Keselowski flips as Edwards delivers payback

It was an almost an exact replica of the April 2009 crash at Talladega between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards. On lap 323, as Edwards was 159 laps down and Keselowski was working on what would have been a season-best sixth place finish, the caution came out for an accident on the front stretch. A crash that saw Keselowski flip into the air and land on his roof.

However, it was no accident. It was payback for an earlier wreck in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 when Keselowski tapped the rear end of Edwards No. 99 Scotts Turf Ford, sending him into Joey Logano and the turn two wall.

During his television interview with Fox after the incident, Edwards said that he didn’t feel it was Keselowski’s fault, even though he felt he should have been given a little more room that early in the race.

“We were on the restart and I was going for the bottom,” Edwards said. “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. I had it saved and I guess I got into the 20 car at the very top of the race track. I didn’t see that part of it, but it’s so frustrating for a number of reasons, most of which is that I love racing here. I love this race track and I want to be out there driving right now. I know Brad has made his career on being super-aggressive. We both had a part in it and it’s not his fault, but it’s just a little too aggressive overall, I think, for that early in the race and caused us to wreck.”

Although, after he had over 150 laps to think about it, his opinion must have changed.

After the wreck, Edwards did not deny that the wreck was intentional but did say he didn’t intend to send Keselowski flying through the air.

“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 okay and we’ll just go on and race some more and maybe him and I won’t get in anymore incidents together. That would be the best thing.”

After the race, Keselowski, who radioed to his crew just after the wreck that he didn’t know whether he was okay or not, said that he is interested in seeing what NASCAR does about the incident.

Keselowski said, as he left the infield care center, that he was trying to cut Edwards some slack because of the previous incident.

“The No. 99 just wrecked me intentionally on the straightaway,” Keselowski said. “I was cutting him some slack because I knew he was angry, but I guess it wasn’t enough slack, and he about killed me.”

“He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted; I couldn’t lift fast enough for him,” Keselowski added. “I lifted for him to let him in, but I was there. I don’t know what more you can do…car low…that’s what they say. So I was underneath him, tired 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.

“To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that’s not cool. You could have killed someone in the grandstands. I know that’s it’s a little ironic that it’s got me saying that, but at least I didn’t do it intentionally when it happened. 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 intentionally at 195 mph.”

Edwards declined to respond to Keselowski’s comment.

NASCAR parked Edwards for the remainder of the race after the incident and also called Edwards to the NASCAR hauler, also referred to as the “Oval Office” or just “The Hauler,” to discuss the incident. No decision has been made on further penalties, which will be announced earlier this week if there are any further repercussions that will stem from today’s proceedings.

“It looked like it could have been a payback from the No. 99 on the No. 12,” NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said. “We talked with Carl after the race and we have an understanding about it and we will talk internally again as a group Monday or Tuesday of this week and make any decision on if there will be any other actions that we will take.”

NASCAR has suspended drivers before for on-track incidents. In 2002, NASCAR parked Kevin Harvick for the Martinsville Cup race after an incident in a Truck Series race the previous weekend. In addition, he was also fined $35,000. However, Harvick also had a previous on-track incident in the same year.

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