Carl Edwards in his car before practice for the Kobalt Tools 500 race on Sunday in Atlanta. A crash early in the race caused by Keselowski sent Edwards up into the wall, wrecking Joey Logano. Later, Edwards and Kesolowski faced off again, this time causing Kes to go airborne and his car to come down on its roof. (Photo: Associated Press)
HAMPTON, Ga. - Forty laps into Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500, three fairly prominent drivers - Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski -- were in a crash that was particularly costly for Edwards and Logano.
It wasn't costly for Keselowski, whose Dodge made contact with Edwards' Ford, which in turn sent the No. 99 skidding up the banking into Logano's Toyota.
"I thought he (Keselowski) would give me just a little bit of room, and he didn't, and we ended up overlapping," said Edwards, who was charitable. "I know Brad has made his career on being super-aggressive.
"We both had a part in it, and it'snot his fault, but it's just a little too aggressive, overall, I think, for that early in a race, and it caused us to wreck."
It wasn't over, though.
While Kurt Busch was attempting to hold off Juan Montoya for the victory, on lap 322, Edwards apparently picked a dangerous moment for a payback. His nudge of Keselowski's Dodge sent it tumbling in front of the front-straight grandstands.
The irony, of course, is that the roles were reversed at Talladega almost a year ago, when Keselowski claimed his only Sprint Cup victory to date by touching off a crash that sent Edwards' Ford into a spectacular series of flips. NASCAR officials parked Edwards' car shortly thereafter.
Keselowski opined, referring to Talladega, "At least I didn't do it intentionally," and called it "a wild ride that was uncalled for."
Edwards didn't apologize for the crash, per se, but just said he was sorry at how it turned out.
"The scary part was that the car went airborne, which wasn't what I expected," he said.
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LATEST DISASTER==Struggling driver-owner Robby Gordon has seldom, if ever, "started and parked," but the depiction is sort of academic where Gordon's season to date is concerned.
Gordon crashed, apparently as a result of tire breakdown, on the fourth lap of the Kobalt Tools 500. Gordon completed 207 of the 208 laps in the Daytona (alleged) 500, finishing 28th. He then placed 33rd at Auto Club Speedway, retiring due to "overheating." Gordon was 32nd in Las Vegas, finishing five laps down.
Fox's Mike Joy made reference to "Robby's star-crossed year," but it's far beyond a mere run of bad luck. Gordon has one top-20 finish in his last 28 races.
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AS THE LAPS TURN--Other potential contenders faded into oblivion early, as well. For pole winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was an unscheduled pit stop For Mark Martin, it was a spin through the trioval grass on lap 115. For Jeff Gordon, it was a pit-road speeding penalty at lap 158.
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WHATEVER IT TAKES--On lap 226, after a search of the front straight that would've made Homeland Security proud, a safety crew actually found a very small chunk of something on the front straight that might have been debris.
The search blunted a Kasey Kahne lead of nearly eight seconds.