Nascar Racing Online

NASCAR has spoken on the matter of Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski, and as usual, its proclamation is wide open to interpretation and criticism.

Edwards and Keselowski, you may recall, hooked up twice on the final lap of Saturday night’s Nationwide race. Keselowski knocked Edwards out of the way early in the lap, with Edwards retaliating and spinning Keselowski with only a few hundred yards to go, sending him hurtling into the path of oncoming traffic.

NASCAR’s penalties were as follows:

• Edwards: Fined $25,000; docked 60 Nationwide Series points; put on probation through Dec. 31.

• Keselowski: Put on probation through Dec. 31.

• Jack Roush, owner of Edwards’ No. 60 Ford: Docked 60 Nationwide championship points.

"These two drivers have a history with each other," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said. "… You look at what we feel like was Brad misjudging his corner on Carl and then you look at the retaliation by Carl coming off Turn 4, we felt this had escalated beyond what we should tolerate on the race track. The penalty is to put these guys on notice. They have affected many of the other teams in the garage area and we felt they stepped over the line with their aggressive driving. It was time to penalize."

It’s important to note that the probation is across all series, so if Edwards or Keselowski act up at the Sprint Cup level, the penalties — whatever they may be — will be based on a driver already on probation. (Edwards was put on probation earlier this season for wrecking Keselowski in the Cup race at Atlanta, however it was for only three races and expired in April.)

For that reason, and the perceived violence of Edwards’ response, many in NASCAR nation will surely be wondering why Edwards didn’t receive a harsher penalty — suspension, say. The idea that Edwards should be criminally prosecuted is laughable, but many are surely wondering where the line might be drawn, what it would take to get Edwards suspended.  

"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," Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said in a statement. "We look forward to watching Carl and Brad as they continue to compete on a weekly basis for the championship in the Nationwide Series." If you were of a certain mind, you could view that last sentence as a "tough luck, suckas!" line.

If Keselowski wanted to retaliate in the future, say in the next seven races in order to damage Edwards’ chance of making the Chase, he effectively slammed the door on his own foot with his statement: "There was unnecessary damage done to a lot of race cars as a result of the incident, including one of our best cars," Keselowski said. "We support NASCAR’s decision and we look forward to putting this behind us."

So, there you have it. Penalties: levied. Will this satisfy the masses? Of course not. Masses, have your say — fair or not?

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Related posts:

1. NASACR’s decision on Carl Edwards’ actions against Keselowski at Atlanta: three race probation. Really?
2. NASCAR: Three races probation, no suspension for Edwards
3. Nasty Edwards-Keselowski feud flares up once again
4. If Edwards wanted to calm down Keselowski, he failed
5. Edwards sends Keselowski flying; was it intentional?