Edwards and Keselowski punished for Gateway antics
NASCAR made the decision to dock Carl Edwards 60 Nationwide Series driver points, fine him $25,000 and placed him on probation along with Brad Keselowski until December 31st following their last-lap antics at the Toronto Gateway International Raceway.
NASCAR’s punishment came after the competitiveness between the two drivers caused a hefty crash. In the last lap of Saturday’s race, Edwards and Keselowski were battling it out for first place. Keleowski nudged Edwards out of the way as they came out of Turn two. Edwards was quick to return the favour and Keselowski was sent spinning out of Turn 4 into the outside wall. Kelesowski’s car slid towards the inside wall and was struck by several other race competitors, causing a major slow down. The car was a complete mess as Keselowski crossed the finish line in 14th place while Edwards celebrated his second victory of the season.
Keselowski, 26, was frustrated by the incident and considered it “unfortunate” in the end. Keselowski’s all-out-driving style has irritated some of his more experienced competitors, and this is an excellent example why.
For the most part NASCAR has adapted a fairly lenient philosophy, encouraging its drivers to police themselves. Robin Pemberton, director of competition, said that the incident between Edwards and Keselowski took things too far even though Edwards maintains he was not at fault for the crash. NASCAR disagreed with the driver and stepped in to intervene.
"We felt like at that time they had stepped over the line of what we would consider to be good, aggressive, healthy hard racing," said Pemberton in a statement.
The long simmering rivalry between Keselowski and Edwards is nothing new. The Nationwide regulars have been at odds with each other since the spring Sprint Cup race at Talladega in 2009. During the race Keselowski nudged Edwards out of the way to grab his first Cup victory. Edwards spun into the catch fence and it has been an ongoing battle ever since.
During the Atlanta race earlier this year Edwards got even for the Talladega nudge when he punted Keselowski into the fence late into the race. Edwards was placed on probation after the incident and NASCAR gave the two drivers their first warning to settle down on the track. Things appeared to be good for the next batch of races, and then Gateway happened.
"Carl and Brad have done a good job of it, [but we] needed to put them on notice," Pemberton explained.
The decision to dock points and fine Edwards didn’t come easy. NASCAR spent three days mulling over the incident before settling on the proper penalties. They didn’t strip Edwards of his victory but docking him 60 points essentially wipes out his gain from the win. Keselowski maintains a commanding lead of the Nationwide championship race and this sets Edwards back considerably. Keselowski has a 228 point lead going into this Saturday’s race at Indianapolis.
Keselowski isn’t letting NASCAR’s decision get the best of him,
"There was unnecessary damage done to a lot of race cars as a result of the incident, including one of our best cars," he said. "We support NASCAR's decision and we look forward to putting this behind us."
Edwards and Keselowski could get off the hook after Roush Fenway Racing evaluates the penalties. Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing, said the decision the team makes could lead to an appeal of NASCAR's punishment. Though for the time being Edwards and Keselowski will just have to wait:
"We look forward to watching Carl and Brad as they continue to compete on a weekly basis for the championship in the Nationwide Series," Smith said.
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