Following Atlanta
controversy, NASCAR now needs to respond
to the incident involving Brad
Keselowski and Carl Edwards
Now that the boys indeed
have “had at it,” NASCAR has a problem.
In the aftermath of Sunday's Kobalt
Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the
sanctioning body must decide to what
extent it will discipline driver Carl
Edwards for intentionally, blatantly and
unabashedly wrecking Brad Keselowski on
the 323rd lap of what was supposed to be
a 325-lap race.
“Boys, have at it and have fun,” vice
president of competition Robin Pemberton
said during the off-season, coining a
phrase that quickly became the mantra of
NASCAR's new laissez-faire attitude
toward its competitors.
Embargos against bump-drafting were
lifted, holes in restrictor plates were
widened to provide more horsepower at
plate tracks, and drivers were
encouraged to settle their differences
on the asphalt. The term “self-policing”
was bandied about ad nauseam.
The tack NASCAR would take was clearly
evident during championship weekend last
November at Homestead-Miami Speedway,
long before Pemberton's off-the-cuff
remark would become the new watchwords
of the sport.
In the Nationwide Series season finale,
Denny Hamlin spun Keselowski, as he had
promised to do a week earlier at
Phoenix, where the drivers had traded
shots on the racetrack. Hamlin, who had
gotten the short end of the exchange at
Phoenix was docked a lap at Homestead
for the altercation.
The following day, in the final Sprint
Cup race, Tony Stewart knocked Juan
Pablo Montoya into the wall between
turns three and four. Montoya spent the
next 27 laps plotting his revenge, while
his car was repaired in the garage area.
He returned to the track and spun
Stewart.
Because Keselowski and Stewart spun
harmlessly, NASCAR treated both
incidents with a wink and a nod. No
harm, no foul. “Boys, have at it, and
have fun.”
On Sunday at Atlanta, however,
Keselowski wasn't as lucky. To the
accompaniment of an audible, collective
gasp from the main grandstand,
Keselowski's #12 Dodge flipped over,
slammed into the outside wall in the
tri-oval, landed on its roof on the
driver's side, righted itself and
skidded into the wall in turn one.
In the process, NASCAR collected another
testimonial to the safety enhancements
of its new racecar. Keselowski appeared
groggy and sore when he climbed from the
car but otherwise none the worse for
wear.
“The scary part was his car went
airborne, which was not at all what I
expected,” Edwards acknowledged after
NASCAR parked him for the incident on
lap 326 of what became a 341-lap race.
“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.”
There's one school of thought that
suggests that the severity of
Keselowski's wreck shouldn't enter into
the penalty phase of NASCAR's review of
the incident. Wrong.
In legal circles, there's an aphorism
that goes, “Intent follows the bullet.”
If you fire a shot into a building and
it imbeds in sheetrock, that's one
thing. If it kills someone, it's quite
another.
The bottom line is that Edwards is
responsible not only for the intended
consequences of his actions but also for
those that were unintended and
unexpected. NASCAR, too, is complicit in
what only can be viewed as a predictable
outcome of a lenient attitude toward
aggression on the racetrack.
Against a backdrop where any discipline
will be perceived, at least in some
quarters, as backtracking from the
have-at-it-boys mentality, NASCAR must
determine a fair punishment for Edwards.
The severity of the wreck demands it.
Here's a suggestion: Since Keselowski
was running sixth when Edwards launched
him, dock Edwards the 95-point
difference between sixth and 36th, where
Keselowski finished. And since monetary
fines in the $50,000 range aren't that
meaningful to the stars of the sport,
let Roger Penske send Edwards and his
car owner, Jack Roush, the bill for the
wrecked racecar.
On second thought, you can also bill
Edwards and Roush for the wrecked
racecars of Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin,
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer,
David Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr.,
since Edwards' retaliation against
Keselowski also launched a sequence of
events that extended the race 16 laps
beyond its posted distance.
During the first of two subsequent
attempts at green-white-chequered-flag
restarts, the cars of those seven
drivers crashed in turn two. Intent
follows the bullet.
“Boys, have at it and have fun.”
Just be aware that fun can come with a
hefty price tag.
