SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Grinning from ear to ear and sporting a new crew cut, Carl Edwards cheerily sat down to face a crowd of reporters even larger than the group waiting across the room to interview NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
After making himself comfortable, Edwards leaned in to the microphone and with a huge smile, dead-panned, "You guys see that race last week?''
Everyone laughed.
Good ol' Carl -- NASCAR's Eddie Haskell.
Like Haskell, the too-good-to-be true kid next door from the 1950s and 1960s TV show 'Leave It To Beaver,' who was mischievous when the grown-ups left the room, Edwards is proving more complicated than he lets on, too.
Edwards has endeared himself to fans with his trademark victory back flips, smooth style and up-for-anything disposition. He's articulate and charming -- a sponsor's dream with made-for-TV good looks and personality. And he knows how to get around a race track, winning the 2007 Nationwide Series championship and collecting 16 wins in the Sprint Cup Series.
Lately though, Edwards is making headlines as NASCAR's new "bully" who wrecks his rivals in the name of a win, prompting fans to wonder if he is really the gentlemanly sports hero atop the white horse, or NASCAR's new villain.
This week Edwards was put on season-long probation, fined $25,000 and docked 60 Nationwide Series championship points for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski on the last lap of Saturday's Nationwide race. Keselowski was also put on season-long probation.
The two banged fenders while fighting for the lead. Yards in front of the finish line, Edwards punted Keselowski's Dodge, sending it into the outside wall where it careened across the track and hitting the inside wall an instant before it was slammed by two other cars in a frightening melee of wreckage.
Edwards, meanwhile, took the checkered flag and boldly declared from victory lane a few moments later, "I was not going to let him take that win from me."
"I walked out of that race track, head held high,'' Edwards said Friday before opening practice for Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"I went home and had a really good week. I rode my bike and hung out with with my daughter and my family and to a person, every single person that I talked to thought it was the right outcome for that race.''
Edwards insisted the on-track troubles aren't personal, as Keselowski had said earlier in the day.
"I have a lot of respect for him and what he does on the race track," Edwards said, "but the problem is that he can't just run into me to get an advantage, especially for wins.
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