Backstretch Motorsports

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Seven spectators suffered injuries at the end of the Aaron’s 499 Sunday when the No. 99 Ford of Carl Edwards went airborne and slammed into the catchfence on the frontstretch, and an eighth was treated for an unrelated medical problem.

Edwards was leading the race about 500 yards before the finish line when he tried to block Brad Keselowski from passing him. But Edwards hit the right front quarter panel of Keselowski’s car.

It caused Edwards’ car to spin before it came off the pavement and flew into the fencing above the outside wall.

“None of the injuries are dangerous or life-threatening,” said Dr. Bobby Lewis, medical director at Talladega Superspeedway. “It’s mostly bumps and bruises with possible minor fractures.”

I’m thinking, ‘Boy, I wish this made out of liquid gel material,’ and then I’m very fortunate we hit the wall in a way it didn’t crush my roll cage down on my neck because that would have been a lot worse.” said Edwards. “NASCAR just puts us in this box, they put us in this box and we’ll race like this until we kill somebody and then they’ll change it, but I’m just glad nobody got hurt today. I’m glad the car didn’t go up in the grandstands and hurt somebody. We were just racing hard and we’re lucky nobody got hurt.”

Car owner Jack Roush summed his feelings up in the following way; “I am worried about hurting somebody on my team, about hurting somebody – and I’m talking about pit road and our crew men and mechanics – I carry a great burden, a great responsibility to keep my people safe and, in a broader sense, I feel a responsibility to do no harm to the spectator public.”