plus 3, Edwards and Keselowski 'have at it' again - ESPN.com

Edwards and Keselowski 'have at it' again - ESPN.com
Lovin' the sun - Detroit Free Press
Kurt Busch wins crash-prolonged race - Detroit Free Press
Can Muncie compete in the new, global economy? - Star-Press

Edwards and Keselowski 'have at it' again - ESPN.com

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 12:11 AM PST

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Associated Press

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Carl Edwards was 156 laps off the lead when he apparently decided it was time to settle a score with Brad Keselowski.

The result was a frightening crash that sent Keselowski's car flying toward the stands at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and put NASCAR's "have at it" philosophy to the test a mere four races into a season that was supposed to let the drivers show more aggression and emotion.

Will Edwards be suspended for what appeared to be an intentional bump of Keselowski at more than 190 mph? Or will NASCAR give the No. 99 a pass for merely taking its new mandate to the extreme?

"To come back and intentionally wreck someone, that's not cool," said Keselowski, who escaped Sunday's crash unscathed. "You could have killed someone in the grandstands."

The feud between Edwards and Keselowski boiled over with three laps to go in the Kobalt Tools 500, a race won by Kurt Busch but overshadowed by the shenanigans going on behind him.

A decision from NASCAR is expected Monday or Tuesday. Edwards faces the possibility of a fine, loss of points or even a suspension for the next race at Bristol in two weeks.

"I would say there seems to be a history between those two drivers," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. "I'm not going to go any further into it right now."

There's definitely some history between these guys.

Last April, Keselowski and Edwards were racing for the win in a tightly bunched pack at Talladega when their cars got together. Edwards spun into Ryan Newman's path, and the second hit sent Edwards' car soaring toward the main stands.

While the battered car was slung back onto the track by the safety fencing and Edwards was OK, seven fans were injured by flying debris.

"At least I didn't do it intentionally when it happened," Keselowski said.

The two scrapped again in Atlanta. Early on, Keselowski got underneath Edwards coming through turns one and two, which sent the No. 99 careening into Joey Logano along the outside wall.

While his car was in the garage for lengthy repairs, Edwards complained that Keselowski "never gives any room at all" but sounded as though he wasn't too upset about the incident.

Clearly, he was.

With Keselowski contending for a top-five finish, Edwards banged into him as they came to the start-finish line. Keselowski's No. 12 car went into a spin, lifted off the track, turned upside down and slammed into the barrier in front of the stands with the roof. The battered machine flipped back onto the track, landing right side up.

"It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball," Keselowski said. "If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands. It's not cool to wreck someone intentionally at 195 mph."

After the crash, NASCAR ordered Edwards off the track. He drove defiantly around the quarter-mile track in front of the stands and went backward down the pit lane before meeting privately with series officials in their trailer.

Climbing from the car, he didn't even bother with a denial.

"Brad knows the deal between him and I," Edwards said. "The scary part is the car went airborne, which was not what I expected. At the end of the day, we're out here to race and people have to have respect for one another and I have a lot of respect for people's safety.

"I wish it wouldn't have gone like that, but I'm glad he's OK and we'll just go on and race some more and maybe him and I won't get in any more incidents together. That would be the best thing."

NASCAR finds itself in a tough spot. Before the season, the governing body encouraged drivers to do more banging and show more emotion, in large part to answer a growing fan sentiment that the sport had gone stale. Pemberton himself said, "We will put it back in the hands of drivers, and we will say 'Boys, have at it and have a good time."

While suspensions are rare in a sport that rewards consistency and being on the track for every race, they're not unprecedented.

In 2007, Robby Gordon spun out Marcus Ambrose during a Nationwide series race in Montreal, ignored a black flag and was suspended for the following day's Cup event at Pocono. That same year, truck driver Ted Musgrave was ordered to sit out a race for hitting a competitor during a caution period.

The facts in this case seem pretty clear.

"It looked like it could have been a payback from the No. 99 on the No. 12," Pemberton said. "We talked with Carl after the race and we have an understanding about it. ... Carl said he got into him. He said he didn't expect the result."

Keselowski defended his actions in the first incident Sunday.

"He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted (off the accelerator). I couldn't lift fast enough," he said. "I was underneath him and tried to cut him a break. It was too late, though. He turned down. I apologized to him, but there was nothing that I could do in that situation."

The race need a couple of overtime restarts before Busch pulled away for the win.

After the Keselowski smashup, Busch pulled off a brilliant move to slip between Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer, snatching away the lead going into turn one. But he couldn't get all the way around to take the white flag before a seven-car crash broke out behind him.

On the second green-white-checkered attempt, Busch powered away on the restart, zipped around the track two more times and beat Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second to win the Atlanta spring race for the second year in a row. It took 16 extra laps to finish a race that was scheduled for 325.

Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Menard.

"You have to adjust to whatever circumstances there are to win these races," said Busch, who snapped Jimmie Johnson's two-race winning streak. "No doubt we did our job on pit road, no doubt we did our job on long runs, and I think we hit the right combination for restarts. That's what I'm most proud of."

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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Lovin' the sun - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 07 Mar 2010 11:57 PM PST

Metro Detroiters got their first whiff of spring over the weekend -- spending a warm and sunny Sunday walking their dogs, riding bicycles, jogging or washing their cars.

We hadn't seen temps this high -- 49 degrees -- since the thermometer hit 51 on Nov. 29.

"People are sick with cabin fever and can't wait to get out here," said David Garman, 33, the general manager of Royal Oak Golf Center on 13 Mile, east of Woodward, where duffers turned out in the droves to begin grooving their swings on the range's 50 tees.

"It's always like this the first warm weekend of the year," added Garman, noting that the range nearly ran out of golf balls on Saturday because of the deluge of golfers.

A smiling Bill Gardner, 52, of Royal Oak was there on Sunday to try out a new set of hybrid clubs his wife gave him for his birthday on Saturday.

"I'm out here to see if I'll be able to join my golf league in April," said Gardner, who owns an automotive manufacturing company.

The warm streak is expected to continue with temperatures today hovering above normal in the low 50s, according to the National Weather Service.

On Belle Isle, Noah Williams, 48, a salt truck driver for the Wayne County Road Commission, indulged in his hobby -- flying kites.

"Today's weather is fantastic," said Williams, who said he worked several 12- to 24-hour shifts last month clearing snow off county roads. "We're finally getting a break from winter."

Belle Isle was the staging point Sunday for a 20-mile bicycle ride through Detroit for 30 cycling enthusiasts led by Jim Bruzzese, 45, the retail store manager for Macomb Bike Fitness in Warren.

"It was a nice ride for so early in the season," Bruzzese said. "We're all trying to get our outside legs back on."

In Oak Park, Jeff Schecter, 58, and his wife, Sandra Dupuy, 56, gave their 1963 burgundy Ford Thunderbird its first wash and wax of the season at a coin-operated car wash on 11 Mile Road. The Farmington Hills couple planned to spend part of the afternoon cruising Woodward Avenue.

"We just couldn't stay home today -- we had to get out and take a ride," Schecter said.

Even those who had to work on Sunday said the weather warmed up their spirits.

"When the sun is out, it just makes you feel better," said Ron Bolden, 62, of Detroit while gathering up shopping carts during his job at the Home Depot on Southfield Road near 12 Mile Road. "When you have to push these things through the snow, it's a lot of extra weight."

Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER: dashenfelter@freepress.com

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Kurt Busch wins crash-prolonged race - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 07 Mar 2010 11:57 PM PST

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Kurt Busch survived a couple of restarts and 16 extra laps to win again Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a race marred by accusations of an intentional crash that sent a car hurtling toward the main stands upside down.

Busch won the spring race at the 1.54-mile trioval for the second year in a row, beating Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second. Juan Pablo Montoya was third.

The race went 341 laps instead of its scheduled 325 because of two big crashes. The first one drew the most attention.

Carl Edwards, running 156 laps behind, clipped Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills) and caused his car to spin, then lift into the air at around 190 m.p.h. It smashed into the barrier in front of the stands roof-first, then flipped back onto the track right side up.

"Brad knows the deal between him and I," Edwards said. "The scary part was his car went airborne, which was not what I expected at all."

Keselowski was OK, but NASCAR ordered Edwards to park his car and summoned him to its trailer for a tongue-lashing.

"To come back and just intentionally wreck someone, that's not cool," Keselowski said. "He could have killed someone in the grandstands."

On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, another crash took out seven cars coming through Turns 3 and 4. .

Keselowski and Edwards were involved in a spectacular crash racing for the win at Talladega last year. Edwards' car flew up toward the stands, and Keselowski sped on by for the victory.

Early in the Atlanta race, Keselowski nicked Edwards coming through the turn, which sent him crashing into Joey Logano. Edwards spent much of the day in the garage, but returned to take out his frustration in what appeared to be an intentional tap on Keselowski coming across the start-finish line.

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Can Muncie compete in the new, global economy? - Star-Press

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 12:11 AM PST

The community is taking steps in response to the loss of factories, population.

MUNCIE -- Based on the reality-television show Armed and Famous, Newsweek magazine concluded in 2007 that Muncie was "a dying industrial town with a nasty crack habit."

Fortunately, steps are being taken to not only keep Muncie alive but to make it prosperous in the new, global economy.

Michigan State University Extension researcher Dave Ivan points to human investment, youth engagement, quality of place, innovation and entrepreneurship and leveraging regional assets as the five pillars of community success.

If he's right, than Muncie is well-placed to move forward.

"I don't want to bombard you with a laundry list, but this is one of the main thrusts of what we do," said Layne Cameron, a spokesman for Ball State University, after looking over the list of pillars. "We have so many programs that make those connections ... you describe."

After providing numerous examples of youth engagement locally -- for instance community gardening and rallying to keep the Buley community center open -- Delaware County Commissioner Todd Donati added, "I could go on forever."

Gail Chesterfield, East Central chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College, and Terry Murphy, vice president of the local economic development alliance, both cited the Ball family foundations and The Community Foundation of Muncie-Delaware County as local pillars.

"(Former Star Press Publisher) Julie Metzger, when she was on the chamber of commerce board, along with Elizabeth Rowray, were leading the charge for one or more of the local schools to embrace the 'New Tech High' concept," Chesterfield said. "Julie and Elizabeth were also key in leading a group of citizens toward an 'image' campaign, but it needed considerable funding and therefore it has not moved forward."

In addition to the Muncie Youth Council, the community for several years has supported a Muncie Young Professionals Group. "We have around 300 members on our mailing list," said Traci Lutton, president of the group. "Getting them to be active is a real challenge, but I estimate we have 90 active members."

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