NASCAR needs to better police drivers

We've seen it all before. A player throws a cheap shot on the ice, which is followed by the team enforcer fighting the guilty party. In baseball, it's the brush back pitch. Hot and high inside will teach you a lesson.

Often, players and athletes are able to police themselves. And then it goes too far.

Recently at a NASCAR race in Atlanta, Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski in response to previous nudges and bumps. Is this taking it too far? Edwards was closer to killing Keselowski then to teaching him a lesson.

For all of the heat the NHL takes for fighting, the league also has one of the best systems in place to deal with severe situations. NASCAR has no such policy and has promoted drivers policing each other on the track. In a sport where one mistake could take a life, NASCARs "policing" policy is a little ridiculous.

What about Major League Baseball? Well the brush back pitch and over dramatic bench clearing dust ups are all fine and dandy, but when it comes time for a suspension, even the MLB falls short. Players can challenge a ruling and be back in the line up the next night. If you're a pitcher, you might not even miss a start. Something doesn't seem right there.

The NHL has an interesting mix of self policing and league monitoring. In my opinion, it works. Sure you'll always have goons who go too far, but that is the case in any sport. There will always be dirty hits like Matt Cooke's headshot on Marc Savard regardless of the penalty attached to the action.

Look at Carl Edwards, he intentionally took a life in his own hands and luckily everyone walked away. He could have killed Keselowski and he could have killed fans in the stands. If NASCAR had dealt with Keselowski's antics earlier, this outrageous incident would never have happened.

League's like the NHL and the NBA have been properly dealing with player behaviour for years. It's time other sports including the MLB and NASCAR follow suit. If they don't, the results will damage their leagues, damage their image, and hurt or kill thier athletes.

Follow Instant Replay on Twitter