Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski meet with NASCAR officials, vow to give each other room on the track, put Atlanta incident behind them
Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards exit the NASCAR hauler after a meeting with officials at Bristol Saturday. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski left the NASCAR Sprint Cup hauler side by side and smiling Saturday morning, but it remains to be seen whether their feud is truly over.
Edwards, Keselowski and their car owners, Jack Roush and Roger Penske, met with NASCAR officials for about 40 minutes Saturday morning, 13 days after Edwards intentionally wrecked Keselowski, whose car got airborne and slammed into the wall roof-first Atlanta Motor Speedway. The incident was payback for an accident earlier in the Kobalt Tools 500 and for past dust-ups between the two.
“The biggest thing coming out of that meeting is that now, I think, Brad and I understand one another a little better,” Edwards said. “I think we’re gonna be able to just go forward and go racing, and that’s what this is all about.
“It was really cool to be able to talk with Jack and Roger and Brad all at once. … It’s very hard for people to understand that the result is far different from the intent. Things can be presented in a lot of ways, but I guess that’s just part of it.”
Keselowski and Edwards both race full time in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Keselowski said he wouldn’t go through everything that was said in the meeting.
“Carl and I have talked before about leaving each other more room, but it seems like when it comes down to it, it never works out,” Keselowski said. “The biggest thing to me is incidents are going to happen because we race each other 60-, 70-some times a year. We’re both running well, so we’re going to run by each other.
“We just each have to build up our tolerance for that when things go wrong. … The only way you’re going to be satisfied is if we can back up two weeks and it never happened. Anything besides that is what it is. I’m satisfied where we’re at going forward.”
Edwards was parked for the remainder of the Atlanta race (which cost him only three points) and put on probation for three weeks.
“Carl and Brad both said things that would indicate that they’re willing to put it behind them and let bygones be bygones, to give one another racing room, and that’s what’s needed,” Roush said. “They need to give one another a little extra room for a while. … I think that they will give one another enough respect that we won’t see another occurrence like that.
“I think Carl is not likely to have incidental contact with Brad and cause a wreck, and I think Brad is not likely to have incidental contact with Carl and cause a wreck in the foreseeable future.”
Penske said he supported his driver, who has been criticized for being too aggressive.
“It was important that we all got together from a standpoint of just having open conversation with the drivers, Jack and myself,” Penske said. “It was a good conversation. Certainly Carl realized that what had happened last week wasn’t what he expected with the car flying. The guys agreed that they’re going to race hard, they’re going to race fair and they’re going to give themselves room on the race track so we don’t become the poster boys every weekend on what’s happening.”
Penske said he doesn’t expect Keselowski, who is in his first full Cup season and his first year with Penske Racing, to change his driving style.
“He’s a terrific talent,” Penske said. “I don’t tell my drivers to run hard or run soft. I think he knows what he has to do on the race track with his peers, and quite honestly, he isn’t making any statements about what he’s going to do or not do.
“I think the media has taken some of that and moved it further and made him with a bigger circle around him. What I want him to do is run fair on the race track and be competitive. But again, the other drivers have to respect him.”
NASCAR president Mike Helton said the meeting was productive.
"It wasn't about Atlanta,” Helton said. “It was about Carl and Brad. We've had them before and we'll have them again. And I think it was worthwhile and productive.''
