I bet ya’ll are rethinking that whole “have at it, boys” stuff now. Robin Pemberton’s words from last month’s pre-Daytona press conference were running through my head as I watched Brad Keselowski’s Dodge flutter through the air and crash roof-first into the outside wall at Atlanta last Sunday.

I don’t think Carl Edwards turning dead right to wreck someone at 190-plus miles per hour is quite what Pemberton had in mind.

Edwards, running 150 laps down with six laps to go, hooked Keselowski, who was running in the top-10 at the time, turning the No. 12 Dodge sideways and causing the car to get airborne. It was eerily similar to an incident between the two at Talladega last April, only with the roles reversed.

Did Edwards owe Keselowski one for the early-race bump that put the No. 99 in the garage for half the afternoon? Probably. Is spinning a guy at the fastest part of the fastest track in NASCAR the way to do it?

That’s a negative, especially if you wear white racing gloves. With the next stop on the schedule being Bristol in two weeks, if you want to wreck somebody, do it there sans the day-glow gloves.

I’m in favor of bumpin’, rubbin’, beatin’ and bangin’ as much as the next guy. Heck, it’s my favorite part of the racing action. But what Edwards did was not part of the racing action. Edwards was 150 laps down. Keselowski was racing for a top-10 finish.

I want to see the bumpers and fenders and doors slammed racing for the lead, not between some guy who has run 300 less miles than the lead lap cars and some other cat.

And come on, Carl, you always lie about it. I don’t care if they have you on the radio saying you are going to wreck him or have video of you in your white racing gloves turning the car hard right, you always, always say, “It was just one of them racin’ deals.”

NASCAR put Edwards on probation for three weeks. No fine. No docking of points. I was certain we would see a fine and a loss of points. Last year, he would have been fined and possibly suspended. This year, NASCAR is sticking to the the “have at it, boys” mantra, everything else be damned.

If you have been around NASCAR for any length of time, you know what probation means — nothing. It’s not even a slap on the wrist.

“We made it very clear to (Edwards) that these actions were not acceptable,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton.

Exactly how did you make it clear there Mr. Helton? Watch out Mr. Edwards, we are watching you. What happens after the three-week double secret probation?

The question now becomes, what kind of precedent does this set moving forward?

When questioned about what kind of actions would draw a more serious response from NASCAR, Helton said, “There is a line you can cross. We’ll step in to maintain law and order when we think the line is crossed.”

Could you be any more vague?

The “penalty” drew mixed reactions from drivers.

“Retaliation is one thing,” said Clint Bowyer. “Carl is my friend. He’s a good guy and a good racer. He could be a little bit more smarter about things. That was a situation that could have maybe gotten somebody killed.”

Elliott Sadler had a different view.

“You can’t let guys run over the top of you all the time,” said Sadler. “If you think it’s getting to that point where you have two or three problems in a row, you’ve got to put your foot down. If not, they’re going to take advantage of you all the time.”

NASCAR is walking a fine line here between letting the boys and girls race and maintaining safety. What NASCAR has done by handling the Edwards-Keselowski flap the way it did is retain its flexibility in dealing with these matters. Almost maintaining consistency by allowing for some inconsistency. I think Michael Waltrip summed it up best.

“Good call, NASCAR,” Waltrip said. “You can’t ask the driver to take their gloves off one week and then tell them to put them back on the next week.”