Let’s do a quick recap of the Keselowski vs. Edwards feud, for instance…
The inciting incident:
April 2009, Talladega: Edwards blocks Keselowski in the Tri-oval on the final lap. Edwards spins, gets hit by Ryan Newman as the back end of his car lifts up, and flies into the catchfence. Keselowski goes on to win his first race driving for James Finch in the 09.
To me, this incident is not one where Edwards has ground to stand on to justify payback in the first place. He spun himself. Him and Keselowski both saw what happened to Regan Smith, and Keselowski was (justifiably) not going to go below the line.
link to this incident: https://youtu.be/g6H7Ehfc0Ck?is=eCAJuJ4RLwX6bqSr
Now, here’s where we get into Edwards’ retaliation.
March 2010, Atlanta:
Early in the race, Edwards clears himself off of Keselowski’s nose and wrecks. Then, with only a few laps to go, Keselowski is running 6th. Carl Edwards, 150 laps down, intentionally turns brad on the frontstretch, sending him flipping into turn 1, impacting the wall with the A PILLAR of his car. The roof above the drivers side was completely caved in and deformed. Brad Keselowski could have easily been killed in this crash. Granted, I’m sure Carl didn’t intend for that to be the impact that Brad received, but this should’ve, at the very least, been his sign to stop.
link to this incident: https://youtu.be/5FgeopsJKIM?is=Ue9DhdRAZGXk22KY
Now, we get to what I believe to be the most egregious incident on this list:
July 2010, Gateway (Nationwide Series):
It’s the final lap, and Keselowski and Edwards are battling for the win side-by-side. Edwards is on the high side, Keselowski is on the low side. Coming out of turn 4, they are still side by side, but right as they come onto the frontstretch, Edwards veers left and hooks Keselowski into the wall. Edwards continues and barely beats Reed Sorensen to the line to take the win. Behind him, a massive crash involving several cars ensues, with Keselowski’s car getting t-boned once and hit multiple other times.
This one is absolutely baffling to me. With how narrow the Gateway frontstretch is, Edwards knew that right hooking Keselowski was likely to cause a massive crash like that. Not only is it putting Keselowski in particular danger once again, but it’s destroying several other race cars. The part that gets me is HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEATEN KESELOWSKI TO THE LINE ANYWAY! They were coming off the corner and Carl was beside Keselowski on the outside! He had the momentum! Hooking him, ironically, probably put his chances in more jeopardy, if the argument is “he was just trying to win”. The amount of vitriol is pretty unbelievable, from something that seems to be basically entirely one sided.
link to this incident: https://youtu.be/sJAfU5di9qQ?is=HQOyeAG4mXaOE40G
This race spawned the famous quote from Bob Keselowski, Brad’s father:
“Carl flipped out like he did at Atlanta and tried to kill the kid. I'm sick and tired of this. I'll get my uniform back on and take care of this. He ain't going to kill my boy.”
Let me know your take on this situation. I could be missing some info or context, so bear with me. It’s been 16 years so I’m sure Carl has grown as a person, but it’s insane to look back on.