Usually in this space on Tuesdays I’m recapping the previous weekend’s Sprint Cup race. But with the Sprint Cup Series having an off week and with my email inbox buzzing with responses to what I am referring to as “The Mêlée at Gateway”, now seems as good a time as any to do another installment of Ask The Geek.

Boy, were your comments on what transpired between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski Saturday night varied. While most of you tended to condemn Edwards for intentionally wrecking Keselowski as the two raced their way to the checkered flag, there were a few of you that saw things a bit differently.

Q: Brad Keselowski seems to be getting a free pass on this and I’m not sure exactly why. This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t first gotten into Carl Edwards in Turn-One.

At that point what is so wrong with Carl retaliating against Brad for taking the win away from him? All Carl was doing was doing to Brad what Brad did to him first.
–Thomas

Q: Didn’t a driver who won seven titles do the same thing that Carl Edwards did Saturday repeatedly in his career? Instead of being vilified for it, he was celebrated as one of the best drivers in NASCAR history? Sure looks like a double-standard to me.
–Claire

Q: Brad Keselowski is a bum and he got exactly what he deserved. If you don’t like getting spun out, then maybe you should stop driving into the side of other drivers and crashing them.
–Jessie

A: Although each of these opinions has some merit to them, I think Thomas, Claire, and Jessie are each missing a key element.

When Brad Keselowski drove into Carl Edwards on the final lap, he didn’t crash Edwards. In fact Edwards was still able to drive back and retake the lead through Turns 3 and 4.

But when Edwards turned his car deliberately, which he admitted to doing post-race, he did so in a manner where Keselowski wasn’t able to gather up his car and continue on. When he did spin the No. 22 car out, it resulted in several other cars being collected as well.

What’s going to be most interesting to see this week is what the other drivers have to say about what transpired. I have a feeling that you’re not going to hear many or any drivers say that Edwards was justified in doing what he did.

Take for example current points leader Kevin Harvick, who Sunday night on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, said he if were in Keselowski’s shoes he would have punched Edwards in the mouth. Just a hunch but that sentiment is probably shared by quite a few drivers in the garage.

Everyone knows that Carl Edwards crossed a line Saturday night, and unlike Atlanta, where he sent Keselowski flying into the fence and no one else was caught up in the wake, this time several cars were collected in the aftermath.

Bottomline, there’s a right way and a wrong way for NASCAR drivers to police themselves and retaliate against a competitor who they feel did them wrong. Saturday night was a textbook example of how not to do it.

You don’t spinout a fellow driver on the frontstretch in the path of speeding cars, and you most certainly don’t start an incident that damages other cars that had nothing to do with the initial incident in the first place. It’s pretty cut-and-dry. Apparently though, Edwards doesn’t understand this.

Here’s an idea; if I were a team that saw my car damaged as a result of Edwards’s poorly thought-out and executed decision, I would be sending Roush-Fenway Racing a bill for the repairs. And I damn sure would make sure he paid the bill.

Patrick has our next question, and it’s the same question that everyone seems to be asking.

Q: Doesn’t NASCAR have to take some sort of action against Carl Edwards? Maybe not take away the win, because God knows they’ll never do that, but something along the lines of a point’s penalty. Or because probation didn’t work the last time, what about a suspension?
–Patrick

A: You would think that a driver deliberately wrecking another would warrant some kind of sanction against them. But a point’s penalty in the Nationwide Series isn’t going to have any serious effects on Edwards, because he already trails Keselowski by 168 markers in the standings.

As you said Patrick, its obvious being slapped with probation earlier this season didn’t work the first time considering what we saw Saturday night.

But before we consider a suspension, you have to know that there’s another factor in play as well.

NASCAR’s television ratings aren’t where they and their TV partners want them to be. With the knowledge that 30 minutes following “The Mêlée at Gateway” Carl Edwards was the number one trending topic on Twitter – worldwide mind you, not just here in the U.S. – I have a hard time believing NASCAR is going to suspend the driver who has quickly become the No. 1 villain in all of racing.

Carl Edwards has become a driver who fans are going to tune in on a weekly basis. They want to see if someone gives him his comeuppance. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, every sport needs a bad guy. Right now, Edwards is that guy.

Thus the very reason why it doesn’t appear likely that NASCAR is going to park Edwards for a race. Though, maybe NASCAR will surprise us, but I highly doubt it.

Now that we’ve waded through the Edwards-Keselowski mess, let’s move on to some of your other mailbag questions.

Q: You and others have said that you thought Kasey Kahne was going to end up in the 5 car next year and not have to be farmed out to another team for 2011. Do you still think this way; Mark seems pretty adamant that he’s not going anywhere.
–Betty

A: You’re right Betty; initially it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Rick Hendrick was going to find a way to bring Kasey Kahne into the fold a year earlier than expected. I even wrote a column saying this very thing.

Now…I have no clue where Kahne is going to end up for ’11. It still might happen at Hendrick, but that seems less likely with each passing day and Martin’s continued defiance that he’s going nowhere.

Ultimately what it’s going to comedown to is “The Godfather” (Hendrick) cutting a team a check to house the future of his four-team until Martin vacates the 5 car following the ’11 season.

That being said, the options on where Kahne ends up next year appear to be one of two teams.

The first is Phoenix Racing, which has an existing relationship with Hendrick Motorsports as they get their cars and engines from them. Just last year, Phoenix Racing Hendrick driver Brad Keselowski started six races for them, and even won at Talladega when Keselowski outdueled Carl Edwards.

(We can’t escape it folks, this Edwards-Keselowski fiasco is all encompassing, and it’s become more obvious by the day that everything relates back to them.)

With the second option being Tommy Baldwin Racing, where Kahne’s first Cup crew chief Tommy Baldwin is calling the shots. Though there are some questions as to whether Kahne and Baldwin are on the best of terms.

Outside of these two teams, the potential landing spots for Kahne are somewhat limited. Especially with Tony Stewart making it clear he’s not interested in expanding to three cars anytime soon with his sponsorship situation
still up in the air for next year.

If I had a gun to my head and had to pick one place where I thought Kasey Kahne was going to be a year from now, I would have to say Phoenix Racing. Although as anyone who has followed this situation knows; things are still very much up in the air.

As a follow-up to the above question, let’s answer a question about Kahne’s current and soon to be former team, Richard Petty Motorsports.

Q: Kasey Kahne is leaving, and Budweiser is following him out the door. Elliott Sadler has said he’s a goner as well. So what’s going to happen with Team Dysfunctional (great nickname by the way) as you call them next year?
–Mike

A: The situation at Team Dysfunctional aka Richard Petty Motorsports is all dependent on if they can come across sponsorship. Which, as we all know in this economic climate, isn’t the easiest of things to find.

Assuming team officials can somehow find a company willing to invest with a team that has come to redefine incompetent, there are plenty of drivers out there looking for work. Some of the first names that come to mind include Aric Almirola, Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte and maybe Scott Wimmer.

But it all revolves around whether any money, i.e. sponsorship, can be drummed up or not. When you compare RPM to the other teams out there who are also looking for sponsorship for ‘11 (Childress, Hendrick, Stewart-Haas) it’s not even a fair comparison.

For example, let’s say you owned a multi-million dollar company that was looking into sponsoring a team next season. Would you want to sign on with a team that is in constant turmoil and will likely never compete seriously for a championship? Or would you rather sign with RCR, Hendrick or Stewart-Haas where you know you’d visit victory lane regularly and championship isn’t just a possibility, but a realistic goal?

It’s a pretty easy answer isn’t it. Making the odds that Richard Petty Motorsports is around next year in its current form grim at best.

Let’s move onto a question I get anytime Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins a race.

Q: When are you going to admit that NASCAR fixed that race to allow Junior to win?
–Jamie

A: What Jamie is referring to is Dale Earnhardt Jr., driving the No. 3 car with a special Wrangler paint scheme in honor of his late father, won the Nationwide Series race at Daytona in convincing fashion.

Jamie is just one of many out there who seem to think that the win was some sort of conspiracy on NASCAR’s part to get Junior back in victory lane.

First off, I can’t make this any clearer: NASCAR isn’t in the business of fixing a race to ensure that a particular driver wins. There are too many elements out of their control and there are simply too many people who would have to be in on the conspiracy for this to happen.

Plain and simple.

Here’s a question that all the Junior haters have yet to answer when they allege that NASCAR gave to nod to Junior last Friday.

With TV ratings continuing to go down and attendance still flat, wouldn’t it be advantageous for NASCAR to fix it where Junior won a race say last year, or at the very least, at some point earlier this season? And if they were in the business of making predetermined calls as to who was going to win, why wouldn’t they fix it so Junior won a Sprint Cup race and not a Nationwide Series race?

Furthermore when it comes to fixing races; how do you explain Jeff Gordon’s losing streak? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone involved if he were winning races again and challenging Jimmie Johnson for the championship? I can go on if you want.

Here is one final question regarding my piece last week on blowing up and reconstructing the Sprint Cup schedule.

Q: I largely agree with what you say, but you leave out one gaping hole in the schedule. There is still no race in the Pacific Northwest. I think that needs to be addressed before moving a race to Montreal.

You might say, “Well, that’s not a big NASCAR area anyhow,” but you’d be wrong, I think. Remember that many top drivers (Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne) come from the area, and there is a lot of dirt track/short track racing.

The big problem if finding a facility. But I think NASCAR has to make this a priority, and make it happen.
–Brian

A: I agree wholeheartedly Brian, and so does NASCAR. That’s why they’ve made it a point over the years, when talking about expansion, that getting a track built in the Northwest is important to them.

However, with the downturn in the economy, and the money not flowing as freely as it used to, building tracks is no longer on the front-burner.

When I was developing and tweaking this idea of how I would makeup the Sprint Cup schedule, I tried coming up with a way to get a date on the calendar for the Pacific Northwest.

But as Brian said, the question becomes where? Currently, there are no viable tracks that are capable of hosting a race of this magnitude. If the series is going to have a race in that part of the country, it’s going to have to be on a new track purposefully built for NASCAR.

As it is, the Pacific Northwest will continue to be the one gaping hole on the Sprint Cup schedule for years to come.