Keselowski crashes way to Victory Lane

As Carl Edwards’ car soared toward the grandstand fence -- after flipping on the track, skidding on its roof, then lifting into the air at Talladega Superspeedway -- Edwards just hoped he’d survive, that his roof wouldn’t hit the fence and the roll cage meant to protect him wouldn’t crush his neck.

Metal pieces flew off the car, the fence lurched toward the stands as all 3,400 pounds hit and a fire ignited inside. Debris spewed into the stands -- injuring seven fans -- then the No. 99 Ford landed on its wheels, its engine ablaze where the hood used to be.

Part-time NASCAR Sprint Cup series driver Brad Keselowski wrecked Edwards out of his way to win the Aaron’s 499 Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and Ryan Newman third, barreling through the No. 99 at full speed to do so. Edwards finished 24th.

“Look, Brad is a great guy,” Edwards said. “ . . . He can’t give up the win. He’s got to let me turn across his hood. That’s what I’d do to him. It’s what we have to do. . . . It’s not right to ask all these guys to come out and do this. What if the car goes up in the grandstands and kills 25 people?”

Fans love Talladega for its wrecks, and two colossal ones preceded the frightening finale.

On Lap 7, contact between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon turned into a wreck involving 14 cars, knocking four out of the race and badly damaging five. Gordon finished 37th and lost the points lead to Kurt Busch.

A 10-car wreck later collected, among others, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson. During that caution, Earnhardt, running second, and Newman, running first, concocted a scheme to leave the field behind.

But when drivers plan, Talladega usually laughs.

They didn’t see Edwards barreling up the outside with Keselowski pushing him. In restrictor-plate racing, drivers need friends to win. Keselowski didn’t have any, so he latched onto Edwards’ rear bumper.

“If I wouldn’t have pushed Carl up to the front, I would have finished 30th,” Keselowski said.

Then he made his move for the win on Edwards’ inside. Edwards descended to block him. But the 25-year-old with only four superspeedway starts didn’t budge.

During Talladega’s fall 2008 race, Tony Stewart blocked Regan Smith in the same scenario. Smith drifted below the yellow line and passed Stewart, thinking that was legal, to finish first.

NASCAR penalized Smith to 18th place, Stewart won the race and controversy erupted. To prevent such confusion, NASCAR’s managing event director, David Hoots, sternly addressed it during the pre-race drivers’ meeting. He said any driver who went below the yellow line to pass would be black-flagged out of the race.

“I wasn’t going to take the bullet,” Keselowski said. “I’m not in a situation in my career where I can afford to take the bullet. And I had nothing to lose.”

Six of the seven injured fans were released Sunday night. One woman was airlifted to the University of Alabama Birmingham with facial injuries. An eighth fan was airlifted to Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham suffering from chest pains.

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tganguli@orlandosentinel.com