turned Edwards and sent his car airborne and into the catchfence at Talladega Superspeedway last spring as they both raced for a win. Edwards said after that incident that it was at least partially his fault for coming down on Keselowski, and that Keselowski merely did what he had to do to win the race. Edwards seemed to blame the horrific wreck, which caused some injuries to fans in the stands, more on restrictor-plate racing than the driving of Keselowski.

But then the two drivers added to their history of getting together earlier during Sunday's race when they bumped on Lap 41 and Edwards ended up getting shoved into the No. 20 Toyota of Joey Logano, effectively ruining both of their days.

Keselowski, meanwhile, drove away from that incident and went on to put together a solid run for the day while Edwards spent much of the afternoon having his car repaired in the garage. Edwards returned to the track on Lap 190 after spending 150 laps in the garage, and appeared to purposely wreck Keselowski when Keselowski appeared headed for a top-five finish.

"To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that's not cool," Keselowski said. "You could have killed someone in the grandstands. I know that it's a little ironic that it's me saying that, but at least I didn't do it intentionally [when it happened at Talladega].

"It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball. If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands. It's not cool to wreck someone at 195 mph."

Pemberton indicated that Edwards more or less admitted in the post-race meeting with NASCAR officials that he intended to wreck Keselowski, but that he did not mean to send him airborne. Keselowski's car ended up landing upside down, nearly crushing in the driver's side of the roof, and was completely destroyed in the aftermath.

Keselowski was shaken up after the wreck and needed assistance getting removed from the car, but eventually was cleared at the AMS infield care center.

"Carl said he got into him; he said he didn't expect the result," Pemberton said.

Earlier, Edwards spoke briefly with the media and attempted to explain his thinking.

"Brad knows the deal between him and I," Edwards said. "The scary part was his car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected. At the end of the day, we're out here to race and people have to have respect for one another and I have a lot of respect for people's safety.

"I wish it wouldn't have gone like it did, but I'm glad he's OK and we'll just go on and race some more and maybe him and I won't get in any more incidents together. That would be the best thing."

Keselowski told reporters that he believed Edwards took "three swipes" at him before connecting, and that Edwards deserves to be suspended for at least one race. He also defended what had occurred during their first incident Sunday.

"He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted; I couldn't lift fast enough for him," Keselowski said. "I lifted for him to let him in, but I was there. I don't know what more you can do.

"[Keep the] car low, that's what they say. So I was underneath him, tried to cut him a break. It was too late, though; he turned down. I apologized to him, but there was nothing that I could do in that situation."

Naturally, Edwards didn't see the first incident quite the same way.

"We were on the restart and I was going for the bottom. I knew Brad was peeking inside, but I thought he'd give me just a little bit of room and he didn't and we ended up overlapping," Edwards said.

Pemberton indicated that Edwards more or less admitted in the post-race meeting with NASCAR officials that he intended to wreck Keselowski, but that he did not mean to send him airborne.

Goober McTuber wrote:Two things. One, as I recall the incident, Sterling Marlin didn’t kill Earnhardt, Dale cut down across the front of Marlin’s car, somewhat like what Edwards did early in race Sunday. In fact, I believe that Dale cut to the left rather suddenly. It's out there on YouTube.

Secondly, I believe that Edwards picked up two spots upon returning to the track Sunday, and that’s worth 10 points, right? I believe that every team would do the same thing if they believed they could get their car back on the track. The opportunity for immediate "payback" rather than waiting another week or three was just a bonus for Carl.

War Wagon wrote:Double secret probation? bwahahaha -

No wonder Edwards thinks he's untouchable and can drive down pit road backwards... he apparently is. Too much money tied up in sponsorships to allow a golden boy to become less gold.

Boy, but I'll bet they sure gave him a stern talking to.... while he was grabbing his crotch.

PAB (the name I now christen Carl with), what the fuck "code" are you talking about?

Bitch.

BSmack wrote:I really can't stop laughing at a fan of the #3 ride getting all worked up over Edwards depositing some mid card jobber into the cheap seats.

Paul wrote:Carl Edwards could've handled it differently...

bottom line is that Keselowski had it coming....

the next Sprint Cup driver that says otherwise will be the 1st.

War Wagon wrote:Oh really? So by default, what you're saying is that other drivers approved of Edwards actions. Link?