TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Seven fans were injured by flying debris during the final-lap wreck that sent the No. 99 Ford of driver Carl Edwards airborne into the safety fence on the front stretch at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

The incident occurred at the conclusion of the of the Sprint Cup Series' Aaron's 499, won by rookie Brad Keselowski.

Video highlights

• Final Laps: Edwards gets air
• Dr. Lewis reports on spectators
• Edwards on his dramatic wreck
• Newman criticizes car safety
• Junior wants yellow line to stay

Fans were treated for what were described as mostly minor injuries from flying debris, according to NASCAR official Jim Hunter and Dr. Bobby Lewis, medical director of the track. Neither Hunter nor Lewis could say with certainty whether the pieces of debris came from Edwards' car or from the fence, which suffered considerable damage after absorbing the high-speed impact.

"After the incident that occurred on the last lap, we are treating seven patients for injuries received from flying debris," Lewis said. "The injuries appear to be minor and non-life threatening. One female patient is being transported by air, because of traffic, for further evaluation and treatment."

The fan transported by air to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital was being treated for facial injuries that included what Lewis described as a minor laceration of her lip and "possibly a broken jaw."

Lewis added that an eighth patient, also a female, was air-lifted to nearby Brookwood Hospital after suffering chest pains that occurred during or shortly after she witnessed the incident while sitting in the same grandstand section as the others who were injured.

As of late Sunday, the track had not released the identities of either female patient or any of the other injured fans.

The remaining injured fans suffered what Lewis described as mostly minor "bumps, bruises and contusions." He did add that "there is the possibility of a couple of minor fractures" which he described as possible "broken extremities." Track spokesperson Kristi King later added that all six had been treated at and released from the track's on-site medical facilities, and that two of them said they planned to follow up with further evaluations from their own physicians.

The incident that caused the injuries occurred when Keselowski executed a last-lap pass on Edwards and ended up turning Edwards sideways. Edwards then slid into the path of the No. 39 car of Ryan Newman, who slammed into the No. 99 and sent it airborne into the catch fence.

A clearly upset Edwards said afterward that NASCAR must look to make racing safer at Talladega, but made it clear that he did not blame Keselowski for making the winning move.

Edwards also indicated he felt fortunate to be alive.

"Brad did a great job," Edwards said after being treated at the infield care center. "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."

Hunter said that he didn't agree with Edwards' statement and insisted that NASCAR has been doing all it can to keep the racing as safe as possible at Talladega and every track on which it runs races.

"That is not the case," Hunter said. "If there was something we felt we could do today to make it safer, it would be done. Our crash investigator -- we've got several who were here -- they'll get with [NASCAR's vice president of competition] Robin [Pemberton] and John [Darby, director of the Sprint Cup Series], and they'll see if there is anything possible we can do to prevent them.

"The retaining fence did what it's designed to do -- and that's to keep the car on the race track."

Hunter indicated that NASCAR deeply regretted the injuries to the fans, and pledged to do whatever is possible to prevent such injuries in the future.

"I understand there are several injuries, and they're from flying pieces. We'll also look at the fence. Is there something we can do to improve it?" Hunter said.

"But this is a fast race track. It's wide. I saw guys racing five abreast here [Sunday], which I had never seen here. We know the cars are safer than they've ever been. So we'll continue and see what we find out when we really analyze what took place here."

Edwards said -- again -- that he felt fortunate to be able to walk away from the dramatic and frightening accident.

"First of all, I've got to tell my wife and my mom that I'm fine," Edwards said. "Brad was pushing; he's doing everything he can. I saw him go high. I went high. Then he went low and I didn't realize he got that far [under Edwards' car], so I went low to block him a little bit and he was already there.

"At that point I'm thinking, 'Boy, I wish this [car] was made of liquid gel material.' And then 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."

Well, the car didn't. But some debris did, and later Edwards and everyone else found out that eight fans did indeed get hurt.

"I'm glad that no one is hurt more serious than they are. I can't emphasize that enough," Keselowski said.

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