Carl Edwards says he meant no harm in last-lap crash, didn’t want Brad Keselowski to 'steal' another win
Carl Edwards goes on to victory after spinning Brad Keselowski coming down the frontstretch at Gateway International Raceway. Reed Sorenson, on the inside, finished second. // Dilip Vishwanat, Getty Images for NASCAR
Carl Edwards said he didn't mean to harm Brad Keselowski when he wrecked him on the last lap at Gateway International Raceway Saturday but was trying to keep Keselowski from "stealing another" win from him.
The Roush Fenway Racing driver spun Penske Racing’s Keselowski coming to the checkered flag. Keselowski hit the inside wall and then got clobbered in the chain-reaction accident.
The two drivers have a history of confrontation. Edwards received three weeks probation after retaliating against Keselowski during the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta in March. In that accident, Keselowski ended up on his roof against the outside wall.
Edwards talked about the incident during his postrace interview and responded to comments from Keselowski’s father that Edwards was trying to kill his son.
“The deal is we raced really well together for a number of laps earlier in the race and Brad and I have had a history, but that history has nothing to do with what happened tonight," Edwards said during the news conference. "I feel like we both respect one another a lot. There on that last lap, I would have won the race if he hadn’t have bumped me in Turn 1 and he would have finished second. And the way it went, he bumped me and he finished wherever he finished and I still won the race. That was the only way I could see the race turning out fair.
"That’s my job – to win that race and to make sure that I don’t get walked on or get something taken away from me that’s mine. That’s how I race. And he knows that’s how I race, and I know that’s how he races, too, and we both respect that and hopefully, I’m sure tempers are up right now, but hopefully after looking at it, we could each step in the other’s shoes and see it from another perspective. From my side, we’re just going to keep racing.
“We’re just racing hard, and we’re all good race-car drivers and we know how hard to drive into the corner. And every once in a while, you make a mistake. But if you’re racing and you’re respecting the other guy and you’re not driving over your head, you won’t run into someone. And there’s another thing that could have been done there. The only reason he got the lead was because he ran into me. He could have given me the lead back and pulled in behind me where he was down the back straightaway and there would have been a different outcome there. But it’s the end of the race. There’s not another lap. What do you do? It’s a tough place to be in. But in the end, I feel like we deserved to win that race and we did. …
“I didn’t mean any harm to him at all. Eventually he will learn that he can’t run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations. In every situation, there’s an aggressor and there’s someone who reacts, and I was not the aggressor in this situation. I can understand how his dad feels and I respect his dad very much and I would like him to know that I wasn’t trying to do any harm to his son. I just didn’t want his son to steal another race from me. That’s all there is to it. There’s nothing personal at all.”
