Is Brad So Bad?

by John Chapman on March 10, 2010 · 12 comments

Brad Keselowski came into Cup like a fox in the hen house. It just happened that Carl was the first to get his feathers ruffled. OK, more than ruffled, more like his neck rung, and his feathers plucked. Apparently he hasn’t forgiven, or forgotten.

If you believe that "Bad Brad" had a lesson coming ( I’m not totally convinced), I’d still have to question the advisability of showing him the error of his ways on the fastest track on the circuit. If we take a look at the incident at Atlanta that spoiled Carl’s and Joey’s day, what I see is Carl making a banzai move from the high line to the bottom. Only one problem, Brad was already there. Brad said in his interview, that he tried to give Carl room, but that there wasn’t time.

Remember the speeds. I think I’d have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. If he’d jumped on his brakes, he’d have gotten run over. If we look back to Talladega, where this thing really started, I see a clear culprit…..blocking. Carl tried to block a driver who was extremely hungry, who also remembered what happened to Regan Smith, when Tony blocked. If you try to take a pork chop from a pit bull, what do you think is going to happen? One thing I don’t think is going to happen, is if Brad finds himself in the same situation again, the guy in front probably won’t try to
block.

If we believe what we read, then not only Carl and Denny, but half of the garage is down on Brad. Let’s see if we can figure out why.

I’m working on an interview with back to back Busch Series Champion Randy La Joie. I’ll give you a little preview that I think may hold the answer….

John: "We have a lot of long time fans who are upset with the NASCAR. What do you think about the state of Cup racing."

Randy: "There’s too much money in the sport today, no one’s hungry. When I was coming up, we needed every dollar we could get. If you were running sixth, and thought you could move up to fifth, you’d go for it because you needed the money. If you had to move someone, that’s what you did. Now all the drivers are too
good a friends. They all live together on Lake Norman. They park together in the Motor Home Lot every week. No one wants’ to make waves, or make anyone mad."

Make sense? It does to me. A multi-millionaire would race differently than someone who’s really hungry. I think Randy’s nailed it. These guys are comfortable racing against each other. Not just because they respect each others skills, but because they race the way everyone wants’ to. We see way too much of this- “After you.” “No after you.” Maybe they just don’t like racing against someone who takes them out of their comfort zone. Who doesn’t "play the game," and wait until the last laps to really start racing?

I’ve heard drivers whining to their spotters, or crew chiefs about someone "racing them too hard." Say what? Cup drivers are the second highest paid drivers in the world.Maybe it’s not all bad that Brad’s got them a little shook up.

Back to Carl, if he really felt that he needed to teach Brad something about respect, it might have been better to have waited until Bristol. Not only did he put Brad, and other drivers at risk, he also potentially could have put fans at risk also.

The way things are, NASCAR needs all the paying customers they can get. If Carl really felt justified  in making his point the way he did, I might suggest a better place to do it, but I won’t criticize his doing it. After all, I can’t see Jimmie Johnson doing it, and we all know what people say about him.

I’m sure after Brad’s been in Cup a while he’ll settle down. If we’re lucky, when he does, someone else will come along, and race like he’s racing now.

Until that time comes, I’ll keep my eye on him.

{ 12 comments }

Edwards and Keselowski: My Take

by Patrick Reynolds on March 9, 2010 · 13 comments

Did you intentionally wreck him?

“Well Brad knows the deal between him and I. The scary part was that his car went airborne which is not at all what I expected…” blah, blah, blah.

I heard a yes or no question. I didn’t hear a yes or no answer, which was what we were all looking for. Or I will admit that at least I was looking for it. I already knew the answer. But I was listening for Carl Edwards to say it.

And let me state I like Edwards. I have met him before and he was extremely nice and friendly. I won’t misrepresent myself here and pretend to be good buddies with him either. Over the years he has said and done things I like and said and done things I didn’t like. In Sunday’s Atlanta race I didn’t like.

Backing up the time machine, let’s take a look at the day’s first incident between Edwards and Brad Keselowski. Edwards approached turn one in the middle groove and once in the turn moved to the lower lane. Keselowski was already there. The pair bumped and up to the fence went the Edwards machine, damaging Joey Logano’s ride in the process.

Keselowski said he lifted but couldn’t slow enough to let the Edwards car in. Watching the race, that explanation seemed very plausible. There is a history of tension between the two so maybe Keselowski isn’t exactly looking to help ‘Cousin Carl’ either. The crash appeared to be a racing accident. If anything more, percentage lay with Edwards for the rapid lane change.

Fast forward roughly 280 laps and here comes the revenge move. Edwards turns right along the frontstretch and spins Keselowski. The car does one of the infamous backward lift pirouettes that high-speed stock cars are known for and crashes back to earth.

If Keselowski simply spins into the infield this discussion is not nearly as emphatic. But he didn’t. He took off flying. That is a huge problem.

The reverse turnovers are rare at Atlanta despite the car’s top speeds exceeding the superspeedways. They can happen. Elliott Sadler and Johnny Benson have shown their tailpipes to Michigan fans.

But if any driver hits another in front of them to send that person out of control then the hitter is responsible for whatever happens. If it a lazy spinout, he bears responsibility. If the car flies into the grandstands and spectators have consequences, he bears responsibility.

The blame for the 2009 Talladega crash between these same two also falls at Edwards’ feet. He blocked Keselowski, the trailing Brad simply held his line and into the fence goes the Roush-Fenway driver.

The other Keselowski crashing instances have no place in judging this issue. I agree that he made some mistakes and some drivers will not give the Michigan native any extra room. But no matter who did what to whom, the fans in the stands do not need to be dodging pieces from two guys’ attitude match.

“Have at it boys” was the slogan following NASCAR’s session on the offseason’s media tour. Robin Pemberton’s words were very clear that day. NASCAR would back off in policing bump drafting and other aggressive moves on the track. But there still was a line of dirty and over aggressive driving to cross. Words cannot be printed to outline a rule for every single racecar situation. There needs to be wiggle room for common sense. And everyone knew that.

Anyone who wants to throw this back in NASCAR’s face has no place to do it, unless they have selective memory and hearing. What happened Sunday was obviously over the line for Pemberton’s comment. NASCAR was specific in explaining that fact in that very same press conference.

Carl Edwards was parked for the remainder of the Atlanta race for the crash. And then proceeded up pitlane in the opposite direction, creating a second dangerous situation. His punishment is three weeks probation.

Probation is not a punishment. Any driver I have ever seen on probation and then makes another bad decision simply gets their probation extended. Probation has never been defined to the public. There is no consequence.

I am glad for a rivalry. I love to see raw emotion. But a car flew through the air after a deliberate dump, and created a dangerous scenario for the fans. This is the reason why restrictor plates exist at all, to keep cars on the ground and out of the grandstands.

If you purposefully spinout a car in front of you then you must accept responsibility for whatever that car does, intended or not. Carl Edwards did something wrong on Sunday. In my opinion he got away with it.

(Patrick Reynolds is a former NASCAR mechanic who co-hosts the One and Done auto racing talk show Tuesdays at 11am ET on www.wsicweb.com)

{ 13 comments }

Two Wide: Perspectives On Carl Vs. Kez

by Jim on March 8, 2010 · 13 comments

UPDATE (12:52 Eastern): According to an update on Jayski.com, Carl Edwards will be placed on three race probation (read that: Behave yourself) and a meeting between Edwards, Keselowski, and owners Roger Penske (Kez) and Jack Roush (Edwards) will be forthcoming …

It’s a double dose of reaction today at Bump Drafts as Jeremy T. Sellers and yours truly offer up a pair of perspectives on the little on track lovefest between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski..

In The Red Corner, here’s Jeremy

Up In The Sky….

…It’s a bird, it’s a plane, NO!  It’s Brad Keselowski! 

…And I must premise by stating I’m not condoning what Cousin Carl did, in no way as a matter of fact.  However, I will go on record as stating seeing a good crash at a big league event is a guilty pleasure we all have as long as no one gets hurt, and it’s not our favorite driver.  Gotta have stipulations, ya know?  Now, any of you can be appalled by my introduction to this piece, gasp, get wide-eyed, loudly sigh "Noooooo!",  all you want, but it’s something instilled in us as teeth-grinding fans.  Yet now it’s time NASCAR finds its balance in letting the drivers have control of their races, emotions, and actions. 

I don’t think any of us will disagree at the fact NASCAR had nearly surgically sterilized itself out of business.  (Believe me, I know a few things about surgical sterilization, it’s a hot, humid, arduous process). So when Brian France went public in stating he was going to hand driving back to, now imagine this, THE DRIVERS, I don’t believe he had these incidents such as what occurred Sunday, in mind.  Now, he finds himself in a position to decipher what constitutes a "good ol’ behind the wood shed ass kickin" as opposed to injury or death of drivers and fans.  Hey, I was one of the ones yelling, "WHOOOAAAAA!" when Carl took out Brad, but in the same breath, I was just as equally excited, especially when all proved to be okay.

What is the middle ground? Since this just happened Sunday, this concept is obviously still in its infancy, but there has to be some.  Now, I don’t agree with the likes of Joe Menzer of NASCAR.com and Mike Humbee of SPEED who think it’s this occurrence should mean the end of the world for Carl.  Menzer even suggested Edwards should have waited until Bristol for payback.  Now, realistically, can you imagine just HOW many cars THAT would involve?  So, we buzz about NASCAR needing rivalries, and how, in a sadistic way, it’s healthy for the sport.  Guess that means I’m a sadist.  Yet now that we have a couple, there is an outcry for some serious wank spanking to take place.  C’mon people, make up my mind, will ya?  It may sound as if I’m doing a fair share of fence walking here, and I would have to agree.  However, it has to be one way or the other in terms of letting drivers "do their thing" or not, during races.  At least this time, no one got hurt, but hey fans, we have a rivalry!

So what is the answer?  That in the glory of being a dumb ol’ fan from the suburbs, I don’t have to come up with one.  Yet NONE of us can deny that the quality of racing isn’t better than years past, even at tracks such as California and Vegas and the season is only FOUR races along!  My advice to NASCAR?  Don’t change what you’ve done thus far, but maybe don’t blink your eyes as much during the race!

Thanks, Jeremy. There you have the conflict; a lot of fans want that passion, that raw-boned “I’m not gonna take your crap” emotion, but not as long as it’s a driver I like, or it involves a driver I don’t like.

And In The Green Corner, Jim comes out swinging……

I’ll tell you who’s in a corner- it’s NASCAR. Traditional fans of the rough and tumble racin’ Brian France promised a return to will say say, “See, I told you it was empty talk,” if they hand down one of their stiff penalties of the past.

On the other hand, roughly 65 to 70 percent of every fan poll I’ve ever seen says Edwards’ behavior must be addressed. To be sure, I have no doubt there are a healthy number of haters among them, who’d cry for justice no matter what he did. On the other hand, I find myself surprised at just how strong the reaction is. Not helping is Edwards’ track record for hot-headedness. For the record, on the matter of ‘roid rage? That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard. There’s no reason on Earth for Carl to mess with the stuff.

If NASCAR were regulated more like the NFL, they could suspend on some kind of personal conduct violation, but NASCAR has no real precedent, other than the dreaded “conduct detrimental…” clause. I suppose you could put him on probation, but what kind of message does that send after the “Have At It” speech. It sends another confusing set of signals.

In what I am sure is the mother of all butt-chewings, I’d like to think they made Cousin Carl aware of the position he has put them in, and while the idea of retribution is not entirely frowned on, the idea of possibly putting lives at risk is incredibly thoughtless on Edwards’ part.

Speaking strictly as a fan, I am not surprised at what happened to Kez. His list of enemies is pretty long, racing aggressively in two series. Looks to me like his ego has written checks his talent can’t cash. I don’t think he intentionally wrecks people, but ironically, like Edwards (think Talladega, Fall, 2008), he takes chances he shouldn’t in the name of hard-charging. Not everybody can be, nor should they try to be Dale Earnhardt.

In my opinion, NASCAR is going to have to take a bold, new measure: they’re going to have to treat the drivers like men, civilized men. Edwards was parked, and I have little doubt he had a scolding reminiscent of a trip to the principal’s office. It’s little consolation for Keselowski, but other than a very strong, terse warning, I wouldn’t do much more.

Now, going into Bristol, I’d have a little “town hall,” a driver’s meeting to try to clear the air a bit. If I’m NASCAR, I am mainly serving as facilitator, not dictator. I’m not talking about lawyering this thing to death, with a bunch of silly stipulations like you see with “zero tolerance” policies in schools. I’m talking about some straight talk about what acceptable and unacceptable retribution looks like. Ramming somebody in the deck lid on a cool down lap, a la Kyle Busch, or a punch in the snoot a la Jimmy Spencer, that’ll fly. Punting a driver on a short track a la Matt Kenseth on David Gilliland, we won’t encourage or discourage it. Now- sending a driver into orbit at 180 miles per hour? Now you’re crossing a line, one that involves NASCAR looking at- on a case by case basis- the possibility of fines, suspensions, points penalties or even expulsion where necessary.

If you lay your personal biases for or against any driver aside for a moment, you then realize it is a complicated matter. Take the stupid wing off the car, and more than likely Keselowski is only taking a harder ride than the one he got courtesy of Denny Hamlin at Homestead in the Nationwide Series.

Though common sense isn’t all that common, it’s time for personal responsibility to make a come back. NASCAR said they were going to leave it up to the drivers, now it’s time to see if these boys can police themselves. If they can’t- they lose, we all lose in the long run. 

{ 13 comments }

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