The bad news is that this was an off week for NASCAR racing. The good news is that the week is over, and we’re less than seven days away from the big race at Bristol. But a week without racing was not a week without any news from the NASCAR circuit.
Carl Edwards is serving a three race probation for violently wrecking Brad Keselowski last Sunday. As I understand it, probation basically means that he can’t break any rules for the next three weeks. Which amounts to roughly no punishment for intentionally ramming and flipping a car at 190 mph on live TV and in front of thousands of witnesses.
If his punishment is that he can’t break any rules in the next three weeks, what does that mean for every other driver who isn’t on probation? Can they ram into one another with impunity? Is the worst punishment that NASCAR can throw at a driver is to tell him that he can’t do it again?
This controversy would have been big in any week, but an off week has given the pundits free reign to weigh in on either side at great length. The fact that Edwards wrecked Keselowski while Keselowski was in the top ten but Edwards was well out of contention has been brought up, analyzed, compared, contrasted, reviewed, and decried over and over again, well beyond the normal circles of NASCAR discussion. Sports call-in shows that normally are reserved for the ‘big four’ (football, baseball, basketball, and hockey) have been lit up with calls and commentaries about the crash.
The conversation goes on – Edwards should have waited for another race, Keselowski is unrepentant for his aggressive style, Dale used to do it, no he didn’t – but the end is in sight. Once the cars come off the trailers at Bristol, we’ll finally be able to move on. And if you don’t, I’ll put you on probation.
