Video: Edwards sends Keselowski airborne

UPDATE Brad Keselowski called for fellow Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards to be suspended for at least one race after Edwards wrecked him Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, said the governing body would take its time in examining all the facts before deciding what to do with Edwards, whose #99 Roush Fenway Ford was ordered to the garage after wrecking the #12 of Keselowski and sending it airborne on the frontstretch on Lap 323 of what was a scheduled 325-lap event. Pemberton and other NASCAR officials, including president Mike Helton, met with Edwards following Sunday's race — but Pemberton said they would discuss the incident further "internally" on Monday and Tuesday before announcing any additional penalties for Edwards by late Tuesday afternoon. "It looked like it could have been a payback from the #99 on the #12," Pemberton said. The two drivers got together earlier during Sunday's race when they bumped on Lap 41 and Edwards ended up getting shoved into the #20 Toyota of Joey Logano, effectively ruining both of their days. Keselowski, meanwhile, drove away from that incident and went on to put together a solid run for the day while Edwards spent much of the afternoon having his car repaired in the garage. Edwards returned to the track on Lap 190 after spending 150 laps in the garage, and appeared to purposely wreck Keselowski when Keselowski appeared headed for a top-five finish. "To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that's not cool," Keselowski said. "You could have killed someone in the grandstands. I know that it's a little ironic that it's me saying that, but at least I didn't do it intentionally [when it happened at Talladega]. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball. If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands. It's not cool to wreck someone at 195 mph." Pemberton indicated that Edwards more or less admitted in the post-race meeting with NASCAR officials that he intended to wreck Keselowski, but that he did not mean to send him airborne. Keselowski's car ended up landing upside down, nearly crushing in the driver's side of the roof, and was completely destroyed in the aftermath. Keselowski was shaken up after the wreck and needed assistance getting removed from the car, but eventually was cleared at the AMS infield care center. "Carl said he got into him; he said he didn't expect the result," Pemberton said. Earlier, Edwards spoke briefly with the media and attempted to explain his thinking. "Brad knows the deal between him and I," Edwards said. "The scary part was his car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected. At the end of the day, we're out here to race and people have to have respect for one another and I have a lot of respect for people's safety. I wish it wouldn't have gone like it did, but I'm glad he's OK and we'll just go on and race some more and maybe him and I won't get in any more incidents together. That would be the best thing." Keselowski told reporters that he believed Edwards took "three swipes" at him before connecting, and that Edwards deserves to be suspended for at least one race. He also defended what had occurred during their first incident Sunday. "He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted; I couldn't lift fast enough for him," Keselowski said. "I lifted for him to let him in, but I was there. I don't know what more you can do. "[Keep the] car low, that's what they say. So I was underneath him, tried to cut him a break. It was too late, though; he turned down. I apologized to him, but there was nothing that I could do in that situation." NASCAR.com

03/07/10 Carl Edwards retaliates from earlier contact sending Brad Keselowski flipping down the track in Atlanta. Edwards admitted he took Kesolowski out as retaliation for an earlier bumping incident and you can see his hands turn the wheel right, sending Kesolowski spinning and flipping. As you can see from the video Keselowski’s car got airborne. Had it landed in the grandstands and injured and killed people, lawsuits would have flown and Edwards career would be over. NASCAR parked Edwards immediately, but he should be parked for the year.