This is just a 3 week probation deed. What else can we get away with?
NASCAR president Mike Helton had the uncomfortable position of announcing expected penalties for Carl Edwards premeditated act last weekend at Atlanta when he intentionally caused Brad Keselowski’s crash for no apparent reason. In the end, Carl Edwards is on 3 weeks probation for his on-track deed that put many people in jeopardy.
FIRST: No matter what NASCAR did, people would have found fault with it. So there really was no right answer to this. If you think about it, yes, it was wrong for Carl to dump Brad on-track. Yes, it was wrong for Carl to dump Brad at 170 mph. Yes, it was VERY wrong that the deed was premeditated for hours by Edwards, showing total intent as opposed to being caught up in the moment. But do I think the new standard of letting the drivers police themselves as wrong? No. I don’t. But there should be limits.
Now, let’s get to the meat of this.
When Carl came down on Brad in the early part of the race, Carl was hell-bent to blame Brad for the ensuing wreck. Even when he saw it was his own fault, he then changed the tune a bit, but kept up with blaming Brad by indicating that Brad doesn’t give him any racing room. Brad in subsequent interviews has said he let up on the gas, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
Give room, huh Carl? Is my recall faulty or do I recall a few times where you didn’t give room to different people and you were all apologetic for that? I’m wanting to say Richmond 2 years ago? If anyone can help me remember, that would be awesome.
But obviously Carl had a build-up of seething blame all day at Atlanta for him to want to get out there and exact on-track revenge. Why on-track? Why go to the trouble when you could wait 6 laps for that top-10 finish that Brad was going to have, and “talk” to him in the garage. Heck Carl, you’ve threatened Matt Kenseth on camera. (See Below) You’ve put Kevin Harvick in choke-holds in the garage. It’s bad video, but at the 2 minute, 30 minute mark is where Carl comes charging out of the pits and slams into Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car while under caution. Thank god Jr. wasn’t waving out the window or anything.
So why not wait Carl? Were you upset that Brad was getting a top-10 finish?
Carl is a loose cannon. About once a year he seems to slip, then he puts the smile back on and give us that good-old-boy charm of his. If I remember correctly, a few years back another driver was saying don’t be fooled by his charm, he’s a real competitor at heart. ( I seriously paraphrased that to mean whatever you want it to mean, but the original statement was a lot nastier.) He’s done for the year, so he’s good until next year, but this is nuts.
We’ve seen drivers get into it on-track in previous years and we’ve also seen them get 1-year probation for their acts. We’ve seen them do much less than what Carl did, and get stiffer penalties. That Carl sat for a few hours and stewed on this is what hits me the hardest. That alone should be what he gets penalized for. A premeditated act. If this were the heat of moment, fine. But dang. He plotted. I wonder if his team was part of that?
This hate Brad band wagon is stupid. He drives like everyone else does, and doesn’t take crap from anyone when they try to force him out of the way. Carl should already know that, but then, maybe that’s what upsets Carl so much. That he can’t control Brad. Sure, Brad has had his issues, but Carl has a track record.
If I had to hand out a 1-race suspension, I would have deferred it to Richmond and said good luck Carl! As it is, well, he’s lost all respect from me and NASCAR really surprised me with this message saying go for it boys, it’s OK to spin cars out at 170 mph and threaten the lives of the fans. Yes, this, they should have come down on hard saying “Look, we want you to police yourselves, but do it where multitude of people aren’t put at risk by your actions.” Instead, they stuck by their new standard as stubbornly as they usually do, and literally, let it slide. That’s the part where I say “Bad move boys. Bad move.” Otherwise, I’m fine with drivers policing drivers. Just do it in the garage!
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[NASCAR]
ps: All hail YOUTUBE!!!
