Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Jack Roush, Roger Penske all met this morning at Bristol Motor Speedway. Here’s what they had to say to the media afterwards.
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – HOW DID THINGS GO IN THE
MEETING? “Everything went really well. I think the biggest thing
coming out of that meeting is that now, I think, Brad and I understand
one another a little better. I think we’re gonna be able to just go
forward and go racing, and that’s what this is all about. It was
really cool to be able to talk with Jack and Roger and Brad all at
once. We laughed. We cried. In the end, I think it’s gonna be
good.”
WHAT HAS THIS WEEK BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? “This last week was
really good, actually, for me. I got to spend a lot of time at home,
but I guess this is just part of life and part of the way things go,
especially with the way the media works. Sometimes people don’t
understand everything that’s going on. It’s interesting, I’ll say
that.”
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WHAT DON’T PEOPLE UNDERSTAND? “Well, for instance, with what
happened at Atlanta. It’s very hard for people to understand that the
result is far different from the intent. 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.”
YOU HAVE SORT OF
BEEN PORTRAYED AS AN ANGRY GUY WHO GETS UPSET. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT
THAT? “I addressed that a little bit yesterday. I think some people
would like that to be the case, but let me put it this way – 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 yesterday 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.”
JACK ROUSH, Owner – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – WHAT WAS TALKED ABOUT
INSIDE? “The ultimate responsibility that we all have – that NASCAR
has, the owners have and the drivers have – to keep everybody safe in
this business. It’s a sport that needs to be contentious, but it
needs to be safe too and we’ve got to be careful to respect that
line.”
DO YOU FEEL THIS IS BEHIND BOTH DRIVERS? “Carl and Brad both
said things that would indicate that they’re willing to put it behind
them and let bygones be bygones, to give one another racing room, and
that’s what’s needed. They need to give one another a little extra
room for awhile.”
DO YOU AND ROGER SEE EYE TO EYE ON THIS? “Oh,
yeah. Roger and I are on the same page.”
WHAT DID YOU SAY TO CARL
REGARDING THIS SITUATION? “I told him I did not condone what he did,
but I did understand it.”
DO YOU THINK BRAD AND CARL SEE EYE TO EYE?
“No, but I think that they will give one another enough respect that
we won’t see another occurrence like that. I think Carl is not likely
to have incidental contact with Brad and cause a wreck, and I think
Brad is not like to have incidental contact with Carl and cause a
wreck in the foreseeable future.”
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ROGER PENSKE (Chairman & CEO Penske Racing) WHAT CAME OUT OF THE MEETING WITH NASCAR THIS MORNING? “Obviously it was important that we all got together from the standpoint of just having open conversation – the drivers, Jack (Roush) and myself. I think it was good conversation. I think Carl (Edwards) realized that what had happened last week wasn’t what he expected – the car flying. To me, it was just good, open communication. The guys agreed that they’re going to race hard. They’re going to race fair and give themselves some room on the race track so that we don’t become the poster boys every weekend on what’s happening. I said, ‘Hey, at the end of the races, if we’re racing for the lead and there’s a lap or two to go, you guys are gonna have to run hard, but try and stay out of each other’s way during the race.’ It was a good conversation. They’re both good guys. To me, it’s just great that we have an environment where we can sit down.”
HAVE YOU EVER TOLD BRAD TO BACK DOWN? “Brad has only driven for us for this year. He’s a terrific talent. I don’t tell my drivers to run hard or to run soft. I think he knows what he has to do on the race track with his peers and quite honestly, he’s not making any statements about what he’s gonna do or not do. I think the media has taken some of that and moved it further and made him with a bigger circle around him. What I want him to do is run fair on the race track and be competitive. But he’s got to respect the other drivers. They have to respect him.”
BRAD HAS SAID THAT HE’S NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN, CHANGE HIS STYLE: “He hasn’t said that to me as far as I’m concerned. He wants to race. He wants to have his car in the race at the end. Consequently, if you’re not keeping your car underneath you, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble and not be there in the end. As far as I’m concerned, it’s behind us. It’s an issue that was between the two drivers. I think it mounted because of accidents that had happened. Maybe it was their fault, maybe it wasn’t. At the end of the day, nobody got hurt last week. We’re here to have a good race.”
WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU SEE YOUR DRIVER INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT LIKE THAT? “I heard on the radio from the spotter that said, ‘Look like he’s trying to wreck you back over in (Turn) 3.’ I looked over in 3 because Kurt (Busch) was leading the race at that point and I saw that there was no contact. And then I was watching Kurt going into Turn 1 and I heard them say “yellow” on my radio and I looked down and saw the car barrel rolling. Obviously, I was concerned for Brad and his safety and anybody else’s. Brad on the radio – the first thing he said to me was, ‘Did anybody get hurt in the stand?’ That was the first thing that came out of Brad’s mouth. And then he said, ‘I’m fine.’ At that point I was worried about Kurt winning the race after that.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE MEETING WITH NASCAR THIS MORNING? “I don’t know how Carl feels about it, but I don’t think it’s cool to say everything that was said in there. Hopefully, it will be productive to where we can move forward and continue to race each other hard and not have any more incidents like we had at Atlanta.”
“We hadn’t talked before. I wouldn’t say there was anything said that surprised me. You have to understand, Carl and I have a mutual respect for each other in a sense we’re almost the same people. We come from similar backgrounds. We drive the same way. I have a lot of respect for him before and after the accident. Hopefully, that will stay the same.”
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE WAY YOU WILL BE RACING? “Carl and I have talked before about leaving each other more room, but it seems like when it came down to it, it just never worked out. It’s racing. The biggest thing to me, you know, is incidents are going to happen because we race against each other more than 60 times. We’re going to run by (beside) each other. We just each have to build up a tolerance for that.”
WHAT ROLE DID JACK ROUSH AND ROGER PENSKE HAVE IN THE MEETING? “Jack and Roger are two different people for sure, but they are both extremely supportive of us. Carl and I both put a lot of emphasis and trust into our car owners, where we listen to them and talk to them. I think we both see the same things in them. They’re kind of mentors to us.”
The Final Lap Weekly 