DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Elliott Sadler didn't seem to care much about who was at fault in the simmering feud between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski. He was much more concerned about the No. 12 car flipping through the air after the two drivers clashed Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR's response

NASCAR president Mike Helton talks about the punishment for Carl Edwards and his concern about Brad Keselowski's car getting airborne at Atlanta.

• NASCAR announcement
• No. 12 car goes airborne

"I can't comment on what happened between [Edwards] and [Keselowski], because I don't know the past history and stuff like that," Sadler said at Darlington Raceway, where he was one of five drivers testing tires for Goodyear. "I am concerned that the 12 car got upside down so fast at Atlanta, a mile-and-a-half race track. That concerns me more than the payback stuff."

Sadler would know -- twice he's been involved in scary airborne crashes at Talladega Superspeedway, a restrictor-plate venue where vehicular flips are far from uncommon. But what worried everyone was the sight of such a crash at Atlanta, a fast intermediate track where cars don't usually leave the racing surface in the spectacular manner that Keselowski's did Sunday after being bumped in a retaliatory fashion by Edwards.

"We've got to do something about keeping these cars on the ground," Sadler said. NASCAR president Mike Helton said the sanctioning body was exploring ways of doing just that.

"The bigger topic is the 12 car getting airborne at a mile-and-a-half track, which we typically don't see," Helton said on a conference call with reporters. "It's been years since we've seen that. So a lot of our effort [Monday], [Tuesday] and until we find [an answer] to it is figuring out how it happened, why it happened and what we can do to prevent it from happening in the future."

NASCAR has stepped up its investigation into airborne accidents since late last year, when Ryan Newman's high-flying crash at Talladega (watch video) prompted a new round of testing. Earlier this season, officials announced that the rear wing, part of the current Sprint Cup car since its inception, eventually will be replaced by a blade-type spoiler similar to the kind once common on vehicles in NASCAR's premier series.

NASCAR has said that the change is being made for aesthetic as well as competitive reasons, and has emphasized that it does not believe the rear wing is solely to blame for airborne accidents. But clearly, drivers have another view. The three Sprint Cup drivers at Darlington on Tuesday -- Sadler, Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose -- all tested cars outfitted with spoilers, which will go into effect this spring. Brett Bodine, NASCAR's director of cost research, was in Darlington to view the Goodyear test.

"We've had a lot of cars going airborne the last couple of years," Sadler said. "Brett Bodine is here with us [Tuesday], because we're testing the spoiler. We're talking about a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different things. The spoiler seems to be better for that, keeping cars on the ground, which is what we need. As a driver, that's my concern. Let's keep these things on the ground."

But Bowyer wondered if anything would have kept Keselowski's car on the ground Sunday once it turned around on the high-speed Atlanta track. The vehicle went airborne even though the flaps designed to help keep it on the racing surface clearly deployed.

"I don't think anything is meant to go 190 mph backward, no matter what it is," Bowyer said. "You can turn one of these tractor trailers around running 200 mph, and it's probably going to flip over. That's asking a lot. The roof flaps and the things they've done to keep these cars on the ground in my opinion are just incredible --- the wrecks they've saved, probably the lives they've saved. They've done a good job of keeping these cars on the ground, but like I said, that's asking a lot right there. That's one of the fastest tracks on the circuit and probably the fastest part of the race track. I don't know what's going to keep it on the ground."

Related:
• Edwards placed on three-race probation for wrecking Keselowski
• Helton says spoiler appears to be on track for return in near future