Notebook: Edwards defends himself

            BRISTOL, Tenn. – For now, all is sweetness and light.

            Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski – not to mention owners Jack Roush and Roger Penske -- came out of a meeting with NASCAR officials speaking of a new understanding between them.

            Edwards, who got off with a wrist slap after intentionally wrecking Keselowski on March 7 at Atlanta, defended himself by saying once again that he never intended for his retaliatory move to turn Keselowski’s Dodge upside down during the late stages of the Kobalt Tools 500.

“It’s very hard for people to understand that the result is far different from the intent,” said Edwards. “Things can be presented in a lot of ways, but I guess that’s just part of it. What’s most interesting to me is that sometimes it’s about selling ad time or newspapers and it’s not about explaining the story.”

            Asked about the alleged anger issues that have been raised in relation to his behavior in the past, Edwards said, “It’s real easy to stand back and throw stones at someone, and make little chirps, and say things that make you feel better about yourself, but, in the end, what I said (Friday) holds true.

“The people who know me know that I’m a very fair person. I guess if my biggest fault is standing up for myself, I’ll take it. They can fault me all day for that.”

Said Penske, “The guys agreed that they’re going to race hard. They’re going to race fair and give themselves some room on the track so that we don’t become the poster boys every weekend for what’s happening.”

Precious memories – Juan Montoya recalled his own feud with Tony Stewart, with whom he exchanged blows in the 2009 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Making reference to the Edwards-Keselowski spat, Montoya said, “It's the same thing. He came up on me when I had a hell of a run, and I push him down the straight and he didn't like it. Then he hit me and ran me up into the fence and I just got him back, you know? He knew it was coming.

“When you do that to somebody and you expect that they don't get you back, you're dreaming; especially when you've got a bumper.”

            It works … sorta – Jeff Burton disputed the notion that the Atlanta incident discredits the NASCAR attempt to stay out of driver spats and let them decide the issue for themselves.

            The policy isn’t absolute, Burton said.

“I’m OK with the sport self-policing,” he added. “I’m OK with that. I think one of the coolest things about our sport is that every lap at every race track, someone could spin somebody out to take the position. The truth of the matter is the reason that doesn’t happen is because you know that if you do that, it’s going to get done to you. The sport really self-polices itself anyway.

            According to Burton, NASCAR president Mike Helton told him “… there would be a line that we could cross, and they’ll handle it. And we have to have that.”

            In the long run – Greg Biffle recalled a time when he made veteran driver Sterling Marlin mad.

“He (Marlin) said, ‘The car is only 16 feet long. All you’ve got to do

is get out of the throttle for that much time and let a guy in line.’ I was racing like you race a late model car,” said Biffle. “You race every lap, because the race is only 30 laps long. Well, a Cup race is 500 miles (laps here) and the moral of the story was, like Mark Martin, if a guy shows up in your mirror from a straightaway back, he’s probably faster than youand you’re probably not going to race him like the devil for the next 450 laps.

“You’ve got six more pit stops and a long time to give the guy a break and get racing. That’s the best criticism I’ve taken from a veteran guy, and I consider a veteran like Mark Martin or somebody like that. It’s funny they say veteran and Carl and I have been in the sport the same amount of time. I don’t consider myself too much (a veteran).”

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.