Early in the NASCAR on FOX telecast from Atlanta, Carl Edwards appeared on camera. After contact with Brad Keselowski, Edwards was clearly upset. The FOX team then showed Edwards a replay of the incident. Edwards admitted the video showed something different than he had first believed. Perhaps, he was also at fault.
"It looked like it wasn't as malicious as I thought," said Edwards. Television had apparently played a key role in straightening out a problem before it got worse. Unfortunately, nothing could have been further from the truth.
The NASCAR on FOX team did not report that Edwards had returned to the track to hunt Keselowski. They never showed Edwards as he chased Keselowski and repeatedly tried to spin him out. Instead, TV viewers saw the crumpled red car and then learned of the grim details through video replays.
Edwards was parked and Keselowski was alive. Edwards made his statement to pit reporter Dick Berggren who simply asked if he did it on purpose. The answer was a complete contradiction to the comments Edwards made earlier after being shown the first replay. Berggren never followed-up.
Brad Keselowski spoke carefully to pit reporter Krista Voda after being released from the Infield Care Center. He looked and sounded a lot more like a level-headed veteran driver than a hot-headed rookie with issues. He also said that Edwards had turned down on him earlier and told Voda that policing the sport was up to NASCAR.
After the race, Edwards did not appear on SportsCenter, SPEED's Victory Lane or NASCAR radio. He took his carefully crafted message directly to his fan base. Edwards ran to his Facebook page and posted the following message:
My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me with no regard for anyones safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait til Bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked away. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine.
Edwards has almost 70 thousand fans registered on his Facebook fan page. Click here for the direct link. What better crowd to address than those who are already fans?
By Monday night, Edwards was heading for 6 thousand comments on his post. Most of the comments addressed Edwards personally, assuming that he was going to read them. As with any fanbase, they were generally supportive with words like payback and punk used a lot. Any way you slice it, Edwards had taken a stand and brought his post-accident message directly to his own fans.
All eyes are now on NASCAR, as Tuesday is normally the day that the sanctioning body announces penalties and generally clears the air from the previous weekend. In the past, NASCAR has issued statements and distributed through their Internet media site the specifics of penalties. This week will bring a change.
Beginning this week and continuing every Tuesday after a Sprint Cup Series race weekend, a NASCAR representative will appear on SPEED's Race Hub program. Perhaps, NASCAR is finally understanding that getting the message out in today's media environment means more than just a press release.
Race Hub is a Monday through Thursday show at 7:30PM that generally works to promote the sport with some interviews and opinions mixed-in. Both FOX and SPEED analysts appear on the show to address various topics, but the show is generally focused on having a variety of NASCAR personalities as studio guests.
Slowly, Race Hub has begun to add regular weekly features. Having a personality like Robin Pemberton, John Darby or Mike Helton in the studio will certainly help sort-out the issues from the weekend. Having one of them appear every Tuesday will do a lot more than that for both Race Hub and SPEED.
Race Hub airs Tuesday at 7:30PM ET and re-airs at 11:30PM ET/9:30PM Pacific.
We will use this post for your comments on the Race Hub Series in general and the addition of a NASCAR visit on Tuesdays. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
Part of drivers policing themselves is making sure that it doesn't look like obvious payback. Edwards should have to sit out Bristol because he's not good at it and needs to be more careful about it next time.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting dilemma. On one hand, Carl Edwards is one of the biggest jerks in racing. On the other hand, Brad had it coming.
ReplyDeleteI bet NASCAR let's Carl off with no significant penalty. If they don't, they will in effect be rescinding the entire message of the season: let the drivers settle it. Well, the drivers settled it.
Last year on TV, Denny Hamlin said that if Brad kept if up, he was going to get hurt. He didn't mean spun out, he meant hurt. Well, Brad hasn't stopped. I wonder if he will back off now. Too bad he had to be taught the old way, but they wanted old school racing and THEY GOT IT. That was 100% the drivers sending Brad a message. No one in the garage likes Carl, but I bet he got a few congratulatory text messages.
Wow Carl Edwards retalliated and NASCAR is probably going to hand out a fine or point deduction or both. Hopefully that made for great TV, JD.
ReplyDeleteJD
ReplyDeletetwo comments- although I generally despise FOX coverage, I think in the Edwards case FOx did a decent job. They did one replay of Edwards trying (and missing) to hit Keselowski in one of the corners, a couple of laps before the wreck. Bergerren got Edwards to admit , albeit tacitly, that he did it on purpose.
As for Edwards, if he thinks he's entitled to wreck Kesilowski as payback for last years' Talladega crash, he is wrong. If he thinks he can wreck Keselowski because of Atlanta, he's wrong (since he admitted, after seeing the replay it wasn't intentional)
So where does his "entitlement" attitude come from? he's a spoiled brat who thinks he can justify wrecking a lead lap car when he's dozens of laps down. Edward's line about "not intending
to get Kes airborne indicates he doesn't understand what the consequences are on a non plate superspeedway
he's a jerk, and his sponsors should dump him
I am not a fan of either driver, but I would have done what Carl did. Obviously,no one expected the car to flip over, but Brad is clearly out of control. I watch all the Truck,Nationwide and Cup races. Brad has been involved in 2-3 wrecks with Hamlin, one with Mike Bliss, two with Logano and three with Edwards. At last year's Nationwide race at Memphis, Brad turned Carl on the back straightaway!!! After the race, Brad said that it was the end of the race and he wanted to give the fans their money's worth. Hearing that,Edwards said that if thats the way he wants to race,then thats the way I'll race him. The irony of almost all of Brad's bonehead moves is that they weren't necessary.If it were the last lap, then stuff happens. He's roughly 32nd in points and has only Bristol to make the top 35 or he'll have to start qualifying for each race on time. The odds aren't good that he'll do well at Bristol with all his enemies. Speaking of bonehead moves, a week or so ago, Brad was in the booth with Rusty, Dougherty and my hero Bestwick. They toss to an interview with Kyle Busch who said that Brad wrecks somebody every weekend. They toss back to the booth for several more minutes of questions for Brad. Not ONE dealt with the statement that Kyle made about his driving. My jaw dropped. Talk about being stuck on Stupid! These "pros" had a perfect opportunity to persue a juicy comment and they passed. Typical Nascar coverage. What's unfortunate is that most in the media are eager to jump on Hamlin or Edwards for giving Brad a little of his own medicine. Maybe "Buff" Edwards should just grab that scrawny little guy and just try to shake some common sense into him???
ReplyDeleteI have suspected before that Cousin Carl had a streak of Eddie Haskell running thru him, but my mind still isn't made up. The incident Sunday is not just about Dega and Atlanta, but other acts by BK in the interim. A lot of us old-school viewers have much the same view as Ed Hinton: somebody needed to cool that Kes kid's jets bc he hasn't showed his elders any respect.
ReplyDeleteI thought the race broadcast did a pretty good job of covering it. This blog and several other sources like Twitter and FB also helped. Race Hub featured a good segment with Jeff Hammond giving his view, and Nascar Now's round table was superb, even though it was broadcast well after its scheduled 9pm PT start.
While Carl was dumb to turn BK when and where he did, the flight of the 12 was more NASCAR's fault than CE's, due to the stupid wing. I will part ways with MW on this one: NASCAR has been trying to attract the import-tuner demographic with that wing and were determined to make it work even in the face of mounting evidence that it was a problem. They waited far too long to dump it. Good riddance.
I just don't get anyone saying that BK had it coming. All his on-track deals the cars were racing hard and got into each other. I think these cup guys think they have to prove something to the rookies how tough they are or they deserve to run up front? And CE seems like such a nice personable individual to do something that dangerous to another driver is unforgiveable in my book. And I was always a fan of his. I haven't watched NN yet, I think Ray was going to talk about what happened to the driver compartment. Also, on VL Roger Penske said he wanted a sit down with Jack Roush I wonder if that has been done yet. These are 3400 lb weapons the drivers are using I think Nascar needs to step in this time. The media was a little slow on this one too.
ReplyDeleteTime for NASCAR to take Carl down
ReplyDeletea few notches. It is apparent
from his previous rages that he
thinks his "stuff don't stink".
How many of his rants do they
endure before someone gets hurt
and the legal system has to be
brought in to subdue him?
If NA$CAR comes own hard on Carl, the rest of the season will be the racing version of touch football. It's not something I or many other people will want to watch. Dale Sr. would have a difficult time racing in the modern sissified NA$CAR.
ReplyDeleteNascar news made Good Morning America in the first 1/2 hour today. Where the hard news usually is. They showed footage of the Kes/Carl thing. Hinton was also on. Wow!! Shame we have an off week.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely disgusted listening to the booth baffoons apologizing for Edwards after the wreck. Any credibility they had before, and there was very little of it, they lost. Listening to "Ol DW" you would have thought that Edwards was a saint who had never done anything to another driver and that Keselowski was the dirtiest driver that has ever driven in Sprint Cup. Talk about slanted coverage.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in the group who decided what to do with "Cousin' Carl," he would be sitting out the next race, attending anger management classes, fined the cost of replacing the car he wrecked and be drug tested every race for the rest of the season. He is one scarey thug and I will be amazed if his sponsors don't start putting pressure on him to clean up his act.
NASCAR dodged a bullet on this one. We could have easily ended up with a dead driver and some injured or dead fans on Sunday. If they want to retain credibility with anyone other than the hardcore Edwards fans, they are going to have to set Carl down hard. Anything that lets him off easy is only going to let his twisted mentality justify to himself that what he did is ok and he will do it again and again.
Nascar made the statement "boys, have at it". They let Hamlin and Montoya both payback drivers at the end of last year without penalty. And so they are "having at it".
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching hard racing and sometimes paybacks are part of that, but you have to be smart enough to pick the time and the place and a high speed track is NOT the place. Plus, as JDH417 pointed out, a little less obvious is good, too. If you want to pretend to be a choirboy, you can't just go and dump someone at 195 mph, shortly after you've been wrecked yourself.
I have to say that Brad K has brought some of this on himself. He may not have been at fault at Atlanta, but he's made himself a reputation as a rough driver and he's a rookie. What goes around comes around. I don't consider Edwards to be all that clean a driver either considering some of the things he's done before this incident.
I like the Anon's post who said it's an interesting dilemma. I agree.
It will be interesting to hear what the NASCAR rep has to say on RaceHub. Sometimes the law of unintended consequences bites you and NASCAR seems to have more than it's fair share of those.
in my response post immediately after the race, i neglected on big point:
ReplyDeletei applaud fox for their honesty and forthrightness in the immediate aftermath of the edwards/keselowki wreck. each and every one of the announcers made instantly clear that they believed the action was deliberate and not appropriate. this is a refreshing change from previous incidents and i applaud the guys for being open and honest in their reactions. agree or disagree with WHAT they said as you will: what i'm pleased about was that they said anything at all AND didn't back down from it.
edwards on facebook: that was a question i put to some nascar media folks as soon as it posted on twitter. i find it intriguing that edwards took his case directly to his fans, bypassing tradional routes. it would be interesting to know if nascar is taking edwards' posting into account? or perhaps, it was the same as what he told them in the hauler? and is this the new way that "bad boy racers" are going to communicate, knowing that it will get picked up immediately? how do members of the nascar media feel about being shut out of the initial response?
nascar rep on racehub: excellent idea! having someone available on "fines and penalties day" is smart. it will be interesting to hear if the nascar guy will explain the reasoning in detail b/c i think hat's what fans -- and drivers! -- are most interested in hearing. we all know the phrases from the nascar rulebook that cover the actions but the discussions and reasoning behind them are the more interesting part to me.
one final note: i know we're all about our sport and our drivers but i'm weary of the personal attacks being levelled at both drivers. i don't know any of the drivers at any level of nascar personally or well enough to make such statements. i will argue about the ACTIONS taken by a driver but i don't get slamming him or her personally.
Fines and penalties announced on Race Hub instead of the normal Press Release method sure is a big change. Usually, by mid-afternoon, we know the charges and fines NASCAR gives out on Jayski, NASCAR.com, or on a number of other media outlets. I wonder how Race Hub got the exclusive on getting to do that announcement? I bet NASCAR Now is a little jealous on that privilege and that it was not handed to them. After all, NN is the older of the two when it comes to racing news shows. It will be interesting to see if and when the penalties will be leaked out and posted on Twitter and the blogs around the news outlets. I say long before Race Hub starts.
ReplyDeleteDrivers policing themselves is one thing, but using a race car at the speeds Atlanta is running now just can't be tolerated. Carl said he didn't think the car would go air born. Wait a minute, that's why NASCAR is getting rid of the wing. This car can't go backwards at 185-195 MPH without lifting off the ground. This was just bad judgement on Carl's part.
I wish someone would go back and listen to the entire race radio communications from Carl's team and see if anyone else on the team knew this was going to happen. Did Carl tell his CC, "get me fixed and back out, I'm going after Brad and wreck him!" Was his spotter working and helping him get up to Brad? I'd like to know, I bet it would change the penalty NASCAR hands out, to the very harshest we've ever seen.
I prefer it when drivers are left to settle any grievances between themselves. Penalties from NASCAR should address things like defiance and flagrant disregard of the rules, not grudges. Garage and team peer pressure takes care of those.
ReplyDeleteGreat move by SPEED to bring in a NASCAR person to Race Hub every week.
I remember a few years ago that Tony Stewart described Carl Edwards as "the Eddie Haskell of NASCAR". And for those of you old enough to remember the old "Leave It To Beaver" TV show, you know what he meant.
ReplyDeleteIt is confession time: Up until Edwards wrecking Kesselowski, the Atlanta race had been a snoozer. Had the wreck not happened, Kurt Busch would have won by 4 or 5 seconds. But thanks to the wreck, things got really racy on the restarts. And Busch still won, he just had to drive the wheels off his car to win.
NASCAR should give Edwards a stiff fine and probation. But sitting him down is unnecessary, IMHO.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any of CE sponsors have also had some internal meetings. Wouldn't it be something if they decided CE wasn't living up to their expectations as a company representative.
ReplyDeleteTalk about what an expensive payback that woudl be.
Edwards is in the wrong and needs to sit Bristol out. I'm not a fan of either, but the wife is a Carl supporter and even she says he needs to sit out, or have the same amount of points deducted so their sponsor does not get hurt. His head has grown to big. From what I saw at both Degga last year and Atlanta this past Sunday Edwards turned down on Brad. Brad was on the line both time. Maybe Carl should learn not to always turn down on a driver and expect them to back off. If there is room, there's room. If not, Carl spins. Seems he would learn Brad's not going to back off. Nor should he. And Brad absolutly did not "have it coming". If Carl wants to fight him, take if off the track and go at it. Just don't use a 3500# car to prove his point. Makes him look very small.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that Nascar is going to be on Race Hub every Tuesday night. Not clear if that's when they will release the penality's, if any for that given week, or their just going to be there. But either way, sounds like Race Hub just became a little better. That's great for Race Hub and Nascar. Kudo's from this fan.
I'm having a hard time with the Carl/Brad situation. The result could have been so bad with Brad or others getting badly hurt.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in interviews (prior to Atlanta) Brad has seemed to me to say "bring it on" to his fellow competitors. Nascar said it was going to let the drivers police themselves so how can it now say Carl is going to be penalized. Yes, Nascar can now change the "rules" again, but should it? I don't think so.
Carl's "penalty" may come from his sponsors who I would say are all fairly family oriented. Carl's fan base is probably larger than Brad's (especially now that he left JR Motorsports) so in the court of public opinion, I think Carl will get a "pass" this time.
Using Race Hub to explain the situation will be great if that is what will be done (give the reasoning behind the decision) and follow-up questions allowed by the Race Hub hosts. I don't always watch Race Hub, but I'll be watching tonight.
Most people I have spoken to about this, said there is a big difference between "have at it" and going back on the track just so they can wreck someone. Yes, Brad does need to be taken down a number of pegs, but NOT in the way Carl did it. When NA$CAR said they would let the drivers "have at it", I highly doubt they meant it was fine with them, if drivers went on track just to intentionly wreck another driver at almost 200mph, cause they don't like that driver. If NA$CAR does nothing at all, it could be sending a dangerous message. It would be like NA$CAR saying "If you are mad at another driver, or just don't like em, that's great. We have no problem with you wrecking a another driver on purpose and making it obvious!" We said "have at it, and that is what we meant." "The fact that fans or another driver could be hurt means nothing to us". Sorry, I just have a problem with that. I have been a race fan since the early 70's. I don't ever remember a driver coming back on the track for no other reason then to just wreck a driver they don't like. Yes drivers should "have at it, but not at any cost. Limits need to be set, and NA$CAR needs to do that, before a fan or driver gets hurt. I hope they have the guts to face this head on as they should!
ReplyDeleteStill working on who the NASCAR rep will be on the show today.
ReplyDeletePass it along as soon as I get it....
Can't say I have too much blame for Fox not showing Carl heading back on the track to "chase down" Brad. At the time, they were tracking Montoya's chasing down of Busch for the lead. The #42 was cutting into the lead by a tenth of a second or two each lap and we were close to having a tight finish. Then, Carl's wreck changed the entire race.
ReplyDeleteBut, I have to say Fox did a decent job with it.
I remember reading comments on this site about the TV series "Madhouse". Most of the comments were unfavorable. Bowman Gray Stadium has morphed into Atlanta Motor Speedway. The fans screaming obscenitites at the Myers brothers or Junior Miller, have been replaced by their Cup counterparts, who behave exactly the same. LOL.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Jenna Freyer on her twitter page, "A person familiar with the decision says Carl Edwards will not be suspended for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski at Atlanta" and that "Mike Helton is to address the Edwards accident in a 12:30 pm teleconference call today."
ReplyDeleteTake it for what it's worth, I suppose.
Brad has made a career on driving agressively. Sooner or later, it's gonna get you. Then again, Carl doesn't drive for Childress.
ReplyDeleteFYI, there is a pretty good replay of both CE/BK accidents on Sunday. Their located on Nascar.com. The title is "Race Chatter: What Was He Thinking". Has the scanner from Edwards car playing.
ReplyDeleteold DW goaded and goaded Carl Edwards on national TV to look again at the first wreck, meaning it was done on purpose by Brad...then after the 2nd, old DW backed way off...you wanna blame somebody? how bout it DW?
ReplyDeleteJohn, any info on whether this teleconference will be televised or streamed on the web? If the info and time are correct, it starts in 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNever mind. NASCAR.com is going to stream it live.
ReplyDeleteThere are teleconferences every week for the media with drivers. They provide the content for stories in advance of the next race.
ReplyDeleteI'll try my best to keep everyone up to date today once NASCAR makes its decision about Carl.
I'm going to jump on the 12:30PM conference call with Mike Helton.
ReplyDeleteUpdates on TDP right after the info comes out about Carl.
ESPNEWS has live coverage, they've got Mike Massaro on right now and will have the press conference when it starts
ReplyDelete3 weeks probation for edwards
ReplyDeleteKez is no saint but he has every right to race hard. What that kid has done on and off the track is minor in comparison to Edwards
ReplyDeleteEdwards has had enough incidents when being a hot-head didn't look so good -
Cocking back a punch at Kenseth after a race@ Martinsville
Versus Shrub @ Bristol spinning each other out on the cool down lap and later 6 race probation for both
Multiple race incidents with Biffle, another teammate
Getting into Harvicks face in the garage in 08 (Charlotte perhaps?)
Almost taking off Dale Jr’s hand @ Michigan Carmax 250 on the cool down lap by using his car as a weapon in an apparent retaliation for hard racing on the last lap.
Getting into Kez @ the 2010 Daytona Nationwide race and wrecking a pile of cars to include flipping the leader, Dale Jr. on his lid. That looked like enough payback @ the time, but apparently not.
Threatened Stewart with physical violence over the radio @ Pocono (make him bleed or something to that effect), spun Stewart on pit road, later Stewart compared Edwards to Eddie Haskell for apparently being two-faced on his radio show.
Point being he's reckless and dangerous and he's all about the retaliation no matter the cost.
Make an example out of him and make him pay big. There’s a time and a place for paybacks. If anything, this latest incident doesn’t do anything for his level of intelligence. 180mph + on the front stretch being 150+ laps down to the leader spinning a guy running in the top 10 is about as cowardly as possible. I hope NASCAR drug checks for performance enhancing drugs. In particular steroids and high levels of testosterone because Edwards is on something. Maybe he needs some anger management therapy. I wouldn't be surprised if his marriage falls apart either. Usually having a child calms a man down but maybe it cranked him up.
I'm glad Nascar streamed that on their site. Very insitefull.
ReplyDeleteThumbs up to NASCAR for carrying the press conference on their web site!
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the penalty is a bit harsh, it at least bodes well for the remainder of the Cup season.
Wow...NASCAR bigger joke than WWF and I'm a fan
ReplyDeleteAfter watching all the Nascar related programs, it was interesting to hear all the various opinions. Kyle Petty was the most vocal in wanting Edwards sat down. The guys at Nascar Now had issues all over the page, but I thought Ed Hinton was way out of touch. Despite everyone saying that fans could have been injured seriously because this retaliation was done going 185mph and right in front of the grandstand, Ed simply didn't get it. His stand was basically "So what? No one got hurt, so what's the big deal?". What Ed seems to not "get" is that sure, no one was injured or killed, but despite that, if this stuff isn't addressed, someone, at any track, could lose their life. And, Ed seems to forget how such an action could have propelled the 12 car into the pit area, perhaps killing a number of pit crew. Yes, perhaps someone needed to give the kid a lesson, but there's a time and place, and Atlanta, at 185mph in front of a packed grandstand is NOT the school for a lesson.
ReplyDeleteAnd, what these talking heads seem to forget is that while Brad has been a demon seed, Carl is not without his huge faults. Why did no one mention Carl's crashing Tony Stewart in pit lane, an area filled unprotected pit crew? Why has everyone forgotten the swing he took at his own team mate, Matt Kenseth? You can bet if the cameras weren't rolling, Carl's sucker punch would have found Matt's face. And then what about Carl, steaming out of the pits, and ramming Dale Jr's car, when his arm/hand were outside the window? Carl is as much a bully as anyone, and Stewart's naming him Eddie Haskell was right on.
I think Carl won't get any punishment, and Nascar and their broadcast partners are going to take this and run with it. No matter what anyone says, this stuff is exactly what Nascar wants and will play the fight to the max.
Carl was only given a 3 week probation because NA$CAR wants people to come to the race or watch to see what happens next. A harxh penalty would have driven fans away.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering, if so many drivers are angry with BK if any of the 'big guns' (Jeff gordon, Mark Martin, Jeff burton) have sat him down and talked to him about his aggressive style? wouldn't that be a more appropriate was to get his attention that risking his life wrecking him at 180 mph?
ReplyDeleteGive me a freakin' break !!!! Drivers have gotten a lot more for a lot less than Carl. A three race probation??? Most drivers have been placed on probation for the rest of the season for not much, but giving Edwards a three race PROBATION is a load of crap !!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out some of the tweets from Harvick and RGordon...guys that have been parked and/or suspended for much less!!!!
ReplyDelete@Sally- Edwards himself isn't exactly the most popular guy with the other drivers either :)
ReplyDeleteAw mom & dad, please don't send me to my room with just my tv, cellphone, wii and computer. That is way to strict of a punishment.
ReplyDeleteThree weeks probation? Nearly killing a driver or someone in the stands and that's all that happened. Drivers have gotten probation till the end of the season on minor offences compared to this one. Unbelievable to me, but I'm curious - why doesn't anyone in the media interview Jack Roush about this, I'd like to hear his thoughts.
ReplyDeleteVickyD, Yep, 3 weeks probation and zero points as issued by Mike Helton live at 12:30 today. The fact they parked him didn't matter. He was so many laps down he could not of gotten even one position back had the wreck not occured. In other words, simply put. No real penality.
ReplyDeleteThis course of action by NASCAR is a complete joke! Brad was running 6th and lost 95 points as a result of the crash. Plus, Penske Racing South gets a wrecked car. Carl Edwards loses 3 points by getting parked, with no monetary or point penalty and no suspension.
ReplyDelete"We made it very clear to (Edwards) 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. "We believe (Edwards) understands our position at this point."
Mr. Helton, if the actions were not acceptable and went beyond the "have at it" attitude, then why do nothing?...
I'm of the belief that if Mike Helton won't sit Edwards out for at least one race, then Jack Roush should sit him out as a team-imposed penalty.
3 weeks probation? is that at joke? No loss of points? Nothing?
ReplyDeleteWow, I am SOOO impressed with NASCAR.
The fact the car got airborne should not affect the penalty - there is no reason to get all melodramatic about things. Nobody is going to get hurt. The cars are safe. The catchfences hold the cars. The problem at Talladega was a speaker attached to the catchfence and the tracks have corrected that problem.
ReplyDeleteCarl should not have even been given the probation in my opinion.
I am looking forward to the television coverage today to see what the media has to say.
I think the penalty should have been somewhat more - points and Carl's share of the Atlanta purse. However, I suspect the come-to-Jesus with Roger P., MIA Jack Roush, and the 2 drivers will be less than enjoyable. I do find it curious that I've seen no statement of any kind from Jack Roush or any indication that anyone in the press has tried to get a statement from him - hmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, Carl's actions are probably going to be the no. 1 story for the next 2 weeks.
Expect Cuddly Bruton to exploit the Carl-Brad incident to the fullest to sell tikets for Bristol.
Helton's stupid remark about the
ReplyDeletecar going airborne being seperate
is absurd! It has to do with
wrecking someone at 190MPH. Edwards penalty is a joke,i.e.
another "double secret probation"
handed out by NA$CAR for a big
race team. I wonder how Harvick,
R.Gordon and especially Carl Long
about NASCAR justice.
Anon 3:04 Said: "The problem at Talladega was a speaker attached to the catchfence"
ReplyDeleteLol, don't know what to say. At least 100 feet of fencing was destroyed, several fans hurt by the spraying of U bolts, nuts and washers and it's the fault of a single speaker that weighs almost nothing.
Um, not buying what your selling.
P.S.
ReplyDeleteI plan to express my opinion this
weekend by not buying SCOTTS for
my Spring application. Maybe a
sponsor can get Edward's attention.
Great comments! Certainly an interesting reaction across the board to the decision.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:04 Said: "The problem at Talladega was a speaker attached to the catchfence"
ReplyDeleteJohnP said:
"...Several fans hurt by the spraying of U bolts, nuts and washers and it's the fault of a single speaker that weighs almost nothing?"
John,
No part from Carl's car caused serious injury at 'Dega. The one girl hospitalized was hit by a large loudspeaker that was hung on the spectator side of the fence. It probably weighed 10-20 pounds.
Richard - you know it is striking that Jack the Hat has been so silent on this. He sure had enough to say about the media before the season got started.
ReplyDeleteHeck, they fined Jeff Gordon for pushing Matt Kenseth on pit road AFTER the race; parked Kevin Harvick for grabbing Biffle in the truck race, but Edwards deliberately wrecks a guy at high speed and it's all, "we have an understanding that this went over the limits". Yeah right -
51 yr. fan said...
ReplyDeleteI plan to express my opinion this
weekend by not buying SCOTTS for
my Spring application. Maybe a
sponsor can get Edward's attention
Funny - I usually buy off brand fertilizer to save some money but yesterday I intentionally purchased Scotts in support of Carl Edwards!
GREAT decision by NASCAR. It basically tells Brad to get in line, and it puts all the other drivers on warning: drive like an idiot and someone will put you on your roof.
ReplyDeleteI bet as a result we'll see everyone on pretty good behavior at Bristol and the only fights we'll be seeing will be on the highlight reel from year's past.
51 YO fan: re buying Scotts - their labels are less than accurate. Ask anyone with a background in turf management or development. Was at Bristol last spring with a VaTech turf grad student (working on his phD), who practically went into a fit over the listed ingredients and consumer-expected results printed on Scott's representative goods being displayed at their tent. Never bought Scotts products again, personally.
ReplyDeleteSay one thing, do another. Gee, who does that sound like? Scotts and CE are a perfect match. I will NEVER forget Martinsville and how CE treated Kenseth.
I'm with Harvick - they should give him his penalty money back. And Robby Gordon would have been thrown under the bus and tied down as it backed up over him several times.
On the plus side, the media was all over this with well-reasoned arguments. Ricky Craven really stood out for me. Thoughtful comments backed up with common sense.
Jeebus, not the double-secret-probation again, Dean Wormer!
ReplyDeleteWell, I skip the last two races to give this crap a chance again and this pathetic excuse for racing, officiating and announcing all combine to confirm that I haven't missed a thing. This was all before the ridiculous spectacle of another driver nearly killing people.
Now that F1 is back this weekend, I'll not bother with this "show" anymore this year. Call me when Smoke makes the chase....
And I watched NASCAR for over twenty years.
I sure would like to be a fly on the wall at NASCAR's sit down with Penske, Roush, and the 2 drivers. I wonder if Hendrick cookies will be served?
ReplyDeleteBlount hit it on the head on NN.
ReplyDelete"Kiss Up" OWNER Rusty Wallace saying the BK car got up because
of "mysterious" reasons. What an
idiot. Did he think it would just
spin out at 190 MPH!
Rusty's kid hasn't scored any points with other drivers in the Nationwide Series either.
ReplyDeleteWorst guy ESPN could have had on to analyze this.
A little conflict of interest Rusty?
What I don't understand is NASCAR essentially penalized Carl Long out of the sport for having an engine that was a fraction too big. That was even at a non-points paying race.
ReplyDeleteYet Carl Edwards puts Brad's & fans safety at risk and gets away clean just because he didn't intend for the car to get airborne. I'm sure Carl Long didn't intend to cheat or have his engine too big but NASCAR couldn't have cared less.
I don't like Brad and no longer have any respect for Carl. He needlessly put peoples safety at risk. Not only that, he ruined what was shaping up to be a great finish between Montoya and Busch.
Fox coverage leaves much to be desired.
ReplyDeleteBetween DW and Larry Mac butchering the english language making it incomprehensible to anyone with a quarter of brain, I for one can't wait until Fox is done.
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Well, Nascar got what it wanted. Increase interest in the sport. Perhaps the next big headline will read: Drivers and bystanders killed in horrific accident!
Wonder what the penalty would have been for Edwards if he would have done that to Nascar's other golden Child: Jimmy Johnson?
They should have at least taken some points away from Mr Edwards! Oh well we will go on hopefully this wing comeing off will stop this stuff but I've seen cars w spoilers go over as well. Carl needs to think he almlost took out Dale Jrs arm as it was hanging out and bam edwards rammed him in the driver side in a Nationwide race a while back so its not like this was his first time but hey you cant say one thing and do another (as in let the boys have at it)! Ah well stuff happens, remember in the NBA when the fights took to the stands and people were injured and such oh well stuff spills over sometimes its going to happen, you go to the race you know the risk of sitting close. This is a sport and emotions run wild I couldnt imagine having such a great ride and sitting in the grage that long i bet all the pent up aggression just had to come out, but should of been done in a much safer fashion. just my thoughts
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me what Rusty Wallace said on SportsCenter or ESPN tonight (Tuesday) about the CE/BK issue and penalty? I missed it. Thanks!
ReplyDelete~Debbie
I don't get it -- you make a mockery of the people who leave comments on Edwards' page and joke about how he will never read them... and then constantly plug Twitter, where I assume all the drivers there never read any of their comments, either.
ReplyDeleteWhich is it? Are drivers using social networking to interact with fans or is it all a big facade, where you levae comments into a vacuum?
"Funny - I usually buy off brand fertilizer to save some money but yesterday I intentionally purchased Scotts in support of Carl Edwards!"
ReplyDeleteMe too. GO Carl GO!
Finally some action in a Nascar race. It's been a long time coming.
Count me among those who think NASCAR really blew it today. That said, the media circus during an off-week is going to be fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteNASCAR may not have penalized Edwards, but I have to believe his real penalties are still coming. All the drivers who have been mentioned as having had previous run-ins with Carl must be drooling. We're headed to Bristol and Martinsville - two of the best tracks on the circuit for the 'incidental payback' - and Edwards is now powerless. To many people, he's become the target - and NASCAR is watching closely.
This isn't to say Keselowski didn't have something coming, and I have a feeling BK has gotten the point. But Brad is no longer Carl's problem. Carl needs to worry about Smoke, Harvick, and anyone else who may be holding a grudge. They'll never have a better chance to even their own scores.
There are two winners here. NASCAR, for having something juicy to keep the media going through an off week, and Kyle Busch, who (for the moment) is no longer Sprint Cup's bad boy.
Word veri = wall im in.
This is not about specifically about KE/BK... but there's something I don't like about how some big wrecks are handled in the announce booth and this incident showed examples.
ReplyDeleteImmediately after the impact, BK's radio was carried on the broadcast and he said "I don't know if I'm OK". Why did all 3 in the booth sorta act like (for at least a number of minutes) that they didn't hear him say that?
And also, as to the condition of the car. Why didn't somebody (specifically Larry Mac) say something along the lines of... 'Wow, that drivers compartment/roof is deformed more than I've ever seen on a COT crash' ...wasn't that what most close observers were thinking right away?
Are these broadcasters so darn afraid of putting NASCAR in an uncomfortable position that they will virtually be in denial when things like this happen? WTF?
Anon 10:38PM,
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstood my point about Facebook. I remarked that the comments left for Edwards were directly addressed to him. The style assumed he would read them.
I am not for a moment mocking Facebook, where my own page is approaching one thousand fans. It is a usefull and very effective communications tool, as I tried to point out.
JD
Well it is gladiator time. Nascar said have at it and settle it your selves. I am not a fan of either driver but I guess we could have done something to Carl if Brad was dead of mamed. I don't care who has what coming you don't spin someone at 190mph. But as of today it is war on the speedways. Also Rusty said Brad had it coming well when his hit everything kid gets spun at 190mph lets see what Rusty has to say then. If it is okay now it is okay to spin his kid and it is okay to spin everyone else also. So all you people who are okay with it God forbid the next time someone gets killed and if it is in the stands we can all so goodbye to racing because the goverment will shut it down. The enviormentalists already hate racing. So tighten those belts boys its battle time.
ReplyDelete