At points yesterday the Atlanta race was not very interesting, especially as my favorite drivers fell out of contention thanks to poor setups with Goodyear tires. Then shit rained from the sky. Oh wait; that wait that was Brad Keselowski after Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked him, presumably as payback from earlier in the race and maybe as pent up frustration from other Keselowski run-ins.
Tom Bowles of SI’s Inside NASCAR, sums things up as “just racing” …
Which brings me to my third and final point: what Edwards did was no different than what any other driver has done through the years in retaliating for a wreck that took him out of contention. There was no intent to injure, and both drivers understand what happened and why. When the smoke clears, people need to realize this incident was “just one of those racin’ deals” and move on.
I agree with Bowles on his previous point; NASCAR has a tough call here. They said the boys could take care of things on the track. Edwards serves up the first test for this new hands-off stance.
My first reaction was to suspend Edwards. I really think payback should have come at a future race, not later in the day when Edwards was obviously hot headed, and ultimately reckless. I am still thinking things over because at some point someone else will be killed, which would be a damn shame, especially if my kids are watching with me.
Let me try and put this into perspective ~ I don have the proper words to convey my frustration with Pixar’s little “Cars” endeavor which has subsequently turned my tranquil Myth Busting/Dirty Job Sunday’s into race day. The kids, who arbitrarily decide which color car they are rooting for and what character that car is for the race, sit and play other reindeer games the whole time with the race is going on in the background – while staying in the same room to keep tabs on the channel not accidentally getting switched over to Discovery, or anything else that might be interesting in the world. In a nutshell, never in a hundred years would I imagine having NASCAR on my TV longer than a channel surf can get past it – it’s just not my bag. Round and round they go… now if you throw in a couple police cars and an LA freeway and I get it.
So as irony would have it, I happened to watch the race and the (can’t really be called) accident. I get vengeance and agree that it’s part of sports in a capacity. Let the gloves go to the ice, enforce some reasonable controls (penalties) around that and play the game. I’m on board and believe you drive athletes to the limits (no pun intended) – you have got to give some leeway to let them be human. It’s part of game, and part of sports – and honestly in the era of player unions, signing bonuses and trades, it’s actually refreshing to see players that maintain a real passion for the game. But I’ve got to go to Spiderman on this… “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Quite simply, you cannot have responsibility without accountability – and that accountability has to take into account the circumstances. You don’t intentionally wreck someone going a buck eighty using a pit maneuver. I don’t know how you could responsibly take the circumstances and not sideline him for a couple races. There is a line, and it wasn’t the finish line Edwards crossed. That was dangerous and I’m with you on the fact that I don’t want to have to watch a race go black flagged. If you can’t get him on the track then, as Tallahassee would say, nut up and charge the pit after the race.
Circumstances different, let ’em drive.
Wow. Nice op-ed. A line was crossed and Edwards would have been so much better off to wait until the next race to try to tag his favorite playmate.
Over at the “official” NASCAR site, one of their writers pretty much said the same thing.