nascarfrontpage.com

By now, we’ve all seen the incident between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at Gateway International Raceway at the end of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.

Member 2putt has posted a poll asking what, if anything, should be Carl’s penalty for wrecking Brad?

25 points

50 points

100-150 points

100 points and a one race suspension

No penalty; he did nothing wrong

Follow the link to cast your vote and post your comments!

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BOB POCKGRASS
SCENEDAILY.COM

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – At the Dodge headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., six people work full-time on motorsports and another 30 or more have a hand in the motorsports programs.

One of the 129 engine dynamometers is dedicated to racing and there’s a $38 million wind tunnel built in 2002 that Penske Racing can use to test its cars.

That, and an undisclosed amount of cash, is enough to keep Roger Penske happy with Dodge’s contribution to his race team.

And Penske has two Sprint Cup wins and an all-star race victory this year by Kurt Busch, three Nationwide Series wins by Brad Keselowski and one by Justin Allgaier, which is enough to keep Dodge interested in NASCAR.

The reliance on manufacturer involvement is heavy in NASCAR, and Dodge executives and Penske invited media last week to Dodge’s technical center to show the investment they have in each other.

Ralph Gilles, who took over as Dodge chief executive officer eight months ago, was more a sports-car aficionado when he took the job. He records races and watches them regularly. He has gone to the infields of Daytona and Talladega to learn more about the NASCAR fan. He also has spearheaded the development of a Dodge Motorsports website to generate interest in Dodge vehicles from race fans.

Is he sold on NASCAR?

“I know we’re spending the least we’ve ever spent and we’re getting the most we’ve ever gotten,” Gilles said Thursday during the media visit. “We’re paying attention differently. We’re using social media more than ever before, we’re activating the events in a different away. We’re doing things to leverage what we’re already investing instead of just going racing.

“It’s a multiyear deal [with Penske]. I have a couple of years to figure that out. I’m not going to say right here in the media [about the future]. I’m sold on 2010. We’re very pleased with 2010.”

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JAYSKI.COM

Reports: Pennzoil/Shell to leave RCR…to Penske?: Shell/Pennzoil is expected to leave Richard Childress Racing and driver #29-Kevin Harvick at the end of the season and will sponsor a car at Penske Racing  likely for 2004 Sprint Cup champion #2-Kurt Busch  beginning in 2011, according to sources familiar with the situation. An announcement concerning the Shell/Pennzoil sponsorship is expected to come Wednesday. According to sources, the leading candidate for the Pennzoil sponsorship is Busch, whose contract with Penske runs out at the end of this year but team owner Roger Penske has said he planned to pick up the option and just needed to negotiate terms with Busch. Busch’s current sponsor, Miller Lite, could move to #12-Brad Keselowski, whose car does not have sponsor logos but gets support from Verizon, which cannot be on the hood of a Sprint Cup car because of Sprint’s sponsorship of the series. With Shell/Pennzoil as a sponsor, that means that Mobil likely is going away since Mobil and Shell are competitors. Mobil sponsors Penske Cup driver #77-Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time Indy Racing League champion who has competed in Sprint Cup since 2008. Shell/Pennzoil has been with Harvick since 2007, while Busch has been the Miller Lite driver since 2006 [and Miller has been with Penske since 1991]. The departure of Shell/Pennzoil from RCR leaves that organization looking for a sponsor. Harvick’s contract expires at the end of this year. Team and sponsor representatives did not immediately return messages seeking comment (SceneDaily)

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Jenna Fryer
Associated Press

“That will be my question when I meet with them,” Keselowski said when asked what “have at it” means. “That’s something that we’re all trying to understand and it sounds like it is somewhat of a work in progress.”

Keselowski has been unbowed by criticism from veteran drivers, who have publicly complained he’s too aggressive, makes too many enemies and is unrepentant for his on-track actions. That hasn’t changed in the fallout after the Edwards accident, and he chose “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as his song for driver introductions before Sunday’s race.

“If you watch the Nationwide races, there’s a long list starting with Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards and there’s just like an overall brewing of thought and discussion in the garage area,” four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson said of Keselowski. “I think some of it has to do with when you come into the sport, especially at the top level as a rookie, if you like it or not, you’re going to take a few lumps before you’re given that opportunity to pass some out.

“And I believe he’s come in and has passed out more bumps than he’s taken.”

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Jeff Gluck
sbnation.com

The man who gave Brad Keselowski his big break in NASCAR won’t offer any advice but indicated the young driver still has a lot to learn.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Keselowski – his former protégé at JR Motorsports – has “an awesome amount of talent and a terrible amount of confidence.”

“It’s been working for him and he doesn’t see any reason to change,” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday after qualifying at Bristol. “Everybody has to change some and he’ll learn at his own pace. And that’s what he’s doing.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he hadn’t spoken to Keselowski about the Carl Edwards incident at Atlanta other than to express his relief that his friend emerged unscathed after the now-infamous wreck.

“That wreck scared the shit out of me,” he said. “Knowing Brad as good as I do, you don’t like seeing guys involved in terrible accidents. I told him I was glad that he was OK. I never tried to tell Brad what to do when he drove our cars; no point in me trying to tell him now.

“He’ll have plenty of advice from everyone else, it looks like.”

Earnhardt Jr. said that like anyone who enters the sport, (Keselowski is not technically a rookie but is in his first full season), the Penske Racing driver will discover he doesn’t know it all.

“Everybody does it differently,” he said. “Brad really has a lot of talent. … He’s just overzealous to prove it and to be there in front every week where he thinks he needs to be. It’ll all be OK.

“He’ll get to learn a lot of lessons in his rookie season – every rookie does – and he’ll probably be glad to tell you guys all about it at the end of the season. And I’m sure his tune will be just slightly different than it is right now.”

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Eddie Gossage
President of Texas Motor Speedway
espn.com

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage hesitated to go with this ad campaign, but NASCAR’s decision to not suspend Carl Edwards helped him to make his final decision.

“Have at it, boys.”

NASCAR said those words in a January press conference. While we knew it would change racing no one thought it would occur in such a spectacular manner in only the season’s fourth race.

Remember: The old-school way in NASCAR is to defend yourself. Sometimes it’s immediate, sometimes it’s on the track, and sometimes it’s off the track. It has been going on for decades. Both of these guys know and embrace “old school.”

After finding out that, fortunately, nobody was injured, thoughts immediately turned to — what else? — promotion. We’ve riled some people up over the years with some of our advertising. That’s typically a very good thing in advertising and marketing.

But understanding the sensitivity of this terrifying accident and recognizing the potential injuries — or worse — that could have occurred, how do you use this incident in promotion without going over the line?

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By David Newton
ESPN.com

It is the last day of school and everybody is excited about getting out for the summer — except for one shy eighth-grade boy. He is nervous, having been told by a group of kids they are going to “get [him]” on his two-block walk home.

So he goes to one of his teachers with whom he has worked closely as a student assistant and they successfully devise a plan to sneak him out.

“He always was the square peg in a round hole,” said the teacher, Christine Owoc, now retired. “He was the one that always got bullied, who always got picked on.”

Flash forward. The now 26-year-old kid is driving a Sprint Cup car at more than 190 mph down the frontstretch at Atlanta Motor Speedway when a fellow competitor clips him from behind. That picked-on kid spins and goes airborne, the car landing on its top so violently it bends the roll cage.

The competitor makes no secret it was deliberate, that he was trying to send a message. Many of his fellow competitors agree it was well deserved because of the problems the kid has caused others in the past year.

The kid still feels picked on.

You’ve probably figured out that the kid is Brad Keselowski. This piece starts in middle school because that is where the driver of Penske Racing’s No. 12 Dodge suggested prior to the 2010 season was the best place to find out what makes him tick.

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Jay Busbee
Yahoo Sports

Imagine for a second if it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. flying through the evening Atlanta air Sunday night instead of Brad Keselowski.

Imagine if it was a start-and-parker who sent Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson airborne with a deliberate tap to the bumper.

Still think we’d be talking about a three-race probation?

When NASCAR handed down its penalty for Edwards on Tuesday — three races of probation, the equivalent of being told “I’ll let you go this time, but next time, mister, next time … ” — reaction was immediate and split right down the middle. Some fans and media indicated they were satisfied with the punishment (particularly the media who made sure to pat themselves on the back at how right they were in guessing the sentencing). Others screamed that this was far too weak of a punishment for such a violent act of retaliation.

But those were the fans. Let’s look at some of the drivers’ reactions, via Twitter (all responses sic’d]:

• Robby Gordon: Just heard the news. I wonder what would of happened to me in that situation? Hmmm someone playing favorites? :)

• Kevin Harvick: huh! suprised by the penalty lack there of … i’m thinkging about asking for a refund for all of my penalties!!!!

• Kyle Busch (responding to Harvick): Me too! Let me kno how that goes. Lmao.

• Regan Smith: Gotta say I think NASCAR handled the situation the right way, glad 2 c they ackowledged the car getting airborne is the biggest issue

• Kyle Petty: For me I am deeply saddened by the decision that #NASCAR made on this issue. I love this Business,will always support it, but not this…

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Holly Cain
fanhouse.com

While the verdict is still out from NASCAR officials on whether to penalize Carl Edwards for a dangerous retaliatory crash he caused late in Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, there has been plenty of judgment rendered elsewhere.

Opinions have varied from those calling for Edwards’ suspension to others shrugging off the whole matter with a wink-wink, “boys will be boys.”

On the far extremes, fan reaction on FanHouse has ranged from calls for this to be considered a criminal matter to those who think Edwards’ target, the young driver Brad Keselowski, “had it coming.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who fielded a car for Keselowski in the Nationwide Series the past two seasons, said he didn’t see what happened but was glad Keselowski wasn’t injured.

“What happened there is between them,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve got nothing to do with that.”

Third-place finisher Juan Pablo Montoya didn’t witness the accident either but didn’t sound entirely surprised it happened either. Last year, he even suggested that Keselowski’s team would be well-advised to bring older cars to the track.

“I said that last year because he wrecked a lot of people,” Montoya said. “I’m sure a lot of people wanted to pay him back. And looking at the TV, somebody did.”

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NFP Member: 2putt
nascarfrontpage.com

How do you believe NASCAR should handle Carl Edwards’ admitted intentional wrecking of Brad Keselowski during the Cobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

NFP member 2putt has set up a poll and you’re invited to vote and share your opinions.

Click here to visit the forum and share your thoughts.