Associated Press

Carl Edwards was fined $25,000 and docked 60 points in the Nationwide Series following Saturday's wreck.

The message, NASCAR insists, is still "Have at it, boys," even after series officials penalized Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski for their last-lap incident in last weekend's Nationwide race.

Yet, it's easy to view NASCAR's message more as it's OK to wreck one another as long as other competitors aren't involved.

NASCAR announced Wednesday that it had penalized Edwards 60 points in the Nationwide Series, fined him $25,000 and placed him on probation for any NASCAR event until Dec. 31. NASCAR placed Keselowski on probation for any NASCAR event until Dec. 31.

The penalties are stiffer than what NASCAR did in March when Edwards wrecked Keselowski in retaliation for an incident earlier in that Cup race.

NASCAR parked Edwards and later placed him on three-race probation, while Keselowski was not penalized in that incident -- which did not collect any other cars.

Saturday night, round two of Edwards-Keselowski caused other cars to crash as they approached the checkered flag after Edwards wrecked Keselowski for a bump in turn 1.

What seemed like an easy decision to issue penalties was not for NASCAR in this new era of allowing drivers to police themselves more.

"We've had a lot of debate on this," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.

"We wanted to make sure what we thought we were doing was fair, not to just those two competitors, but to the entire garage area and community out there. We said at the beginning of the year that we were taking the reins off of these guys. We want them to show emotion; we want them to be aggressive, take the gloves off, and we want to continue with that message.

"This doesn't take us a step backwards. It's just an incident with two individuals, and for the most part we feel that everybody is doing a really good job with it."

Pemberton said the 60-point penalty to Edwards essentially left both drivers about the same in the points as they were entering the race. Still, Edwards got a trophy and, other teams got wrecked cars.

Pemberton said this was the second time these two drivers have had an on-track incident this year, and that played a role in issuing penalties. He also admitted that it was "hard to overlook" all the other cars that crashed Saturday.

"You get the sense that they're willingness to take each other out sometimes has put other competitors in jeopardy or harm's way of being collected in an incident when they don't have a dog in the fight," Pemberton said. "You can't overlook that it's intentionally screwing up the show."

Keselowski said in an interview on Sirius Satellite radio that, "I wouldn't do anything different" from what happened Saturday night. Keselowski admitted that he made a "mistake" by tapping Edwards' car in turn 1, causing Edwards to drift up the track and lose the lead.

Edwards did not offer a statement. Roush Fenway Racing stated that it was reviewing the incident and whether to appeal the penalties.

Questions still persist, though, as NASCAR moves forward. Earlier this week, Jeff Gordon said he wanted to talk to series officials this week to see what is allowed and what isn't.

He might have had some of his questions answered by NASCAR's reaction.

Just don't involve others.