Edwards' NASCAR wreck still a topic of conversation

RICHMOND

Carl Edwards met with NASCAR officials Thursday to discuss his Talladega crash, and fellow drivers offered their opinion Friday on what could be done to try to prevent another car from soaring into the catchfence.

After his crash, Edwards said, "I guess we'll do this until someone gets killed and then we'll change it."

Edwards was joined by car owner Jack Roush at the meeting in Daytona Beach, Fla., and came away pleased with the conversations.

"I learned a lot," Edwards said Friday at Richmond International Raceway. "They learned a little bit about me and the driver's perspective. The bottom line is unless you take the banking out of that race track or we don't go race there, you've got this big problem trying to keep the cars apart, keep them slow and that's the battle."

Jeff Burton has a suggestion, but he knows drivers won't like it.

Officials can make the cars handle so poorly that drivers can't race together.

Or let NASCAR penalize drivers for aggressive driving as series officials suggested this week.

"If you cause a wreck, (they) penalize you," Burton said. "That's a terrible thing because if you're sitting in a race car, you know what happened. If you're watching it, you may not know what happened."

Said Greg Biffle: "We continue to push the envelope as drivers about bump drafting and about pushing each other. We need to police the bump drafting. (And) if you pass below the yellow line, you will be penalized."

POLE RUN

Brian Vickers won his second pole of the season, topping the field with a lap of 127.131 mph.

Jeff Gordon will start beside Vickers on the front row after a lap of 126.844 mph. Denny Hamlin (126.665 mph), Martin Truex Jr. (126.642) and Jeff Burton (126.322) completed the top five. Mike Bliss will start sixth, driving for Phoenix Racing, the team that won last weekend's race at Talladega with Brad Keselowski.

Todd Bodine and Trevor Boys failed to qualify.

AILING BACK

Jeff Gordon said he had an MRI on his back this week. Gordon was hesitant to reveal details until a treatment plan is set.

"I don't believe it's anything serious," Gordon said. "There's a little bit of arthritis, which is not totally unnatural, but there's also some other things that come from... trauma from a crash or maybe just years of beating it up."

FUTURE DEAL

Talladega winner Keselowski is negotiating with Hendrick Motorsports for next season. Keselowski says he wants to race full-time in Cup next year. Keselowski says he hasn't had any detailed discussions with car owner Rick Hendrick.

If Mark Martin remains at Hendrick Motorsports, the team won't have a seat. Of course, Hendrick has an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing, supplying the team with chassis, engines and technical information. One possibility could be for Stewart-Haas to add a third car for Keselowski or Martin.

"If we decided to expand, we'd look at everybody that's available," Tony Stewart said. "Obviously, Brad is one of those guys, but right now we're still a two-car team and we've got two good drivers. So right now, we don't have an opening."

STILL RACING

Despite Chrysler's bankruptcy, a Dodge official was confident the company will remain a part of the sport.

"NASCAR is a strategic part of our marketing plan and the Dodge brand," said Mike Accavitti, director of brand marketing and strategy for Chrysler, in a statement. "We plan to continue our Dodge sponsorship and relationship into the foreseeable future."

TIRE TESTING

Goodyear is planning to add another tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of May after the results of this week's one-day test.

Goodyear also will do a tire test Monday and Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway.

Those scheduled to test are Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Speed, Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger.

PIT STOPS

Charlotte Observer reporter David Poole, who died this week, was selected as the first-quarter recipient of the National Motorsports Spirit Award, which recognizes character, sportsmanship, achievement in the face of adversity and contributions to motorsports.... Specialist Joshua Napier, a native of Gloucester, will be a guest of the U.S. Army and Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley at tonight's race. Napier, a Gloucester High graduate, received the Purple Heart after being struck by sniper fire in Iraq. He is stationed at Fort Eustis.

- Dustin Long