By now, we’ve all heard the quotes. Edwards said:

Brad [Keselowski] did a great job. Congrats to him on the win, but [NASCAR] put us in this box and I guess we’ll race like this until we kill somebody. And then they’ll change it.

He also said:

I was very fortunate we hit the wall in a way that it didn’t crush my roll cage down on my neck because that would have been a lot worse. NASCAR just puts us in this box. I’m glad the car didn’t go up in the grandstands and hurt somebody.

Keselowski talked about the yellow line rule, saying:

The yellow line is there to prevent us from running underneath each other and prevent us from being crazy. But the bottom line is, that’s who we are. We are all crazy race car drivers and we are going to run into each other. The yellow line could be six feet high or six feet low and we would still run into each other. That’s what we do. It’s a give-and-take sport and as races go on, it’s a challenge of who is going to lift and who is not, and it’s testing each other every moment.

We all remember what happened last year when Regan Smith went below the yellow line, so there was no way Keselowski was going to make the same mistake.

And while I completely agree that it is a tragedy when fans get injured, I’m not sure that the yellow line rule should be changed.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that yellow line rule triggered the accident. I also think it leads to more aggressive blocking. But, if NASCAR decided to get rid of the rule, drivers would go below it to pass, and other drivers would go below it to block.

Taking Sunday’s wreck into consideration, do you think that if Keselowski dipped below the yellow line (assuming there was no penatly for doing so) that Edwards would not have practically driven him into the grass to win? I’m willing to bet he would have.

If the two had made contact at the same place, at the same time and in the same way, below the yellow line, who’s to say Edwards’ car would not have made it to the catchfence?

Sunday’s wreck was a freak accident that was the result of many different circumstances. Keselowski got a huge run on Edwards and put a good double move on him. Edwards didn’t realize how far alongside him Keselowski got.

When he spun, Edwards’ rear tires came off the ground, but were on their way down when Ryan Newman hit him, sending him airborne. If Newman was not there, Edwards would have just spun out and it would have been the end of the story.

Again, it’s tragic that fans got hurt. But, in the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse. Edwards’ car could have made it to the stands if the fence had not held. But, it didn’t because the safety device did its job.

I’m all for making changes to improve safety, but let’s not change the rules in a knee-jerk fashion just because of a freak accident. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the yellow line rule ain’t broke.

The injuries were not life-threatening. One woman suffered a laceration on her face and possibly had a broken jaw when she was hit with debris.  Another woman was suffering from chest pains.

Edwards said:

I guess we’ll do this until somebody gets killed and then we’ll change it. But that’s the way it is. … I saw some fencing at one point and that made me a little bit nervous. I don’t know if I could live with myself if I ended up in the grandstands.

Edwards’ car’s rear wheels came off the ground. Then, while his cars were in the air, Newman hit him and send him into the catch fence.

The crash collected Ryan Newman.

Keselowski held on to win, with Dale Earnhardt Jr finishing second.

Top 5: Keselowski, Earnhardt Jr, Newman, Marcos Ambrose, and Scott Speed.

Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Joey Logano, and Jeff Burton finished sixth through tenth.

Notables: Matt Kenseth (17th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Tony Stewart (24th), Edwards (25th), Kyle Busch (26th), David Reutimann (27th), Jimmie Johnson (30th), Kasey Kahne (36th), Jeff Gordon (37th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Clint Bowyer (39th), and Mark Martin (43rd).

Give a call to Reed Sorenson, Paul Menard, Joe Nemechek, and Regan Smith who all finished in the top 15.

Kvapil was being fitted in the seat, so that a swap could be performed quickly, if needed.

The team should have plenty of time to swap drivers under caution without going a lap down because Talladega Superspeedway is a big track.

The switch is expected to be made after this weekend’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Todd Berrier will move from the No. 29, where he served as Harvick’s crew chief for five years, to Mears and the No. 07.

Gil Martin will move to Harvick’s team. Martin was the crew chief for Clint Bowyer where he made two consecutive Chase appearances.

One of the reasons Mears never performed up to expectations at Hendrick Motorsports was that he never established a relationship with a crew chief because they were bounced around to and from his team.

I hope that’s not happening at RCR. I hope he gets in a season or two with Berrier to see what this kid actually has got.

Labonte To Get New Crew Chief

Yates Racing is also giving Hall Of Fame Racing driver Bobby Labonte a new crew cheif.

Ben Leslie, former crew cheif of Yates’ No. 28 and driver Travis Kvapil, is moving over to the team.

The No. 28 team was performing pretty well, before having to close its doors due to lack of sponsorship.

Current crew cheif Todd Parrott will move to another role within the organization, working with all Yates teams.

Labonte said:

I’m looking forward to working with Ben. He’s done a lot with Ford Racing specifically and I like that he has experience with many Champion drivers. I’m excited to see what we will do together on the track in the next few weeks.

Also, a crew cheif swap was discussed at Hendrick Motorsports.

I guess spring is the season of change.