A Historic Day in NASCAR, For All The Wrong Reasons

Jot down March 9th, 2010 in the annals of NASCAR history.

Years from now we will look back upon this date with vivid feeling, for March 9th, 2010 was the day NASCAR decided that you can wreck whoever you want, whenever you want, with disregard to the safety of drivers and fans without repercussion.

NASCAR had a chance to make a strong statement against the actions performed by
Carl Edwards this past Sunday. It is unlikely any major sport in this country or
the world would want to condone such a dangerous maneuver.

For reasons we may never understand, NASCAR decided that Edwards had punishment
enough from his parking at the end of the Kobalt Tools 500. They decided that purposefully wrecking someone, whose car then became airborne and came frighteningly close to entering the stands, is just an example of "good ole’ boys racin’."

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if NASCAR uses the incident in their ‘Back to
Basic’ ads that they are so fond of.

So where do we go from here? Can the media and fans continue to watch a sport in
which the sanctioning body dictates that it is acceptable to possibly injure or
kill another competitor at their leisure?

What must the drivers feel at this declaration today? A sport which is already
dangerous in its own right chose to increase the danger rather than mitigate
it.

A pessimist would say this decision could have been based under the premise that
it will help the sagging ratings of the last couple years. No one will actually
claim that is the case, but the idea is not without merit.

The credibility that NASCAR has been striving to recover over the past year has
taken a serious blow today. For the public who are exploring the sport solely
for the spectacular incident at Atlanta, it is understandable if they step away
disgusted.

Already there is a group on Facebook dedicated to boycotting the next Sprint Cup
race at Bristol. Perhaps this will be the fans' answer to this deplorable decision.

For NASCAR, they have now officially put their own needs ahead of the safety of
the drivers and their fans. One can only hope that NASCAR brass has a little
trouble sleeping tonight.

As a fan, I know I will.