Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski

Remember that cat who stopped by our live truck when we were in Daytona? Well he opened up a can of worms today near the end of the Atlanta race.



Carl Edwards took to heart NASCAR's proclamation that the drivers should take care of problems between themselves....and then he took the front bumper of his car to the rear of his rival Brad Keselowski.

It started earlier in the race when Keselowski hooked Edwards' bumper sending Carl to the garage and ruining his race. Whether Brad wrecked Carl on purpose didn't matter to Carl. It wasn't the first time the two had tangled and Edwards was mad.

Keselowski has had run ins with other drivers too. Last year in the final Nationwide race at Homestead Denny Hamlin spun Keselowski after Keslelowski spun Hamlin in a previous race.

And then there's the race at Talledega last year when Keselowski spun Edwards sending Carl flying upside down into the safety fence.

In the past NASCAR penalized drivers for wrecking other drivers and other aggressive actions on the track. But before the start of this season NASCAR basically said, "Have at it boys". Simply put...the drivers were given free reign to deal with each other without fear that NASCAR would impose fines or penalties.

So today when Carl hooked Brad's bumper....I think NASCAR got what they asked for...and then some.

Brad's car went flying upside down and landed on its roof nearly hitting the safety fence and now some people are speculating that NASCAR may penalize Carl Edwards, maybe even suspend him.

Well, NASCAR didn't penalize Hamlin for spinning Keselowski last year, even before the "Have at it boys.." by NASCAR.

It would be kind of like telling my kids it's OK to defend themselves against bullies but then grounding them when they do.

NASCAR can't legitimately penalize Edwards at all and still maintain the "Have at it boys" lifestyle. It's one or the other ... not both.

Certainly, what Edwards did crossed the line...but we wouldn't be having this conversation if Brad's car would have just spun to the grass other retaliatory spinouts have in the past.

And I think once the wing is replaced with the spoiler we may see the rash of airborne cars go away.

Something about that wing and another car near a spinning car is causing lift on those cars. (I don't remember any of the COTs have flipped while spinning without another car really close by)




Hopefully NASCAR will take all of this into consideration before comprimising the integrity of what they've tried to do by letting the drivers have more leeway in these ontrack skirmishes.