Matthew Blaylock – SCR
Carl Edwards did all but admit Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway (GIR) that he wrecked Brad Keselowski on purpose to get a win in the Nationwide Series and at his home track.
As the field took the white flag Saturday night Keselowski and Edwards were racing for the lead when the two got together coming out of turn 1. What looked to be just an on track racing incident turned into a final lap melee when both Keselowski and Edwards were coming to take the checkered flag.
Edwards who was running second to Keselowski turned his wheel to the left getting into the right rear fender of Keselowski sending him into a spin that got Keselowski blindsided by Shelby Howard and a 14th place finish.
Now I know many will say that this is just a racing incident but the facts speak for themselves.
In Victory Lane Edwards said he did what he had to do. "I just couldn't let him take the win from me," said Edwards, my guys work way too hard for that.” If that is not damming enough in itself well Edwards had even more to say.
"We had a great restart. My guys built me a great car. We came to the checkered flag, and I hate to see stuff tore up, but we came here to win and he took it from us there in Turn 1. Just an awesome race. ... I'm sure some of them don't like that win -- Brad Keselowski fans and stuff -- but, man, I just couldn't let him take it from me. I had to do what I had to do."
Edwards even referring to Keselowski as taking something from him is a joke and a bad one at that. From what I saw and in every replay Keselowski was in front of or beside Edwards in both incidents, Edwards never had a car length on Keselowski, not until he turned low took Keselowski out and went on to take the checkered flag.
This is not the first nor will it be the last time that Edwards has done something like this. It does seem though that Keselowski is the one always on the receiving end, Atlanta comes to mind when Edwards put Keselowski upside down into the catch fence and all NASCAR did then was put Edwards on probation for three Sprint Cup Races.
Saturday nights race was not a Sprint Cup race and three races had passed.
NASCAR's response to Edwards causing a melee as hard racing.
According to Nationwide Series director Joe Balash "I think at the last lap there was a lot of hard racing going on, there was some movement on the racetrack. It was a tough finish for a really great race.”
In other words NASCAR is saying we will not suspend one of our Sprint Cup stars for an incident in our second series. If that is not a cop-out then I don't know what is.
It is great that NASCAR is letting the racers race, but some things do cross the line and Saturday night that line was crossed.
What now makes it even worse is that Edwards has come out and said he was not the aggressor in the incidents with Keselowski.
"The deal is he'll eventually learn he can't run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations," Edwards said. "In every situation, there's an aggressor and there's someone who reacts.
"I was not the aggressor in this situation."
And two that Mr. Edwards two words fit here, but I refuse to put them in print, kind of like you refuse to ever take blame for your on track faults.
Reaction is fine but when you blatantly take someone out as Edwards did on Saturday night, someone needs to call you out on it, and someone did.
In a post race interview with Bob Keselowski, an old-school racer and father of Brad it was simply put.
"Brad got into Carl getting out of Turn 1 - racing - they bumped, they rubbed, typical rubbing-racing deal," Bob Keselowski said. "Carl flipped out like he did at Atlanta and tried to kill the kid. I'm sick and tired of this. I'll get my own damn uniform back on and take care of this. He ain't going to kill my boy."
"He just overreacted so bad. If he wanted to bump Brad, it's one thing. But don't drive him through the inside guardrail. Don't put him in the grandstands at Atlanta. That's asinine."
It is as simple as the replay shows. Edwards realized that he would not get into trouble with NASCAR for dumping Keselowski and he could pick up some points too, having beef with Keselowski for sometime was just icing on the cake. He saw a great time to dump him and that is what he did, the problem with that is Edwards only sees his part and not the danger he puts that kid in (and every other driver on the track) every time he dumps him.
What Edwards really needs is to be parked; not for wrecking Keselowski but for the hit Keselowski took when Howard plowed into him. That is what gets someone killed and death is a lot worse than being parked for a handful of races.
To soothe Edwards let him keep the win.