Carl Edwards Caused Crash Intentionally

Update: Mike Helton just announced the Carl Edwards will be serving a probation period of the next three Sprint Cup races. Helton also stated that NASCAR will meet with Edwards and his car owner Jack Roush, Keselowski and his car owner Roger Penske.

Now doubt that crash involving Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski toward the end of yesterday's Kobolt Tools 500 in Atlanta was a horrific event. Unfortunately for NASCAR, it's the big news for the day. Not a spot they want to be in, that's for sure.

This isn't the first time Edwards and Keselowski have had a "run-in". Who could forget the wild ride Edwards took into the fence last year at Talladega. Keselowski got into the left side of Edwards' bumper and sent him soaring. There was also the spin Edwards took in Memphis during a Nationwide race. Oh, there's a history here, and the Atlanta incident could be viewed as a revenge factor from Edwards' side. But Keselowski hasn't exactly earned a lot of friends either. He's got a bit of a rep for rough driving. Just ask Denny Hamlin.

Most sports have a way of policing themselves. In baseball, there's the "brush back" pitch or the outright "beanball". In hockey, almost every team has an "enforcer" to limit shots at star players. NASCAR has a bit of the same in a "punt", knocking another driver into a spin or into a wall. Justified or not, it happens. That's what Edwards was wanting to accomplish, but the end did not justify the means.

Merely read Edwards' post on Facebook and you'll clearly see Edwards isn't hiding his main objective in wrecking Keselowski.

"My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me with no regard for anyones safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait til bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked away. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine."

There are a couple of glaring omissions here, Carl. You don't give the whole story. You were 150+ laps down to the race leader. Keseleowski was running 6th and was possibly going to get a top 5 out of the deal. In this case, the correct answer is actually none of the above.

Flip the roles here. If Edwards was the one going airborne after being "punted" by a driver 150+ laps down, would he not have a right to be hacked at the driver causing the crash.? Purposely wrecking another driver having a run like the #12 was having only to see your hopes dashed by a guy a ton laps behind. For what? Revenge?

It's also interesting what Keselowski said of the wreck.

"To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that's not cool," Keselowski said. "You could have killed someone in the grandstands. I know that it's a little ironic that it's me saying that, but at least I didn't do it intentionally [when it happened at Talladega].

"It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball. If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands. It's not cool to wreck someone at 195 mph."

Kurt Busch, the race winner, had the attention detracted from his win because of the incident. His opinion?

"The first time I saw the replay was on the Speed Channel Victory Lane show," Busch said. "I was a bit disturbed by what I had seen. To see a guy that's a hundred laps down take out a guy that's run really well, that was a tough, tough pill to swallow."

One side point I'd like to make. I find it mildly amusing that every time there's a wreck, the perceived driver at fault usually says it's "one of those racing deals". On the other hand, the wrecked driver attempts to use verbal warfare.

Every time I see a crash that's labeled as "spectacular", I think back to a wreck at Daytona. An innocent bump sent Dale Earnhardt into the wall and also took The Intimidator's life. NASCAR has taken massive strides concerning driver safety since that day.

NASCAR will no doubt find a punishment for Edwards and his reckless antics. A suspension is very probable. It would send a loud signal throughout the garage area that this type of revenge is intolerable. It should be. A potential death of a driver and/or fans is not what NASCAR needs.

But there's one piece of equipment all those efforts cannot take into consideration: a driver's thought process.

No line of thinking can excuse what Edwards did yesterday. One will never be found.