The 2025 Daytona 500 is going to be a star-studded affair. Among the stars gracing the Great American Race are 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 4-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves. 65-year-old Mike Wallace, former NASCAR star, was also scheduled to make a comeback. However, NASCAR axed his new ambition. This reminds us of another decision taken 15 years ago that benefitted Carl Edwards.

The reason for shuttering Mike Wallace’s plan to run in Daytona was the 10-year abstinence. The last time Wallace ran the Daytona 500 was in 2015. However, this is hardly the first time NASCAR took action due to a long career gap – and it ended up preventing a massive racetrack conflict.

Was Carl Edwards saved by NASCAR’s restriction?

Well, the 28-time Cup Series race winner hung up his firesuit in 2016. But before he did that, Carl Edwards was fabulous behind the wheel across his 12-year career. The legend’s celebratory backflip and fierce personality were not the only popular parts of his journey. In the 2010s, Edwards harbored a simmering rivalry with Brad Keselowski. A notable incident unfolded at Gateway International Raceway for the Nationwide Series 250 in July 2010. The last few laps witnessed the drama – Keselowski had moved Edwards from the lead. Then the latter responded in kind.

Carl Edwards hit Keselowski in the left rear, turning him into the inside wall. Keselowski was further hit hard by two other drivers. This evoked a storm of fury from his father, Bob Keselowski. Besides staunchly supporting his son, the 1989 ARCA Menards Series champion took it personally. Recently, his other son Brian shared how he wanted to race just to settle a score with Edwards. But NASCAR did not allow it due to a career gap – much like Mike Wallace’s current situation. “Tried to get my dad approved in 2010 to run IRP nationwide race. They wouldn’t approve him to run but truck series short tracks. At that time, he hadn’t driven in nascar since 2000. Now to be fair,he only wanted to get in to wreck Carl Edwards, so it was probably the right thing.”

Bob Keselowski was a 24-time ARCA race winner and captured his lone Truck Series win at Richmond Raceway in 1997. Due to back pain and a pinched nerve, he slowly stepped out of the tracks in 1999 – but Bob continued working in motorsports for years after. That explains his unbridled passion in cussing Carl Edwards for wrecking Brad Keselowski twice in 2010. “Carl just flipped out and tried to kill the boy. It’s just like what he did at Atlanta. He’s not going to kill my boy. I might get out my [driver’s] suit and take care of it myself.” Indeed, he wanted to do that, until NASCAR restrained him – possibly saving Edwards from an ugly fight. Bob Keselowski passed away in December 2021 at 70 years of age.

Bob lost his temper, and Brad Keselowski did not take it so well either.

Like father like son

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Well, your parents can be your most passionate cheerleaders. Bob Keselowski was like that after the July 2010 incident. This was because another incident preceded that in March of the same year. Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards’ year-long rivalry culminated at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It started when Keselowski clipped his rival on lap 40, and the latter took 90 minutes to formulate a violent plan. On lap 323, Edwards took his revenge – the No. 99 Ford clipped the back end of the No. 12 Dodge and sent it flipping airborne into Turn 1. As a result, Keselowski was sent to the infield care center while NASCAR parked Edwards for “aggressive driving.”

Carl Edwards tried to explain his stance, highlighting Keselowski’s move. “We were on the restart and I was going for the bottom. I knew Brad was peeking inside, but I thought he’d give me just a little bit of room and he didn’t and we ended up overlapping.” However, Keselowski had a different take: “He cut down on me on a restart, and I lifted (off the accelerator), and I couldn’t lift fast enough for him…lifted for him to let him in, but I was there. I don’t know what more you could do.” He even slammed Edwards for his dangerous antics: “To come back and just intentionally wreck someone — that’s not cool. It could have killed somebody in the grandstands.” 

Reliving this feisty drama is certainly refreshing. It also makes us understand why Brad Keselowski’s father wanted to wreck Carl Edwards – although NASCAR pulled a ‘Mike Wallace’ on him.