We all watched the conclusion of Saturday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series event at the Gateway International Raceway. We all shook our heads in wonder and anger after watching Carl Edwards turn season long rival Brad Keselowski just a few feet from the checkered flag. We were apprehensive as we watched Keselowski's Dodge bounce off both front stretch walls and then slide into the path of oncoming traffic.
We have seen the danger of this particular rivalry before. That would be the Atlanta race last March when an angry Edwards tagged Keselowski and sent him on his roof. Edwards received a three race probation period for that incident that many observers felt didn't come close to measuring up to a slap on the hand.
We were all wondering what NASCAR was going to do regarding this latest incident with Edwards following the Gateway race. We wondered if they really could do anything other than another short probation period. That was because of the "have at it boys" announcement this past January. That's when NASCAR informed their drivers that they wanted to return to old school bumper banging racing. They told the drivers to police themselves.
The results of this experiment has been quite fascinating to watch. The most tangible return was some exciting, often green-white-checker, finishes that the fans has been treated to this year. There were plenty of examples of drivers getting upset with each other but the anticipated feuds never really materialized. The lone exception seemed to be Edwards versus Keselowski.
NASCAR officials were reported to have spent the better part of three days deliberating over how to handle what happened at the Gateway race. When they emerged with an announcement it was clearly evident that they also had enough of Edwards' dangerous antics.
Edwards was fined $25,000, docked 60 Nationwide Series championship points and placed on probation until December 31st of this year. Additionally, team owner Jack Roush was docked 60 Nationwide Series owner's points.
On the anticipation that Keselowski might be contemplating some future payback, NASCAR also put him on probation until the end of the year. Because each driver is competing full time in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR made it very clear that the probation period applies to both series.
The obligatory, positive themed, press releases from the two racing teams quickly followed NASCAR's Wednesday morning announcement. From a prepared statement from Penske Racing, Keselowski said "the incident at the end of Saturday night's race at Gateway was unfortunate not just for Penske Racing and the #22 Discount Tire Dodge team, but for all of the teams who were caught up in the aftermath. There was unnecessary damage done to a lot of race cars as a result of the incident, including one of our best cars. We support NASCAR's decision and we look forward to putting this behind us. Our focus continues to be working hard to get Discount Tire, Ruby Tuesday, Dodge, Mr Penske and Penske Racing a championship this season."
Geoff Smith, President of Roush Fenway Racing, said "we have received notification of NASCAR's penalties against Carl Edwards, Brad Keselwoski and Roush Fenway Racing related to Saturday night's race at Gateway International Raceway. As with all NASCAR actions of this nature, we will internally evaluate the penalties, and the underlying explanations, prior to making any decision about next steps. We look forward to watching Carl and Brad as they continue to compete on a weekly basis for the championship in the Nationwide Series."
Edwards himself has yet to make a formal comment but there were reports on Wednesday afternoon that indicated he plans to meet with the media on Friday morning in Indianapolis.
The final question regarding the latest Edwards versus Keselowski feud centered around NASCAR's new "have at it boys" policy and whether or not the Gateway incident would impact that policy. We were all delighted to hear that the answer was a resounding no according to Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition. During a Wednesday morning press conference, Pemberton said "we think it works well. We think the vast majority of competitors throughout our series have handled themselves accordingly and measured their actions and reactions accordingly. We fell they've done an outstanding job. We're not changing the policy. We just have two competitors who have gone over the edge."
After three days of waiting to determine the fall out from last Saturday night, it was apparent that NASCAR stepped up and handled the situation in a highly appropriate manner and they should be applauded for their decision.
