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JENSEN: Detestable Driving
Judging by the responses I got on my Twitter account, race fans were as incensed as I was by how Carl Edwards drove in the Nationwide race at Gateway...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted July 19, 2010   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
Judging by the more than 100 responses I got on my twitter.com/tomjensen100 account late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, race fans were as incensed as I was by how Carl Edwards drove in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway.

A quick recap: On the last lap, Brad Keselowski nudged leader Edwards in Turn 1, enough to move him out of the preferred line and Keselowski to take the lead. Coming to the checkered flag, Edwards turned left, never lifted and basically ran over Keselowski, who went hard, driver’s-side first into the outside wall, then bounced across the track, where he was rammed at full speed. The accident destroyed Keselowski’s car and tore up at least half a dozen more.

For the record, this wasn’t a case of “have at it, boys.”

This was a case of one driver — Edwards — doing the wrong thing and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage in the process.

Afterwards, Edwards said he was completely justified.

“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,” Edwards said. “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.”

I find it interesting that Keselowski led 136 laps to 39 for Edwards, yet Edwards thought he was entitled to the victory, but that’s beside the point. The real issue is that there’s a way to race hard and clean, and that’s not what Edwards did. Not at all.

Go back to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire a month ago.

With seven laps to go, Kurt Busch dove under Jimmie Johnson in Turn 3 and moved him out of the way, taking the lead. With two laps to go, Johnson did exactly the same thing at exactly the same spot on the track, which gave him the victory. On the final lap of the race, Tony Stewart bumped Busch out of the way and took second, Busch finishing third.

At New Hampshire, Johnson hit Busch no harder than Busch hit him the first time. And afterwards, everyone involved thought what happened was nothing more than great racing.
VIDEO: Last Lap Gateway Nationwide - Edwards Wins Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski tangle. (Image: SPEED)

“So just a classic, get in the corner a little bit deeper than the guy,” said Busch, a guy not known as a gracious loser. “We didn't just flat out wreck them. We didn't cut his tire. We didn't drive over him. It was just a nice nudge that we are all used to seeing and appreciating on short tracks. ... I thought it was a great short track battle.”

“It is short-track racing, so I knew something was going to come,” said Johnson. “I didn't think I would get hit that hard. So you race people how they race you and I know he didn't try dumping me, but he came awfully close. So I just thought about it when I caught him, I thought, ‘Well, I hope I don't dump him, but I'm definitely going to get into him.’”

Busch and Johnson, two of the best drivers in NASCAR, raced each other fiercely and cleanly, using fenders to move — but not wreck — each other. That was two boys having at it in the best sense of the word, the way hard racing should be.

And that had nothing to do with how Edwards drove Saturday night.

At Gateway on Saturday night, Edwards flat ran over Keselowski, triggering the big wreck. Watch the video and it’s obvious that Edwards never lifted when he makes contact with Keselowski.

Had Edwards hit Keselowski enough to move him out of the way and win, it would have been fair and clean. To run him over and tear a bunch of race cars up was stupid, dangerous and had nothing to do with hard racing.

What’s going to be interesting to see is what, if anything, NASCAR does about this.

Because if it is now OK to out-and-out wreck the guy ahead of you without fear of any retribution, then the 2010 Sprint Cup champion might not be the guy with the best car or the most skill. It might just be the guy who can wreck the other guys better than they can wreck him.

And at that point, NASCAR would be nothing more or less than the WWE on four wheels.

Have at it, boys.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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