Update on this thing

I have really neglected to update this thing over the past month. I have viewed this blog, but haven't made any updates to it until now. And a lot has happened in the world of racing since the last post in February.

First off, Carl Edwards is in the middle of a three-race probation for intentionally sending Brad Keselowski airborne and onto his roof at Atlanta earlier in March. Many, myself included, felt that Edwards should have been suspended for his reprehensible actions, but was only given a slap on the wrist (three-race probation) by NASCAR. No fine, no suspension. It's one thing for NASCAR to stick to their new policy of letting the drivers police themselves and settle scores on the track, but Carl went way too far, and NASCAR should have really put their foot down in the name of safety.

These two did have beefs with each other as they've had on-track run-ins in the past, most notably at Talladega last year when Keselowski spun and sent Edwards flying into the catch fence, as Keselowski went on to the win that day. Earlier in the Kobalt Tools 500, Keselowski made slight contact with Edwards, sending him into the wall along with Joey Logano. Edwards spent 155 laps behind the wall making repairs, and after returning to the track, blatantly spun out Keselowski heading down the frontstretch and sent Keselowski's Dodge airborne and landing hard on his roof. After looking at television replays, the eagle eyes of Fox Sports analyst Larry McReynolds saw Edwards' white gloves made a turn to the right, which led to NASCAR parking Edwards for the rest of the race. Two weeks later at Bristol, NASCAR met with both Edwards and Keselowski and it looks as if they've buried the hatchet. They were seen leaving the NASCAR trailer together after their talk with officials and both drivers seem to be on good terms.

But it seems like Edwards and Kevin Harvick still aren't on good terms stemming from a crash at Talladega during the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Edwards was worried that an idiot would spark a huge wreck that would eliminate many key Chase contenders, and it turns out that it was Edwards that would spark the wreck that would eliminate himself, Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. from the race. Harvick and Edwards even got into a fight in the garage area at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Harvick appearing to get the upper hand. Neither driver was penalized for their altercation.

Going back to Bristol, the crash in the Legends Late Model race at Bristol (which followed the NASCAR Nationwide race) was a pretty scary sight to look at as Larry Pearson spun in turn two and struck square in the driver's side door by Charlie Glotzbach. Personally, I was worried that both drivers were critically injured, with Larry injured worse because honestly, an impact like that can really hurt a driver, even with fatal results. Glotzbach was able to walk away, but had to go to the hospital for precautionary reasons as he exited the car wearing an oxygen mask. Pearson on the other hand, was (thankfully) not seriously injured, but did suffer a broken hip, broken right hand, and broken left ankle. The crash was so bad it prompted David Pearson, the 1976 Daytona 500 winner and father of Larry, to withdraw from the race to check up on Larry's condition.

The Food City 500 the next day was an otherwise average race dominated by Kurt Busch, fresh off his win at Atlanta two weeks before. But it was Jimmie Johnson who captured the victory (he has also won at California and Las Vegas). Another thing of note was it was the last Sprint Cup race with the awkward-looking wing.

I'll talk about Denny Hamlin's crazy rally at Martinsville, the hot start in the Izod Indycar Series by Will Power, Michael Schumacher's return to Formula One, and four-wide NHRA drag racing at Charlotte later this week.