By now, most of us have seen the video of the altercation between Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth following the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday afternoon. In case you missed it, Kenseth was standing on pit road, waiting to be interviewed by Speed's Bob Dilner, when Carl stepped into the frame and physically moved Matt backwards several steps. When Matt attempted to get around Carl, Carl restrained him. The video cuts out for a short bit, but when it resumes, Carl can be seen faking a punch at Matt and laughing when Matt flinches.

 

There are a few theories as to why Carl behaved the way he did, and several would seem to make sense, but here at the Dan Williams Institute, we've done some research and we've come to the following conclusion:

 

Carl Edwards is an asshole.

 

Now, now, Edwards fans, before you go posting comments, keep in mind that we here at the Institute are Tony Stewart fans, so we know an asshole when we see one.

 

Let's look at a couple notable incidents in recent Edwards history, shall we?

 

Who can forget Carl nearly removing Dale Earnhardt Jr's hand with a flying side swipe following a Busch race last season?

 

Or how about Carl's sarcastic gestures at Kenseth during a Busch race this year at Kansas? Carl wrecked out of the race and while Matt was nowhere near Carl when he wrecked, Carl evidently felt he should blame Kenseth anyway. (The two had made contact earlier in the race and that contact had caused one of Carl's tires to deflate, but it was purely incidental.)

 

Stewart last season called Edwards the Eddie Haskell of NASCAR, and it's becoming very clear why Tony said that.

 

The incident Sunday at Martinsville was noteworthy not because the two drivers had a disagreement, and not even because teammates were at odds, but because of the completely unprofessional manner in which Carl behaved.

 

As a teammate to Matt, Carl has many options when it comes to airing a grievance with him, but he chose to do it very publicly and in a fashion befitting a school yard bully. It was also a BIG mistake doing it anywhere near Dilner, who ranks just ahead of Lee Spencer when it comes to sensationalistic and opportunistic NASCAR journalism. Dilner doesn't mind making up news if that's what he has to do to have a story, so there's no chance he's going to pass on reporting an incident like this.

 

With question marks surrounding him, Carl may have been dealt the biggest blow by another teammate, Greg Biffle. On Monday's edition of Inside Nextel Cup, Biffle explained why Carl was angry at Matt, but he made it clear that Carl had no right to have a beef with Matt and intimated that Carl is far from the clean cut guy he appears to be.

 

Phrases like, "the true colors are coming out" and, "the people wearing the 99 and Carl Edwards t-shirts... they need to second guess...", were very telling, especially coming from a teammate.

 

Roush Racing said that there will be no disciplinary action taken against either of the drivers and that's certainly their prerogative, but it seems that by taking no action, they're telling Carl it's okay to humiliate his teammates whenever he feels the need and whether he's right or not.

 

All that aside, the cool part out of all this is that we can now add a new name to the club:

 

Kurt Busch

 

Kyle Busch

 

Tony Stewart

 

Robby Gordon

 

Kevin Harvick

 

and now,

 

Carl Edwards.

 

Welcome to the NASCAR Assholes Club, Carl, we're glad to have you aboard.

 

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