Carl Edwards docked 60 points, fined $25,000 for wrecking Brad Keselowski; both drivers placed on probation 'to protect the garage'
Brad Keselowski crashes on the final lap at Gateway International Raceway after getting hit by Carl Edwards. // Dilip Vishwanat, Getty Images for NASCAR
NASCAR penalized Carl Edwards 60 points, fined him $25,000 and put him on probation through the end of the season for aggressive driving in the Nationwide Series race Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway.
Brad Keselowski, who was involved in the incident with Edwards, also was put on probation through the end of the year for aggressive driving.
The penalties issued Wednesday stem from the last lap of the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, where Keselowski and Edwards were racing for the lead. Keselowski bumped Edwards in Turn 1 to take the lead. As the two drivers were headed down the frontstretch toward the checkered flag, Edwards hit Keselowski, wrecking him.
While Edwards went on to win the race, Keselowski’s car hit both the outside and inside walls and then was hit by driver Shelby Howard. The accident collected at least seven cars.
"Both of them are on probation through the end of the year – we needed to do that to help protect the garage area from being caught up in an incident not of their making," NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said.
Earlier this season, Edwards was put on three weeks probation for retaliating against Keselowski in the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta. In that race, the retaliation resulted in Keselowski’s car getting airborne and his roof hitting the outside wall.
“These two drivers have a history with each other,” Pemberton said. “We had talked to both drivers after the Atlanta incident. And even though Carl was put on probation, we had conversations with Brad about their relationship and explained to them that there will be a boundary.
“You fast forward to Gateway and you look at what we feel like was Brad misjudging his corner on Carl and then you look at the retaliation by Carl coming off Turn 4, we felt this had escalated beyond what we should tolerate on the race track. The penalty is to put these guys on notice. They have affected many of the other teams in the garage area and we felt they stepped over the line with their aggressive driving. It was time to penalize.”
Pemberton said NASCAR never considered taking away the win. The penalties are designed to keep the two drivers from retaliating in the future and impacting the results of the other drivers.
"We wanted to do the right thing for the competitors and the right thing for the garage area as far as maintaining law and order," Pemberton said. "It takes two people to pull off this stuff off."
Edwards gets to keep the win, but the 60-point penalty resulted in him earning only 130 points for the event. Keselowski, who finished 14th, earned 131 points, which Pemberton said made the race a wash as far as the points. By losing 60 points, Edwards is now 228 behind Keselowski with 16 races left in the season.
The Roush Fenway Racing No. 60 team also was docked 60 points in the owner standings. Roush Fenway Racing has not decided whether to appeal.
“As with all NASCAR actions of this nature, we will internally evaluate the penalties, and the underlying explanations, prior to making any decision about next steps,” Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said in a statement. “We look forward to watching Carl and Brad as they continue to compete on a weekly basis for the championship in the Nationwide Series.”
Penske Racing will not appeal Keselowski's penalty, according to a statement released by the team.
“The incident at the end of Saturday night’s race at Gateway was unfortunate not just for Penske Racing and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team, but for all of the teams that were caught up in the aftermath,” Keselowski said in the statement. “There was unnecessary damage done to a lot of race cars as a result of the incident, including one of our best cars. We support NASCAR’s decision and we look forward to putting this behind us.”
