Payback Is A B*tch..But So Is Karma

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 3 Comments

How quickly can someone move from sympathetic good guy..to colossal jackass? Well just ask Carl Edwards (#99 in Sprint Cup racing). Carl has a great deal going for him; he is young, good looking, graces the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine regularly, once had a recurring role on the series 24, has a brand new baby, and really tries to portray the ah shucks (Eddie Haskell) persona when speaking to the media (oh yeah..he is also a pretty good race car driver). I say “when speaking to the media”, because I believe he doesn’t quite have that same reputation with fellow drivers, and the reason for that was on display this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Early on in the race, Carl got into a little bump-em-up with Brad Keselowski, and ended up sitting in the garage for some 150 laps while his car was being pieced back together. Now Brad is a Carl starter kit..young, good looking, strong racer, and in good position for a promising career. However, also like Carl, he doesn’t have the best reputation amongst other drivers. He is a really brash rookie, more than willing to put someone in the wall when it suits him. So…a couple of disclaimers (as I can see PGTerrill’s head about to explode). All good drivers have the knack of “moving” other cars out of their way, and won’t hesitate to do it when push comes to shove. The difference here is that Brad 1) Is a rookie; 2) Doesn’t have an on/off switch for such driving. He will wreck you on lap 20, just as quickly as on lap 200.

True to form, Carl says all the right things to the media…Geeze louise, I sure thought that was deliberate..but watching the replay it doesn’t look that malicious (or something to that effect). And the race goes on..with Brad actually up in the top 10 or so with virtually no laps left. The fandom will surely be siding with Carl after the race, afterall, the young rookie wrecked ol’ Cousin Carl..and went on to score a good finish..poor Carl.

So now we have Carl’s dilemma…once he get’s back on the track (with very little to gain by being out there)…what does he do? He could choose to finish out the race as a non-factor and pay the kid back in a couple week (where it is expected to rub a bit more..given a slower more physical track). NOPE…in a “what were you thinking?” moment, Carl takes not 1 BUT 2 runs at wrecking a top 10 car (so obvious that the camera shows his shiny white gloves jerking the steering wheel to the right each time). The second time, he got what he was looking for (kinda). Unfortunately for Carl, unlike his wreck, Brad ends up flying through the air, upside down and smashing into the wall. RED Flag….safety crews rushing to the scene, Brad comes over the radio “I don’t know if I am ok or not”..and the crowd holds their breath, consider the sympathetic figure now reversed.

NASCAR promptly invites Carl to park his car and visit the principal’s office for a thorough tongue lashing, as Brad, in a dazed stumble, jumps into the back of an ambulance for the mandatory ride to the infield care center. As he is being ushered to the woodshed, Carl continues to display his ass-ness, by rationalizing that Brad knows how they race and if that is how it is going to be, then that is fine…oh but I didn’t plan for him to fly through the air..and I am glad he walked away. CARL…YOU FREAKIN’ MORON….SHUT UP!!! Dude..in two weeks you have a perfect track for payback…hell it is why they practically built the damn track..and you can’t hold your tongue any more than that……what is wrong with you!?! To be clear, this type of thing happens all the time..but as most veteran drivers will tell you..there is a place and time for payback. Atlanta Motor Speedway (where they regularly reach over 200 miles per hour) when you are a non-factor in a race AND where your enemy is a top ten car just isn’t it.

This should make for great theater in a couple of weeks in Bristol…something tells me NASCAR is going to tell both these gentlemen that if they so much as think about racing the other in something other than a gentlemanly fashion, they will find themselves in a world of trouble. I guess time will tell.

~Cheers

PGBryan

Comments

3 Responses to “Payback Is A B*tch..But So Is Karma”

Klobetime
March 8th, 2010 @ 11:48

Payback is common on the track, but knocking out a top 10 car so close to the end puts a bullseye on Carl for the rest of the season that I sure wouldn’t want. If Brad hadn’t flipped (or hadn’t flipped Carl last year) I suspect the press might be slightly different today though. On-track feuds are interesting as long as cars aren’t flying through the air!

I will be interested in seeing how NASCAR responds. Reminds me of the “fighting in NHL” debate.
Jorge S.
March 8th, 2010 @ 14:51

So NASCAR wanted to put racing back in the hands of the drivers? Well they go it. Carl did to Brad what Brad did to Carl last year, flip in the air included. It might have been a prick move, but it definitely sent a message. Carl might “be the nice guy” but now he has something to point to should there be future incidents. It’s the big dog nipping at the small dog. I like Carl, and I think he’s a good driver. He chose to play a hand and it went further than he was expecting. So far it seems like he’s taking the full credit/blame by his own words so kudos to him for manning up, being honest, and taking whatever punishment gets handed out.
Bryan
March 8th, 2010 @ 15:13

Jorge..I agree, NASCAR wanted it back in the drivers hands, but the plea from the drivers was always that they would “police themselves”. Now you could rationalize that was exactly what Edwards was doing…BUT I think most drivers would tell you that Atlanta Motor Speedway wasn’t the place to be doing that kind of policing. If it would have happened at Bristol in two weeks, everyone would have smirked and muttered under their breath that he got what was coming to him..but not going 200 mph..and not when the only reason you are out there is CLEARLY to wreck the other guy. Be a man..do it in the heat of battle when you both have something to lose, not when you really have nothing to lose and they have everything…that is chicken sh*t. -PGB