When Kay Keselowski sees Carl Edwards at the race track, the NASCAR mom simply shakes her head.

Eyes rolling, she thinks back to the days before Edwards became a star in the sport's premier series. Keselowski first knew him as the young substitute teacher looking for a Truck ride in the late 1990s.

“

I shake in my boots every time Brad drives near Carl. You just don't know what to expect.

”

-- KAY KESELOWSKI

"I remember Carl showing up with the Mittler brothers for a test in Daytona. I had never heard of the boy, but he stepped up on our hauler while I was spotting and asked me, 'Can I drive your truck?' " recalled Keselowski, co-owner of K-Automotive Motorsports and mother of Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski.

"I told him that I had two sons [Brad and Brian] coming up so it wouldn't work but he struck me as such a nice kid and I was a fan ever since."

Turns out, first impressions sometimes aren't lasting impressions. Keselowski was a fan of Edwards until he chose to wreck her youngest son, Brad, twice in one season, at Atlanta and Gateway. And while it was not Edwards' intentions to hurt the driver, Keselowski escaped what some felt were potentially life-threatening wrecks.

While the topic of policing aggressive drivers remains a highly debated topic in the garage area, Keselowski hopes the conflict between Edwards and her son is over -- a strife that began in 2009 when her son nudged Edwards at Talladega and sent him into the air and Brad across the finish line for his first Cup Series victory.

The dust seemingly has settled, although Keselowski still worries and this weekend, racing at the family's home track in Michigan, her awareness is heightened.

"I shake in my boots every time Brad drives near Carl," she said. "You just don't know what to expect."

Since the most recent incident at Gateway in July when both Edwards and Keselowski were put on probation and Edwards was docked points and fined for his actions, their names have fallen off the front pages and they are back to the business of racing.

But while everyone was picking sides, painting Keselowski either the victim or the antagonist, fans lost sight of one major accomplishment.

Keselowski is the first in his racing family, the first to come from K-Automotive Motorsports, to lead the points in a national series. His family's team has fielded trucks and cars in NASCAR for nearly a decade now.

Few remember that Keselowski's NASCAR beginnings are traced to the family's No. 29 truck, which he raced in 2005. He has gone on to score nine Nationwide Series victories and this year, driving for Penske Racing, has ascended to the top of the point standings.

"I think about it every time I watch ESPN and see the name cross the ticker. I mean, oh, that was my name. What was that? And, oh, I'm first in points," said Brad, who after 22 races holds a 327-point lead over second-place contender Edwards. Keselowski has led the standings since his victory at Talladega in April. "To me that's like a win every week. The smile that that brings to my face and hopefully to that of my family is something I'm very proud of."

Nevertheless, the on-track drama has eclipsed the driver's status and because of that there hasn't been any real time for Keselowski to revel in the merriment.

"There are some things that have overshadowed it and although it is a little unfortunate I try to spend the time focusing on the positives and not dwell on the negatives," he said. "Seems like there is always something negative in this world if you just look for it. It's kind of a fine line, I guess. For me it's an honor to be leading the points on the Nationwide side and do something that hasn't been done by my family. It's an honor and something that all my family has been very proud of."

Keselowski leads the Nationwide Series in top-five finishes (16), top-10 finishes (19) and laps completed. He has completed all but one of the 4,037 laps contested this season and has led the field for 766 of those circuits.

As for Edwards, he never got that ride in the Keselowski family's No. 29 truck he asked for years ago but he did test once for Bob Keselowski. And Edwards acquired yet another fan in the Keselowski clan; he left quite an impression on the youngest Keselowski.

"Oh man, Brad used to talk about Carl all the time. He would always tell us what Carl was doing or what Carl did," recalled Bob Keselowski, Brad's father and K-Automotive co-owner. "I had no part of this but it was funny. The guys that worked for us back then were having fun with Brad and cut out pictures of Carl's head and taped them to Brad's rear-view mirror in his truck."

It was funny back then, but certainly not now.

One might wonder if a picture of Edwards' head is still taped to Keselowski's rear-view mirror today, but for different reasons?

That's the funny thing about impressions. Sometimes the good ones just don't last.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Video:
• BK vs. Edwards: Talladega 2009 | Atlanta 2010, Pt. 1 | Atlanta 2010, Pt. 2 | Gateway 2010