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“I think at the last lap there was a lot of hard racing going on,” Joe Balash said. “There was some movement on the racetrack. It was a tough finish for a really great race.   We’ve chatted about this evening, yes. We don’t talk about any of those conversations (that we have) in the hauler.”

So Joe, what happened to there being a lot of hard racing?  Plain and simple, NASCAR made a call on Saturday night and pretty much said that there would be no penalty.  And then a review board decides to hand out a 60 point, $25000 penalty to Carl Edwards?  And gives the punk Brad Keselowski a probation that will last for the remainder of the season?  Yeah sounds fair doesn’t it?  I don’t think so, but if you are a fan of BK you probably do, or part of the ESPN, Fox Sports, or TNT crew. 

I listened to drivers Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick, then Dale Jarrett say this was over the line.  Kevin Harvick should know really well what over the line is, and Jeff Gordon should as well since he is on quite a few drivers hit lists this season after wrecking them.   Keselowski has shown he likes to rattle people’s cages and his has been rattled twice by one driver, and both times he couldn’t handle the heat inside the kitchen.  I think that there are still quite a few people that realize the facts in this situation. 

• 1 – Keselowski started this mess, and it didn’t start back at Talladega.  It started back at Memphis last year when Brad Keselowski wrecked Edwards and the No. 60 still came back to finish 6th at Memphis. 
• 2 – You rub fenders with another driver on the final lap of a race, you better expect to get hit back and sometimes there are major consequences when you do get tapped.
• 3 – NASCAR proved how biased they can be, they let Keselowski wreck anyone he pleases and get a sloppy five month probation. 

So Joe?  What really happened to that race on Saturday being Good Hard Racing?  I have listened to probably 100 Dale Earnhardt Sr., fans that sat and told me “You don’t compare what Sr did to Edwards, and when you are a seven time champ you can do what you want.”  Well I am to this point with any fan that thinks what Carl did was dirty on Saturday, and what Dale Earnhardt did on August 28, 1999 was not you are so out on a loop, you need to go into a mental institution.  Dale Earnhardt said in victory lane “I just wanted to rattle his cage.”  Referring to when he put the bumper to Terry Labonte down the FRONT STRETCH at Bristol.  No people not in the corner like everyone has griped about for these past four days, but on the straightaway and probably at the same high speed because at Bristol you carry speed.

It wasn’t the only time I have seen that, but people back then thought it was good hard racing.  Now it is dirty racing?  And this coming from fans that supported the Intimidator?  Well I am sorry but this makes NASCAR look bad when they tell these guy’s to ‘have at it.’  While your most legendary and liked driver was the dirtiest of them all.

NASCAR before you decide to make a rule, put your review board on it first.

There’s a lot of misinterpretation of Carl’s post-race comment about not apologizing.

Carl never said that he intentionally wrecked Brad.  He would have been better advised, had he had the time to think about it, to explain that all he did was not lift or back off when Brad implemented his too-late slide job.   Nobody has evidently taken the time to view the incident from all the views available and in super-slow motion, which is what NASCAR did immediately after the race.

The rest of the media are simply running their mouths based on what they think they saw, and then Carl’s “admission”.

Brad simply wrecked himself when Carl didn’t lift.

The thing that really PO’s me is that people that should know better (Like Dave Despain) are making comments about Carl “turning deliberately into Brad’s quarter panel.    That never happened, and makes it obvious that they “saw” things that didn’t happen and didn’t bother to look further.

All Carl did was correct to his left when their bumpers came together.  That “left turn” was completely limited to the back of the car until Brad went around.  Carl’s fender damage was from driving through what was already debris on the track (the 22).

Carl could have lifted; he didn’t.    …repeat of ‘dega last year.   

It’s a fine line, but it’s not “intentionally taking him out”.   It was simply intentionally choosing not to lose the race.

Carl didn’t, and shouldn’t apologize; he no reason to apologize for not choosing to lose.

If Brad was fast enough to have won the race off the corner, there wouldn’t have been any contact or opportunity for contact; it was an unsuccessful attempt to block, plain and simple.

Carl Edwards Diehard Fan,

Buz

Yes, fans, drivers, crew chiefs and owners – that has been one of the oldest saying’s among drivers since we began.  And Brad Keselowski is finding it out this season that when you mess with Carl Edwards you do get the big horns.  Saturday night’s race in Gateway provided a prime example that some drivers just don’t take anything off of these young drivers that like to rub fenders with them.

Earlier this season, Edwards showed that he would not be taking anything off of young Brad Keselowski anymore.  People forgot that it was last April when the young driver sent Edwards airborne at Talladega and into the fence.  Wow.  It’s amazing how people can forget that a driver can do it to someone else but it can’t happen to them and them take it?  Yeah it sounds like this situation altogether, seriously.  It just seems as if the driver from Michigan can wreck people, yet it can’t happen to him?

There are just some drivers that don’t take being pushed.  Carl Edwards – is one of them.

“The way it went, he bumped me and he finished wherever he finished and I still won the race,” Edwards said. “That’s the only way I could see the race turning out fair.”

“That’s my job, to win the race, and to make sure I don’t get walked on or get something taken away from me that’s mine,” he said. “I’m sure tempers are up right now, but hopefully after looking at it we can each step in the other’s shoes and see it from the other perspective.”

Fact is Keselowski did mess with the wrong bull.  And those that don’t like what the result was, well it happened and it has happened before.  Dale Earnhardt took out Terry Labonte at Bristol in both the 1995 and 1998 races at Bristol, he took out Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip numerous times.  But yes, how does time make people forget how one of the sports most legendary drivers raced.   Also are we forgetting that NASCAR wanted more rivalries at the beginning of the season?  And told the boys “have at it!”

This is a very dangerous sport that we watch and our drivers are in.  When you step into the car, you have to remember there are risks, and I think that the entire Keselowski family is forgetting that.   This is hardcore racing, and its bringing a fiery rivalry back into the sport that it needed to bring back ratings.  While a lot think it was wrong, I don’t.  And I have to tell those that argue it, I won’t back off on my opinion because I think what happened was right.  The young driver has been asking for it, and needs learn to take things like a man and not have his father take up for him.  NASCAR already has told one driver’s father to back out and let his boy stand up for himself. Tom Logano had the same problem and now maybe the elder Keselowski will get it as well.

It’s just time for Brad to remember – Mess with the Bull, Get the Horns.

I think that there just comes a time in a driver/crew chief relationship that there are problems that can’t be fixed.  

It is like a marriage that has fallen apart over time.  There are some that last a whole career, and then there are just some that just lose that click that they once had.  In my book, I think that Carl Edwards and Bob Osborne have come to that point in their relationship where something has to be done to get the 99 back on track.  Last weekend was a very disappointing weekend to see.  When a driver of Edwards caliber falls a lap down so early in an event and the crew chief can’t figure out what to do to fix an issue, that tells you there are major problems flowing through the team.

I can remember in the late 90s,  Jeff Burton and Frankie Stoddard were an amazing duo in this very same race car.  Burton and Stoddard were put together after long time veteran Buddy Parrott retired from Roush Racing.  The two won 12 races with one another.  But following the 2001 season, the two lost their click and seperated when Burton decided he wanted to have a new crew chief. 

I think that there just comes a time when these issues arise up and become a problem.  Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham were an amazing pair but they lost their click and seperated after a long term deal and three titles.  I believe that this year has come to a point where there has not been any change on the 99, and it could be at best if a new crew chief is brought into the 99 pit box.   Do I have an answer for who should replace Osborne?  No.  But there is definetly someone out there that could figure out these problems on the car and click with Carl Edwards.

I think one name that might come up if a change comes about is Todd Parrott who is over the R&D department at Roush Fenway.  Parrott is an extraordinary crew chief in the series, and has a resume that comes with several Daytona 500 wins, and a championship with Dale Jarrett in 1999.  I think that it is going to take someone with experience and determination to get the 99 car back into the form that they were in 2008.

I watched the entire 5 hour coverage of the Hall Of Fame today, and I was impressed with the inductees of the first class.  While we were missing three of them from passing on, I can tell you that as a fan I have been wanting NASCAR to have this beautiful place to honor our greatest drivers, owners, commentators,  crew chiefs and crew members. 

There was no doubt in my mind that we’ve been needing this place to complete the sports history.  Every single sport had a Hall of Fame that paid respects to its greatest athletes.  Today we added Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr, France Jr., Junior Johnson and the King Richard Petty as its first class of inductees to the Hall of Fame.   I had discussions with several of my friends, one of which I think of as a historian because she can remember things about our past heroes of the sport and we both agreed that leaving out the Silver Fox David Pearson was wrong, but just having the Hall added was a major accomplishment.

You have to be grateful for what these 5 people did for our sport.  From Bill France Sr., founding our sport and creating the most dynamic racing facility ever in Daytona, his son Bill France Jr., building the sport into a world renowned grounds for fans, drivers, and crews,  then Richard Petty who many consider to be the driver that made this into a fans sport by signing those first few autographs at his earlier stage of the career that is considered to be the most successful ever.  Junior Johnson did it all, from winning races as a driver, to a car owner, and as a jack man for his team.  He was considered the Last American Hero.  Then Dale Earnhardt, who helped push this sport into the 90s and the new millenium by showing people that the men behind the wheel could be just regular everyday Americans. 

There is a story behind every man that was inducted today.  In the light of it all,  we have a place now to shrine of its greatest people.  NASCAR has definetly needed a Hall of Fame, Baseball has Cooperstown, NY.  The NFL has Canton, Ohio and the NHL has  Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

Now NASCAR has Charlotte, North Carolina.  That place that houses most of the teams, and now houses its Hall of Fame.  And now each year we’ll be able to see 5 new inductees added to the HoF.

The debate seems to go on and on, no matter what.  I have debated this topic with numerous fans that think that Carl Edwards should be looking for a new ride when his contract expires after 2011. 

Here is where I totally disagree.   I think that there is a huge fall out when you look at the top-notch rides in NASCAR between Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing coming up.  One reason is, Hendrick has loaded their guns with drivers like Johnson and Gordon, they have Mark Martin for one more year and then Kahne arrives to the 5 car in 2012.  Then there is Mr. Popularity, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who no matter what, he is going to have a ride because he brings in the money. 

Gibbs has three young drivers that have not even hit 30-years old yet.  Denny Hamlin is the veteran, at 29 years old, Kyle Busch is 25 years old, and then there is Joey Logano who is still a youthful youngster at 19.   Neither one of these drivers are looking to go anywhere else and adding another driver would really mean way too roosters in the hen house for Gibbs.

Then there is Richard Childress.  Same goes for RCR when it comes to having a full-slate of drivers with Jeff Burton,  Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick.   These guys are successful where they are at and it doesn’t appear that they will go anywhere, at one point many expected Harvick to go somewhere but after winning Talladega a couple weeks ago it doesn’t seem so.

So now we look at Roush.  Look at it in this way, Edwards is going to be Roush’s primary driver no matter how you want to look at it.  He brings in more cash flow to the organization that any driver and his fan base is growing.  And even though, there are some fans that don’t see it; there have been some big improvements over this last year.  Last weekend’s race at Richmond was a sign of that when he rallied late in the event to finish in the top-5.  He has been 44 races without a win in the winter of 2008, when he scored the Ford 400 victory at Homestead.  However, there are some drivers that have waited a lot longer than he has.

Clint Bowyer has gone 72 races,  Earnhardt has been 67, Biffle 54 and Burton 51.  Jeff Gordon has gone 39 races without winning a race, so there are some of the best drivers in the sport sitting on the same boat that Edwards is on.  So I have to say that if you complain that there are struggles, yes it is your right, but there are drivers in worse shape than Edwards.   I know a friend that is married to someone on the 99 crew, and the work that has been going on is unbelievable.  We just have to be patient and let the little kinks work out.

The fact is, there just isn’t any place that Edwards could go in the near future that would provide Edwards with equipment that could be better than what he gets right now.  Edwards is the face of Roush Fenway Racing no matter who wants to debate it.   And people forget about the season that Edwards had during the 2006 season when there were two crew chief changes made during the season with Bob Osborne and Wally Brown.  This season is no where near filled with the struggles that Edwards had during that year.  Cars that would start out terrible and never come close to getting better with a crew chief that didn’t know how to fix a problem.

The issues are being worked on, but remember we are just spectators, we don’t make decisions on a day to day basis and those that want Osborne out as crew chief are not going to get it.  Because here is something you have to look at, I listened to Earnhardt Jr., blame his crew chief Lance McGrew for everything that happened last weekend in Richmond and McGrew shot back in an interview saying he was the driver and didn’t know what the problems were.

That is one issue you don’t hear out of Edwards and Osborne.  The chemistry is balanced there and it will be what makes the team get better.  So those that want changes, you can want but it doesn’t mean it will happen.

In Major League Baseball, there is that ageless rivalry of the Redsox and Yankees.  Now in NASCAR it is appearing that we’re going to have something very similar to the huge rivalry in baseball.  Rick Hendrick is trying to take in all the big names of NASCAR, but just as in baseball; you can’t have them all and standing on the other side of this rivalry is Jack Roush.

This has been spurring rivalry for the last 15 years.  From what started back in the late 90s, when the 24 car was winning on a well hated consistent basis, Jack Roush has not been afraidto share his opinion on Hendrick’s dominance in the past.  Yesterday, ESPN was the first to report that Kasey Kahne had signed on with Hendrick Motorsports for the 2011 season; however, there was one issue.  Mark Martin still had one year left on his contract and it would seem at no surprise that reports sprung that Kahne would drive one season for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2011, and then move to the 5 in 12′. 

I look back at a change in the off-season.  Richard Petty Motorsports, the team that Kahne currently is part of, moved to the Ford Racing family; under a merger with Yates Racing.  While at the time it did not seem to be a deal of the same making as Stewart and Hendricks, it could possibly be on that path now.  Roush has had five teams in the sport for quite a while, and last season NASCAR forced him to shut down one of his operations and go to 4 cars. 

Roush could be taking RPM and using it as its second block as Hendrick is Stewart’s operation.  In the off-season several people from RPM moved over to RFR and teams were mixed up.  Doug Yates, who owned Yates Racing went back to being over the Roush-Yates Engine program and putting total focus on the FR9 engine for this season.  While there are a lot of fans that feel as if the Ford teams are struggling the same as they were in 2009, I have seen improvement in them.

As the Yankees and Redsox Rivalry has seen a lot of the Yankees win, just remember in the last few years the Redsox came to life and have began to pick up momentum after being quiet for a while.  Roush may have that same plan in line for this rivalry soon.

Yeah,  I know it hasn’t even happened.  Kasey Kahne supposebly signed with Hendrick Motorsports but there is an issue with the deal.  Mark Martin, surprise, surprise.  He still has one more year left on his contract and plans to retire afterwards.

So the rumor spreading around the world wide web is that Kahne will go to a third Stewart-Haas Racing team until Martin departs and opens up the 5 car for Kahne.   At the beginning of this season,  Jack Roush had to let go of one of his teams and drivers as NASCAR forced a four car policy on the teams.   Well I guess Rick Hendrick has once again learned how to get out without being noticed by the officials.  You can say what you want to people, SHR may not have the Hendrick Motorsports title but it is the same organization. 

I think a lot of people expected Kahne to make his departure fr om Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of this season.  It just didn’t seem as if he was happy where he was at.  But if Hendrick places him at SHR only to pull him back in to the 5 car the following season(2012).   It just shows that there is a monopoly going on with Hendrick adding spair teams to get more cars in the field.  If NASCAR does not catch on, we may have a full field of Hendrick Chevrolets to deal with.

Inside the problem is that there are a lot of people that knew this was coming before we even discussed it.  Rick Hendrick is no fool, and when Stewart got moved out of the Chevrolet camp, they had to come up with a way to bring him back on board.  Stewart was racing for Gibbs and Toyota and the sight was not pleasant.   Maybe it is time that Jack Roush plays the same monopoly and adds more and more cars to keep going along with Hendrick Motorsports.

I have seen drivers take one another out of races many times in the years that I have watched racing.  There have been guys come out of the last lap and nail the other just as Carl Edwards did last week in Atlanta.  In the moment it happened a lot of people expected a heavy fine, points penalty, and even heavier a suspension, even fellow diehard blogger Gabbycat did.  But here is where I think a lot of people that were against Carl Edwards’ action this past weekend didn’t think, Brad Keselowski had been asking for this, since he first got that ride with Jr Motorsports back in 2007 when his truck team dropped him; he has been wrecking drivers right and left

I know of several instances since last September that he has taken out veteran drivers and it has formed into two major rivalries on the track with Carl and Denny Hamlin.  He took out Hamlin at Dover, then at Phoenix, and Hamlin repaid him in the season finale NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Homestead Miami Speedway.  The facts are there, this guy has been asking for it.  Had Edwards not done it, how much longer would it have been had someone else paid their dues?  I think had the 12 not went into the air like it did, Edwards’ actions would be considered a great move and he would be considered a hero, but since it did go airborne people are considering it a harsh crime and felt that Carl should have gotten suspended.

When a driver like Keselowski in the field, it can be a worry.  A lot of fans feel he has overstayed his welcome and needed to be put in his place.  In the past, Carl Edwards has shown he’d stand toe to toe with anyone in the field.  He had a rivalry with Stewart back in 06′, he and his own teammate Matt Kenseth had an incident back in 2007 at Martinsville where it appeared Carl was about to swing on Matt, and in 2008; he clashed with Kevin Harvick.  He has had the nice guy look, but down deep he isn’t afraid to stand up to anyone. 

NASCAR had to see that Keselowski was getting out of hand and they had to know that someone was going to take it upon themself with him.  I simply think that there are some drivers that can only take so much and Edwards is one of them.  I have heard Keselowski say that races people how he races them.  Well I hate to break it to him, Carl did that Sunday.  Keselowski has raced just about everyone with a reckless rant that many drivers are sick and tired of.  The fact that the young driver has taken out several drivers numerous times and never taken the heat for it shows he has been asking for this for some time now. 

Here I looked back at some incidents where Keselowski has taken out Edwards, and several other drivers in the last year. 

• At Charlotte in 2008, Keselowski’s feud with Hamlin began under caution when Hamlin made contact with the young driver in the Nationwide Series.  A fight happened on pit road after the race finished off between the drivers and their teams.
• The Talladega Aaron’s 499 – He made contact with Carl Edwards and sent him into the fence, while it was a racing incident, chances are it could have been avoided.  Fans were injured in the incident and surprisingly; Carl Edwards walked away ok.
• Dover last September in the Nationwide Series event Keselowski took out Denny Hamlin for the first of a few incidents between the two drivers.   It happened with ten laps left in the race and it parked the 20 car of Hamlin. 
• Two weeks later at Fontana, he took out Hamlin and Greg Biffle and it really had Hamlin fiery red.
• In Memphis, Keselowski got into the back of Edwards’ No. 60 Save a Lot Ford and sent him spinning down the backstretch at the short track.  Edwards was not happy as he went from having a chance to win, to finishing 6th after falling back through the field with 20 remaining.
• In Phoenix last fall, Keselowski took out Hamlin once again and Hamlin vowed vengeance when he told the world that he would take care of the problem himself in Hometead. Kyle Busch’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who said, “Somebody’s going to get angry and [retaliate] at a higher-speed racetrack.” 
• Hamlin did that by spinning Keselowski out in the Nationwide Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• In Daytona this year, Keselowski and Edwards made contact and it sent Earnhardt Jr., on his roof.

It has all been building on Keselowski to have someone get him back and Carl Edwards finally did last week.  Had that car not flipped and went airborne, chances are a lot more people would have been praising Edwards for what he did, instead of hating on him.

I remember listening to CEO Brian France back during media days about how the sport wanted to bring back the good ol’ days of racing.  I heard him and Robin Pemberton say ““Boys, have at it.”  So really after yesterday’s incident when Carl Edwards retaliated on Brad Keselowski, how can NASCAR penalize Edwards?  Fact is they have been asking for this for a while by letting the hot-headed driver take out others on a regular basis.

Yes, what Carl did was intentional and it wasn’t right; however, the fact is we all know that for the last two seasons things have been boiling down to this.  Keselowski has been able to get by with his “I don’t care” approach by taking out others.  It was last November that he was spun by veteran Denny Hamlin in the season finale at Homestead.   If NASCAR were to penalize him, they’d be going against everything that they wanted to see back in January.  It would definitely cause a spark in a lot of fans thoughts about where NASCAR was going with this. 

The one question I would ask, “Do you defend certain drivers but let others go for these things?”  I have definetly seen it in the past with certain drivers I won’t mention.  But would this incident have really sparked as much noise had the 12 car not gone airborne?  I think this is the situation that NASCAR was asking for when they told the guys to “have at it”. 

What Carl did, has been done numerous times before.  Tempers flare and there have been retaliations, so we will see what NASCAR decides on come the middle of this week.  But if a suspension does occur, then they have gone against all they have discussed.   The fact is Carl did exactly what they wanted.  Earlier in the week, Jeff Gordon said that the sport needed a rivalry to spark the TV ratings up, and they got that Sunday. 

On Sunday evening, Edwards put on his facebook page “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 aw…ay. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine.”

In theory, you push me around, I push back.  B-K has been trying to play bully with a lot of veteran drivers and it is begining to show up that they aren’t going to take his bull.  Denny Hamlin didn’t comment on the issue, but you know that deep down he was laughing when his rival got punted.  Edwards and Hamlin have taken the blunt of Keselowski’s crap, and both are tired of it.  People thought Kyle Busch was a reckless driver, you’ve got another one now, its this kid from Michigan that thinks he owns everyone.

He will have to learn that in this league, the bigger veteran’s don’t play nice when you wreck them.