Rivals don't seem to be very pleased with this whole Brad Keselowski-Carl Edwards thing: "too scary"

  Carl Edwards, defending his honor (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BRISTOL, Tenn.
   This Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski deal is devolving into a weird NASCAR soap opera, which took some even stranger twists this week, when Kevin Harvick – who happens to be the Sprint Cup tour points leader – weighed in....on a radio show.
    Not just any radio show, but a Howard Stern-affiliated show called 'Bubba the Love Sponge.'
    You couldn't make this stuff up.
    Bubba the Love Sponge?
    Now that's really 'alternative media.'
    What in the world is the NASCAR tour leader doing on an 'X-rated' show?
    Harvick made a few not so nice comments about Edwards.
    And Edwards has replied in kind: "I have absolutely no respect for Kevin Harvick. I think he's a bad person."
    And Edwards went on to talk about the NASCAR Sprint Cup top guy as "devious" and "cowardly."
    Huh?
    Is this all more of 'Boys, have at it'?
    Did Harvick really use the word "fake" on that radio show?
   "As far as the 'fake' comment," Harvick said here Friday, "I mean you can't be the nice guy, you can't be the bad guy, and you can't be the bully."
    Translation, please?
    Harvick Friday appeared to be downplaying his earlier comments about Edwards: "I don't think I ever said anything about his penalty being one way or the other. I made a crack about 'Maybe I got in trouble in the wrong era, and it was more expensive then.'
    "Things change, and the sport changes, and I'm not up in arms about anything."
    
   

   Brad Keselowski: at the center of the hurricane. Is he driving too hard? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

    And Harvick, on Keselowski and Edwards, added "Obviously there is a pretty deep history it seems like between the two of them.
    "Hopefully they can get things squared away and not get everybody else involved in what is going on.
     "I think most everybody is tired of hearing about it."
     Of course all this is yet more fodder for NASCAR ticket ads....
     Jimmie Johnson, the four-time champion, is weighing in too on the controversy, and he says Keselowski needs to clean up his act.
    "He's a great driver, a great talent, and he's going to do great in the Penske cars," Johnson said. "He's got to stand up for what he feels is right for himself and his race team.
     "But you just don't turn off a garage area as fast as he has for no reason.
      "So he's got to work on that in my eyes.
     

     

     Jimmie Johnson: So NASCAR rookies should be seen and not heard? Leave the hard driving to the veterans? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
     

      "I have not had any issues (with Keselowski on the track)," Johnson went on. "But if you watch the Nationwide races, there's a long list -- starting with Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
     "There's like a 'brewing of thought and discussion' in the garage. I think some of it has to do with when you come into the sport, especially at the top level as a rookie, whether you like it or not, you're going to take a few lumps before you're given that opportunity to pass some out.
     "And I believe he's come in and passed out more bumps than he's taken.
     "A lot of people view that as great, and some people view it the opposite.
     "There is no right or wrong in all that.
      "A great example of someone who had a rough start is Kyle Busch. Now that's behind him, and he's moved on."
     Hard driving is a NASCAR tradition. But success these days seems to come more to the men who are smooth at the wheel and don't ruffle feathers.
    Of course that smooth-and-cool driving style may not ignite fans, Johnson concedes.
    Hard-driving, Johnson says, "is  just not my style.
     "I want things to be smooth...so all I have to do is worry about my race team and driving my car.
     "That's why I took my time in really dishing things out.
     "We all carry ourselves differently: Coming in, I'm racing against Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton and Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace and I don't want to ruffle their feathers. That was my approach.
     "Other guys come in and look at that same group of guys and say 'I'm going to crush 'em. I'm going to turn them around. I'm going to rub fenders. I'm not going to take anything from those guys.'
     "Everybody handles it differently.
       "I'm very proud of the route I have gone.
        "At the same time, a lot of people have criticized me and say I'm too boring because of the route I've taken.
      "But I look at four championships -- and working on a fifth -- and hopefully I've made some good decisions."

       Johnson says he and his fellow drivers were quite surprised with what Edwards and Keselowski did at Atlanta.
      And Johnson says that – and NASCAR's light-handed penalty in response – means "a very action-packed race here. At Martinsville we're going to see the same.
     "It's more in shock of saying 'Wow! We had a car turn over....and 'Yes, thank God Brad is fine. He wasn't injured. And yes, thank God the car didn't go into the stands.'
    "So it's a weird mix of emotions in my eyes: We are creating an environment that the sport was founded on and creating excitement...but we had one big scare.
     " And we don't need those scares."

   
 
 

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    Another guy who ruffled a lot of feathers when he first broke into the sport: Kyle Busch (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)