Carl Edwards: "We'll race like this until we kill someone"

Quote :

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Fresh off a flip - inside his car - into the Talladega Superspeedway fence while racing for the win at Talladega Superspeedway, Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards sprinted across the finish line on foot. He then refused to blame Brad Keselowski for the contact between the pair that led to the crash as they charged to the checkered flag in Sunday's Aaron's 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, instead saying that NASCAR's rules are going to cause an injury on this restrictor-plate track.

Keselowski ended up racing to the win while Edwards was left with a shattered, burning car.

After being treated at the care center, Edwards said that he didn't lay blame for the crash on Keselowski, but rather on the NASCAR rule that requires drivers to complete passes inside of the yellow line that signifies out of bounds.

"Brad was pushing, he’s doing everything he can," Edwards said. "I saw him go high. I went high. He goes low right here and I didn’t realize he got that far, so I went low to block a little bit and he was already there, so I turned around backwards. At this point I’m thinking, ‘Boy, I wish this made out of liquid gel material,’ and then I’m very fortunate we hit the wall in a way it didn’t crush my roll cage down on my neck because that would have been a lot worse.

"NASCAR just puts us in this box. Brad did a great job. Congrats to him on the win, but they put us in this box and we’ll race like this until we kill somebody and then they’ll change it, but I’m just glad nobody got hurt today. I’m glad the car didn’t go up in the grandstands and hurt somebody. "

Edwards said the Keselowski, who earned his first career Sprint Cup win, was simply doing what he is "supposed to do."

"He’s assuming that I know he’s inside," Edwards said. "He was so quick that I didn’t know he was inside."

The issue was complicated by last fall's race at the track, where in a similar situation Regan Smith moved low to avoid Tony Stewart and crossed the finish line in the lead. He was subsequently penalized for passing below the yellow line - taboo at this track - and finished 18th with Stewart handed the win.

"We saw what happened to Regan Smith, you can’t go down below the yellow line or you lose the race, so he’s winning and I was doing everything I could to keep him from winning," Edwards said. "I’m glad I’m all right. This [running to the line], I didn’t know if it mattered if I went across the finish line, but I just wanted to finish the race.”

Edwards said the hit was pretty hard. He'd never been inside a flipping car in a race and said that he was a little nervous about where he was going to end up.

He was concerned about what part of his car was going to hit the fence as well. The fence gave significantly with the impact and showed damage after the crash.

"It was just a little bit scary because I saw the ground and then I couldn’t tell exactly which part of the car I hit the wall with and I was real worried I hit the roll cage and I had to wait a minute to make sure that there wasn’t something stuck in me somewhere or something," Edwards said. "That’s a little nerve-racking to hit the wall with something other than the side of the race car. That’s the first time I’ve flipped in a race car. That’s it, so we got that out of the way.”

~Scene Daily~

There were 2 very scary wrecks this weekend with Matt and Carl!!

More quotes and debate about the yellow line rule...

Quote :

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Carl Edwards minced no words when he talked about the dangers of restrictor-plate racing minutes after his car flew into the frontstretch catchfence after he tried to block Brad Keselowski coming to the finish line of the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Keselowski went on to win the race while Edwards’ car ended in a demolished heap. Eight fans suffering injuries that weren’t life threatening, the most serious a woman with a face laceration and broken jaw after being hit either from debris from the car or the fence.

“I guess we’ll do this until somebody gets killed and then we’ll change it,” Edwards said. “But that’s the way it is. … I saw some fencing at one point and that made me a little bit nervous.

“I don’t know if I could live with myself if I ended up in the grandstands.”

At issue are two major aspects of the rules at Talladega – restrictor plates that reduce horsepower and create racing in packs and a rule that doesn’t allow the drivers to pass underneath the yellow line that separates the track from the apron. Last year in a similar situation, Regan Smith went below the yellow line to avoid Tony Stewart as Stewart blocked him. Smith then passed Stewart but got penalized for passing below the yellow line and Stewart won the race.

“NASCAR puts us in a box,” Edwards said. “If [Keselowski] drives below the line, he loses the race, so what’s a guy supposed to do? So you end up having to wreck people or having to get second and none of us want to do that.”

NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter disagreed with that dire assessment.

“I don’t think that’s the case – if there’s something we can do to minimize the risk, we will do it,” Hunter said.

Hunter also said he didn’t think the yellow-line rule played a major role in the accident.

“I think the drivers are the ones who have to answer that,” Hunter said. “They’re the ones in the seats. And I saw some replays, and the yellow line didn’t come into play from my perspective.”

Other drivers agreed with Hunter.

“I kind of like the yellow-line rule,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second. “I think that the drivers have begun to understand what it means. I think you can’t necessarily blame what happened at the finish of the race on the yellow-line rule. Guys have been running over each other for years.”

Michael Waltrip said the blame belongs on Edwards himself.

“Back in the day, if somebody was faster than you, you didn’t cut them off,” Waltrip said. “Nowadays you’ve got to fight for every inch. Don’t blame it on the yellow line, blame it on the two guys racing. It’s Carl’s fault.

“There was a time in history when you could protect your area, but those days are over. If you want to block, that’s fine. But be willing to pay the price. We went through this time when you respected each other. Now we’re more like daredevils.”

The yellow-line rule is to keep drivers from racing on the apron, which NASCAR doesn’t consider the racing surface on a restrictor-plate track, Hunter said. “It’s a boundary. It’s an out-of-bounds,” Hunter said.

Keselowski said that was thinking of the rule concerning the yellow line. But even if there was no yellow-line rule, it might not have mattered.

“The yellow line is there to prevent us from running underneath it, prevent us from being crazy,” Keselowski said. “But the bottom line is that is who we are – we’re all crazy race-car drivers and we’re going to run into each other. That yellow line could be six foot higher or six foot lower, and we’d run into each other.

“It’s a give-and-take sport. As the races go on, it’s a challenge of who’s going to lift and who’s not. … If the yellow line was not there, I would probably have gone underneath it, but he probably would have blocked me even lower and it probably would have been the same thing.”

While Keselowski was celebrating, others were just glad to be leaving Talladega.

“You just got a situation right there were a guy was going for the win and he’s going to try to block,” said Earnhardt Jr. crew chief Tony Eury Jr. “Luckily it didn’t happen last race here, but the guy didn’t win the race, either. That’s kind of the evil of that side of that.

“Hopefully none of the fans get hurt. It’s not fun. I’d rather run Richmond six times than come here.”

Hunter said he didn’t know what could be done to avoid that type of accident in this style of racing.

“Obviously if we thought there was a way, it’d be in play,” Hunter said. “We’ll have our accident investigators review this accident and see if there’s anything we can do to make it better.

“Thank goodness the restraining cables did what they were supposed to do. … Our accident investigators will spend quite a bit of time analyzing exactly what happened in this particular accident.”

Talladega Superspeedway President Rick Humphrey said he wouldn’t have to ask NASCAR about whether changes should be made to the rules for his track.

“I’m sure we will not have to go to NASCAR – I’m sure NASCAR and us will all get together to see if there’s anything that can be done,” Humphrey said. “What happened was very unfortunate, but NASCAR as well as the tracks try to work together to keep anybody from getting hurt and keep that from happening.”

Humphrey said it is important to learn from an accident such as this one.

“Automobile racing is dangerous, whether you’re racing here or anywhere,” Humphrey said. “When those guys strap into the race cars, it’s dangerous. Today’s situation was unfortunate and what we’ve got to do is learn from it.”

Carl's statement is the exact truth. It always takes something major for NASCAR to open their eyes.

Since they took Regan's win away last fall, this is what it had to come down to. A race to the checkered flag within the rules that resulted in Carl's car being all torn up.

Quote :

“I guess we’ll do this until somebody gets killed and then we’ll change it,” Edwards said.

Unfortunate but true. I'm not sure what the right answer is to this. Let's hope NASCAR figures it out soon.

From what I understood before and what I understand now is different about this double yellow line as opposed to Regan Smith/Tony Stewart deal

then I understood it as

If you were forced below the yellow line you were ok to pass



now- due to a pre race explanation

If you are forced below the yellow line and you pass u will be punished and if you are the forcer you maybe penalized.



If my new understanding is right then that wreck in 1 million percent NASCAR's fault. Not Brad's, not Carl's

Your understanding is correct.

NASCAR said that if you are forced below the yellow line and make a pass, you WILL be penalilzed.
The person who forced you down there in turn MAY be penalized.

Stupid rule.

wow

is that how it was for Regan Smith??? from what I knew it wasn't

I had never heard that "clarification" before this weekend, so I'm not sure.

well anyways this is an idiotic rule promoting life endangering wrecks

From my understanding of the rules with the Regan Smith/Tony Stewart deal .....

They could go below the yellow line (as long as they could see the flag stand) coming to the checkered flag. Then NASCAR seemed to change the rules and gave the pitty win to Tony. I remember many drivers being very confused about the rule. So Smith got screwed.

Stupid rule now. This was all NASCAR's doing

And since they took that win away from Regan, this time around at Talladega the driver racing for the win (Keselowski) held his line and look what happened. A spectacular crash that resulted in Carl's car being all torn up, and it could have hurt him! All the blame goes to NASCAR.

Just my 2 cents...

my understanding for the Retan was that you could go below if you were forced and that's the only reason

it could have hurt Carl, Ryan, and other drivers, BUT it DID hurt spectators.......... the reason for this wreck if I understand the rules correctly means 100% NASCAR's fault

imo they should be paying for 2 cars, new fence, and all doctor bills; atleast imo altho I know that never will happen