For fans of Penske Racing, the March 7 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was, in the words of Charles Dickens, the best of times, and the worst of times.

Kurt Busch was first across the start/finish line to win the race, mere moments after his teammate, Brad Keselowski, went airborne and hit the retaining wall after receiving a “nudge” from Carl Edwards. The tap came in retaliation for contact between the two drivers earlier in the race, which took Edwards out of contention.

Clips of the incident have been replayed so many times that it’s starting to resemble the annual A Christmas Story marathon on TNT, complete with schoolyard rivalries, pragmatic authority figures and a protagonist who reached his breaking point in a most dramatic, and nationally-televised, manner.

NASCAR has been riding the crest of a veritable tsunami of media attention since the race. Fingers are being pointed in so many different directions that we’re all basically spinning around in circles at this point trying to figure out where we are.

It hardly seems possible that anyone could be unaware of what happened, but just in case, here’s a brief recap.

At the Talladega race back in the spring of 2009, contact between the two drivers sent Edwards’ car sailing through the air into the catch fence. In Atlanta, the two cars touched again, sending Edwards to the garage and costing him over 150 laps.

When he finally got back in the race, Edwards returned the “favor” by deliberately — I’m not judging him, Carl openly admitted it — putting Keselowski into the wall. The result was a weird case of rewind/replay as Brad’s car then went sailing through the air and into the catch fence.

NASCAR put Edwards on probation for the next three races, the two drivers and their car owners, Jack Roush and Roger Penske, will be sitting down with NASCAR officials to discuss and settle the issue, and then I guess we will return to our regularly-scheduled racing.

Except it isn’t quite that simple. For starters, almost nobody you talk to seems satisfied with NASCAR’s decision. Comments run the gamut, from “Edwards should have been parked for at least one race” to “Keselowski had it coming.”

Next is NASCAR’s decision earlier this year to allow more contact between cars on the track, a policy a lot of people are referring to as “Have at it.” That’s all fine and good when you’re jostling shoulders at a concert venue in order to get a better view, but when you’re using a 3,400 pound stock car to move your neighbor a couple inches to the right, things can get dicey.

Also to be taken into consideration is the fact that these are two very different drivers. Edwards is experienced, monumentally talented and amiable by nature, while Keselowski, while also talented, is still a brash rookie trying to make a name for himself. So far, that has often meant deciding where he wants to be on the racetrack and refusing to give up even a fraction of an inch of space.

But when exactly did determination become a bad thing?

So we have controversy, excitement and a rivalry. I’m liking it.

What I do not like so much is the “stock car as a weapon” scenario.

Professional drivers are smart and they can do amazing things with those cars. To watch them strategize and maneuver around one another to improve their positions bit by bit, lap after lap, is one of the most fascinating things about racing. It’s so much fun to watch.

But although many people love them, crashes are not so entertaining. They’re terrifying. Yes, the safety features of a Sprint Cup car are amazing. Week after week we see wrecks — some mild, others more dramatic like the ones at Atlanta and Talladega — and watch the drivers simply climb out of the window and walk away.

I’m afraid we’re almost becoming conditioned to think that regardless of the severity of the accident, no one will ever get hurt. Even the drivers seem to feel that way. After the wreck at Atlanta, Keselowski said he wasn’t worried about himself, but about the fans.

Whether NASCAR’s handling of Carl Edwards was right or wrong is not for me to judge. I have my opinion, but there’s one thing I know for sure. A race without Edwards in it is a less interesting race for an awful lot of people.

That old line from the movie Days of Thunder — “Rubbin’, son, is racin’” has practically become the mantra of the sport. NASCAR’s decision to allow the drivers to mix it up during races was a good call. It did not cause this accident.

Race car drivers are fierce and passionate. They worry and laugh, and they get mad. It would be unnatural if they didn’t. They’re human.

But I hope I speak for most people when I say that when friction occurs, the boys might consider taking a page out of the old Yarborough/Allison book and settling things the old-fashioned way, by finding a nice quiet place in which to slap one another upside the head.

Now, THAT would be fun to watch.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

Approximately 24 teams are expected to participate in the one-day session, which will target a number of mechanical options in advance of the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday, April 25 at Talladega.

NASCAR Sprint Cup officials will analyze the data gleaned – along with teams’ input – and later make several key decisions for the Aaron’s 499. Teams also will test spoilers, which will replace the current wings on the backs of cars.
No timetable has been set for the wing-to-spoiler move.
“It’s a confirmation test for restrictor plates and gearing, and an opportunity for teams to work on their handling packages as we transition to the spoiler,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition.

Rule changes, announced on Jan. 21, are the impetus behind the test. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams used larger carburetor restrictor-plate openings in the 2010 Daytona 500 and larger plate openings are expected for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.

At 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR mandated openings of 63/64-inch – the largest since the one-inch mandate in 1988, the first year the horsepower-reducing plates were used in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition at Daytona. Each plate contains four openings, which restrict air flow to the engine, thus slowing stock cars. Larger openings mean more air, and more horsepower.

The switch from wing to spoiler also was a rule change.
The wing replaced the traditional stock-car spoiler on NASCAR’s new car, now in its third fulltime season. Returning to the spoiler means on-track testing, and another series test – Tuesday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway – will be devoted solely to spoiler work.

Both the Charlotte and Talladega tests are exceptions to the current testing policy. For the second consecutive season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams may not test at facilities that host national-series events. This year, teams may test at tracks that host regional touring series events, but not national series events.

Next Tuesday’s Talladega session begins at 9 a.m. CT and runs until 5 p.m. CT with a noon-1 p.m. lunch break.
Fans are welcome to attend, with free admission. The track’s Gadsden and Lincoln grandstands only will be open, with parking lots behind those grandstands opening at 8:30 a.m. Grandstand gates open at 8:45 a.m.

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“We are satisfied that NASCAR fairly considered all the circumstances in its decision to discipline Carl (Edwards). We look forward to meeting with NASCAR, Roger (Penske) and Brad (Keselowski) in Bristol next weekend and it is our hope to put this behind us at that time. Missed in all of this was a really strong performance by Roush Fenway – and the Ford teams in general – at Atlanta last weekend and we are eager to continue to build on that moving forward.”

TUESDAY: Carl Edwards I respect nascar’s penalty and look forward to our meeting in Bristol. I’m ready to put this behind us and get on with some good racing. (re-posted this one without the errors from my big thumbs and little phone)

Carl Edwards Facebook Page

-Incident goes beyond the statement of letting drivers being drivers

-The 12 car going airborne is an important element to this incident

-Carl was parked for the balance of the event was considered as part of his punishment

-Carl Edwards on probation for the next 3 events

-NASCAR will have a meeting with Brad and Carl to smooth things over

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HAMPTON, Ga. (March 7, 2010) — Kurt Busch won two races Sunday: the Kobalt Tools 500 and the Carl Edwards 25.

In a race that went 16 laps—nearly 25 miles—past its scheduled distance, after Edwards retaliated against Brad Keselowski for an incident earlier in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch took advantage of a strong restart to grab the lead during the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart and crossed the finish line .482 seconds ahead of runner-up Matt Kenseth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who was closing in on Busch near the end of the regulation 325 laps, finished third but lost his chance to battle for the victory when Edwards hit Keselowski’s No. 12 Dodge on the frontstretch and sent it flying on Lap 323.

Keselowski’s car landed on its roof in the tri-oval, righted itself and slid into the Turn 1 wall. After extensive clean-up, NASCAR restarted the race on Lap 332—without Edwards, who was black-flagged on Lap 326—with Busch assuming the lead from Clint Bowyer, who had taken the point on a two-tire pit stop under caution on Lap 324.

Before Busch could take the white flag, however, a seven-car pileup in Turn 3 caused the 11th caution of the race and set up the second try at the green-white-checkered.

Edwards’ aggression toward Keselowski was payback for a Lap 40 wreck in Turn 2, where Edwards felt Keselowski didn’t give him enough room.

“Brad knows the deal between him and I,” said Edwards, who returned to the track on Lap 191 after losing 150 laps in the garage. “The scary part was that his car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected.

“At the end of the day, we come out to race, and people got to have respect for one another. I have a lot of respect for people’s safety, and I wish that wouldn’t have gone like it did, but I’m glad he’s OK. We’ll just go on and race some more, and maybe him and I won’t have any more incidents together—that’d be the best thing.”

The wreck, with Keselowski running sixth at the time, was eerily similar to a collision involving the two drivers last April at Talladega, where Keselowski held his line at the bottom of the track and won the race after Edwards No. 99 Ford flew into the catch fence, injuring eight spectators.

“He cut down on me on a restart, and I lifted (off the accelerator), and I couldn’t lift fast enough for him,” Keselowski said of the Lap 40 wreck. “I lifted for him to let him in, but I was there. I don’t know what more you could do.

“I apologized to him, but there’s nothing I could do in that situation, and to come back and just intentionally wreck someone—that’s not cool. It could have killed somebody in the grandstands. I know that it’s a little ironic that it’s got me saying that, but at least I didn’t do it intentionally when it happened.

“It’s going to 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 grandstand.”

Busch claimed the 21st victory of his career and his first with crew chief Steve Addington, who joined Penske Racing during the offseason after guiding Busch’s brother, Kyle, to 12 victories in 2008 and 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing.

“With Steve Addington, all of his new ideas, I never knew how we could mesh them together and how soon we were able to do it,” Busch said. “Even on those restarts at the end, I just felt like we had the car to beat.”

Fourth-place finisher Kasey Kahne led the most laps (144), but his car tightened at the end of the race. Paul Menard ran fifth and AJ Allmendinger sixth, giving Richard Petty Motorsports a 4-5-6 finish, the organization’s best result since announcing a switch from Dodge to Ford late last year.

Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Scott Speed completed the top 10.

Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. regained two lost laps during the last two cautions and finished 15th. He’s 13th in the Cup standings, seven points out of 12th, the last Chase-eligible position. … Harvick retained the points lead by 26 over Kenseth and 59 over Biffle.