At the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour earlier this year, Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton indicated they would give drivers more leeway on the racetrack.

“We will say boys, have at it and have a good time.”

The incident on [...]]]>

Image by Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway via Flickr

At the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour earlier this year, Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton indicated they would give drivers more leeway on the racetrack.

“We will say boys, have at it and have a good time.”

The incident on Sunday between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski was probably not what he had in mind.

It began on lap 40 when Edwards was tapped by Keselowski on the restart sending Edwards up the track, into Joey Logano and into the wall.

Late in the race on lap 323, Carl Edwards, who was over 100 laps down, hit Keselowski sending him into the wall. Keselowski bounced off the wall, went airborne and onto his roof. This dramatically ended Brad’s day and his shot at a sixth place finish.

The shaken Keselowski was helped from his car and eventually cleared by the infield care center.

At first, Carl didn’t come right out and admit that the hit was intentional but he later made the following statement on his Facebook Fan Page.
“My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me with no regard for anyone’s safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait ’til Bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked away. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine.”

Not surprisingly, Keselowski has a different point of view.

“To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that’s not cool,” he 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 worse, Edwards probably only meant to cause Keselowski to spin out. He obviously didn’t anticipate that he would send him flying through the air. But does this relieve him of responsibility for his actions?

NASCAR now finds itself in a difficult position. Where do they draw the line between aggressive driving and blatant retaliation? Do they let this continue until someone gets hurt or worse?

After the accident, Edwards was immediately black-flagged by NASCAR and called into the hauler.  Robin Pemberton, Vice President of Competition, said there would be no announcement of any possible penalties until Monday or Tuesday.

NASCAR is right to take some time to consider their options carefully. This decision may very well set the tone for the remainder of this racing season.

He arrived at the speedway to begin a two step process that would give him the opportunity to race in the Toyota All [...]]]>

Sergio Pena, driving for Revolution Racing and the Drive for Diversity program, made the most of his first start at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, California this weekend.

He arrived at the speedway to begin a two step process that would give him the opportunity to race in the Toyota All Star Showdown.

First he had to earn his way into the event by competing in a qualifying race with his three teammates Thursday evening. He won easily making him eligible to qualify for the Showdown.

The next step for the 16 year old rookie from Virginia came on Friday when he would have to qualify for the chance to compete. He not only qualified but surprised everyone with an outstanding run, capturing the pole position. Joey Logano, 2009 Sprint Cup driver rookie of the year, qualified in second spot.

Saturday night the race began with Sergio Pena leading the first lap. Throughout the race the two drivers battled side by side, swapping the lead. Pena drove an almost flawless race keeping fans on the edge of their seats.

Pena raced with a competitiveness and confidence well beyond his years.  However, his inexperience showed on restarts and the veteran Logano used it to his advantage, winning the race while Pena finished second.

In Victory Lane, the reporters gathered around Joey Logano but all anyone wanted to talk about was Sergio Pena.

After the race, Logano gave his impression of the rookie driver.

“Initially on the restarts, it was easy to beat Pena and I didn’t have to do nothing,” Logano said.  “But as I kept going I had to pull out all my tricks and try to find a little bit here and there to get him on the restarts.”

Pena’s second place finish is even more amazing when you consider the fact that most of his previous racing experience has been in the karting and open wheel arenas. His background also includes racing late models where he won six races in his first year as well as receiving the rookie of the year award at Shenandoah Speedway in Virginia.

His career in stock career racing was jump started when he participated in the Drive for Diversity Combine in October 2009.  His performance earned him the opportunity to be invited back for further testing under the newly formed Revolution Racing banner later in the year.

After this weekend, the young rookie has undoubtedly taken a huge leap forward in his stock car racing career and captured the attention of the NASCAR community.

“This has been a dream come true, this whole weekend,” Pena said.  “I’m going to carry this over for the rest of the season and for more seasons to come.  This is a good beginning and I just hope it doesn’t slow down at all.”

“Taking second place from Joey Logano is good for me any day.”