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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Carl’s Crash Landing
Carl Edwards survived a wild thrill ride on the last lap at Talladega, where he finished 23rd after sailing into the catchfence...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 26, 2009   Talladega, AL
Carl Edwards goes airborne as Ryan Newman hits the wall at the end of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

In the space of one short lap at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Carl Edwards experienced just about every emotion a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver can feel: From sheer elation to abject terror to crushing disappointment.

For most all of the Aaron’s 499, Edwards ran deep in the pack, trying to avoid getting caught in one of the big multi-car crashes, like the one he himself triggered here last October. On the 188th and final lap, he got a giant push from Brad Keselowski on the outside groove, which pushed Edwards solidly into the lead, ahead of what had been the front-running duo of Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Free of Newman and Earnhardt, Edwards led Keselowski down the front straightaway of the 2.66-mile superspeedway, apparently about to win his first race of the season and move himself solidly up in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings.

And then all hell broke loose.

Keselowski got the nose of his Phoenix Racing Chevrolet Impala SS under the nose of Edwards’s Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion as the two drivers barreled towards the checkered flag. Edwards thought he was clear of Keselowski and moved down, making contact.

When the left-rear fender of Edwards’ car hit the right front of Keselowski, it sent Edwards spinning helplessly. The rear end of his Ford lifted off the ground, then the roof flaps deployed, pushing the No. 99 back to towards the ground and onto the hood of the onrushing Newman. That contact, in turn, sent Newman’s Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet violently into the outside wall and simultaneously catapulted Edwards high into the air and into the catchfence in a crash shockingly reminiscent of Bobby Allison’s 1987 incident, the wreck that led NASCAR to adopt restrictor plates in the first place.

“Brad, he was pushing,” said Edwards as he watched the replay on a television monitor at the track. “He was doing everything he can. I saw him go high, I went high, he goes low right here. I didn’t realize he had gotten that far. So I went low to block and didn’t realize he was already there, and I got turned around backwards.”

Then came the airborne ride and the hard crash back down to terra firma. “We were very fortunate that we hit the wall in a way that it didn’t crush my rollcage and come down on my neck, because that would have been much worse,” said Edwards, who was within a few hundred feet of victory but finished 24th.

Edwards was not mad at Keselowski, who drove on to victory, but it was clear that he has no love of restrictor-plate racing. “NASCAR just puts us in this box,” said Edwards. “Brad did a great job. Congrats to him on the win. But they put us in this box and we’ll race like this until we kill somebody and then they’ll change it. But I’m just glad nobody got hurt today, glad the car didn’t go up into the grandstands and hurt somebody.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES DRIVER POINT STANDINGS •
SPRINT CUP SERIES RESULTS-AARON'S 499 •
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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