Edwards, Keselowski carry mutual respect to 'Dega

After swapping airborne wrecks in the past year that were physically similar -- but philosophically as far apart as Talladega Superspeedway is long -- Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski this weekend return to the scene of the original crash.

And the most amazing thing is that Edwards and Keselowski seem to be aiming at Talladega's Aaron's 499 with an equivalent amount of mutual respect as they had a year ago.

Their respective comments prove it.

What a year

Since holding his line and winning at Talladega, it's been a year to remember for Brad Keselowski.

• Complete story
• Keselowski moves to No. 2

There are two things about this that might challenge the imagination.

First, on this weekend one year ago -- after the pair used their cars' mutually beneficial aerodynamic efficiency to draft to the front at the "World's Fastest Speedway" -- on the last lap their cars made contact on the frontstretch as Keselowski made a pass for the lead.

Edwards' Ford turned around, got airborne and flew into the catchfence above the wall. Several fans were injured by flying debris, though none critically.

Edwards meanwhile, created a stir when he jogged across the finish line after his car finally landed on its wheels and slid most of the way to the line. At the same time, Keselowski was driving toward Victory Lane to celebrate both his and car owner James Finch's first Cup Series win.

Second, and most important; five races ago at Atlanta, Edwards and Keselowski made contact again -- on the 500-mile event's fifth lap -- and Edwards crashed.

After spending more than 150 laps repairing his car, Edwards came back on the race track, raced more than 150 laps and then, with less than two laps left, intentionally turned Keselowski around on the frontstretch. Keselowski's car lifted off and hit the outside wall and race track upside down. He wasn't injured.

Edwards was put on probation for three races, and nothing had ensued between the pair -- who race full schedules in both the Cup and Nationwide series -- since then.

"That was just wild," Edwards said. "That was very close to winning my first race at a superspeedway and I learned a lot from it. I hope going back that I can find somebody to work with those last couple laps, whether it's Brad or somebody else.

"It would be nice to be in that position again and have another chance to do that, and I think we will, eventually. But that was a really dramatic finish. I guess I'm looking forward to that race a little more now because of how close we were, than maybe I would have in the past."

Obviously, Edwards was referring to being in a position to win, versus being upside down and sailing toward the grandstands.

When Keselowski was told that Edwards had said he was willing to work with him in the draft again, the younger driver didn't hesitate to answer -- and his answer appeared to come straight from the heart.

"I haven't talked to Carl about it, but yeah -- absolutely I'll work with him," Keselowski said. "There was a reason why I picked him to work with [at Talladega that day], to begin with: he was, and still is, one of the most talented drivers, and he was capable of driving the race car as it needed to be drove, while I was pushing him.

"There's a certain driving style to it, which was one of the reasons why, as I was going through the field, that I picked him, specifically, to push. And certainly I could see that scenario playing out again, as far as that point is concerned -- pushing him, and to work with him."

Video Highlights

• Talladega race video
• Atlanta race video

On Monday at Texas, the pair ran more than 721 miles between the two races, without the hint of any problems. And after the Nationwide race, when told of Keselowski's remarks and the context in which they'd been delivered, Edwards hesitated a moment to collect his thoughts, as if he was pleasantly surprised to be given the news.

"That means a lot," Edwards said. "It's nice when you can have issues with a guy and still have some respect, you know what I mean? That's not always the case but that's nice -- that makes it more fun to race, when you can go at it and then shake hands and move on."

It gave added meaning to Edwards' response to a question about fan response since the Atlanta incident.

"I expected it to be pretty bad, but it's turned out to be unbelievable," Edwards said. "The fans are awesome. I think they see Atlanta for what it was -- just two guys going at it. Overall, the response has been really good. It's just racing, but I'm glad it's behind us.

"Brad and I have raced really well since then and I think it's just one of those events that we'll look back on and go, 'Man that was pretty wild.'"

Related:
• Keselowski vows not to change after AMS dust-up
• Time to lay off the criticism and embrace Keselowski
• It's not a matter of right or wrong, but time and place
• Good guy Edwards makes bad situation much worse
• Seven fans are injured in last-lap crash at Talladega
• Keselowski had no plans of dipping below the yellow