Just the Facts:
- Carl Edwards recovered from a bump, returned the favor and won the Dodge Dealers 250.
- Keselowski ended up in the middle of a 10-car melee, taking two hard hits.
- It’s the second dust-up this season involving the two drivers since Keselowski wrecked Edwards last year at Talladega.
MADISON, Illinois — NASCAR drivers Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, with two spectacular crashes already to their credit in Sprint Cup Series races, added another highlight-reel shunt Saturday night.
This one was in a Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Edwards won in a finish that left Keselowski’s car destroyed, along with several others caught up in the melee.
A half-lap earlier, Keselowski hit Edwards from behind in Turns 1 and 2, then darted underneath Edwards to momentarily take the lead. Edwards battled back on the outside, but trailed Keselowski as they raced off the final turn.
There was contact between Edwards’ left front fender and Keselowski’s right rear, and Keselowski’s white No. 22 Dodge spun head on into the wall and then was struck several times by other cars racing to the checkered flag.
“The deal is, he’ll eventually learn he can’t run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations,” Edwards said.
The feud stems from Keselowski’s first Cup Series victory, in 2009 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, when he turned Edwards’ car sideways as they raced to the checkered flag. Edwards’ car became airborne and flew into the debris catch fence in front of the main grandstand after colliding with Ryan Newman’s car.
In July 2009, Tony Stewart won at Daytona in a similar finish, with Kyle Busch getting turned sideways in a hard-nosed battle to the finish.
Despite those two high-profile incidents, during the off-season, NASCAR officials announced the sanctioning body would back off on attempting to micromanage driver behavior on or off the track. “Have at it, boys,” is the famous phrase offered by Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition.
Then, in March of this year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, after Keselowski bumped Edwards into a tangle with Joey Logano in the early going, Edwards — some 150 laps behind because of the time it took to make repairs to his Ford — spun Keselowski out of a top-five run late in the race. Keselowski’s Dodge, much like Edwards’ car at Talladega, lifted into the air and tumbled back to the track, destroying the car.
NASCAR officials ordered Edwards to the garage but, after lengthy reviews of the incident, did not impose further punishment, even though Edwards admitted he deliberately wrecked Keselowski in retaliation.
The two drivers have raced each other without incident since then.
Inside Line says: After Saturday night, there was no indication NASCAR would take any action against either driver. “Have at it” is, apparently, still the mantra. — David Green, Correspondent
