Edwards Gets a Mere Slap on the Helmet

The much-awaited news came from the mustachioed lips of Mike Helton this afternoon - Carl Edwards will race at Bristol.  He'll be put on three weeks probation and he will not be docked dollars or points.

Not bad for a cheap shot that could have killed a fellow driver or a fan in the grandstands.

I realize Edwards didn't mean to send Brad Keselowski hurtling through the dirty air of Atlanta, but he did mean to hit him.  And he meant to hit him hard, and at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour to boot. 

Edwards is smart enough to know that the No. 12 car would do more than a graceful spin through the infield turf.  He was just too mad to care.

I've been a fan of Edwards for a while now, but his lapse of judgment on Sunday should have warranted more than a slap on the helmet.  And it's not the first time the driver of the No. 99 car has exhibited judgment of a questionable nature.  His attempt to fight Kevin Harvick in the Nationwide garage following Edwards' 2008 Talladega fiasco comes first to mind.  Then there was the dustup at Michigan with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2006.

So now Edwards is on probation and the boys in the hauler will be watching him like a hawk.  But he hasn't really been punished (unless you count the meeting he'll be forced to sit through with Keselowski and NASCAR before Bristol).

Let's just hope Cousin Carl doesn't retaliate in haste the next time he gets hot under the collar.