Carl Edwards got ahead of himself at Talladega on Sunday, and then some guy named Brad Keselowski got ahead of Carl to win the Aaron’s 499.  Edwards fans were shocked when their favorite driver uncorked his signature celebration – a back flip – about 200 yards shy of the finish line.

“Not only did Carl do the back flip too soon,” said Edwards fan Rusty Stumpbuckle, “but he also forgot to get out of the car first.  I just don’t know what he was thinking.”

The driver of the 99 was so excited to bring home his first win of 2009 that he flipped his Ford over Ryan Newman’s Chevrolet and into the safety fence on the front stretch.  Racing experts in and out of the broadcast booth verified that, had Edwards not done that, he would have won the race. 

Instead, the Columbia, Missouri native was felled by his own pride and finished 24^th.

Seeing the backflip was nevertheless worthwhile to Carl’s fans.  “It’s still vintage Edwards – the backflip is never pretty, but he always lands on his feet,” Stumpbuckle told us.  “Everyone knows how muscled-up Carl is, so it should come as no surprise that he just backflipped that car as easy as he did.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth were reportedly not amused by Edwards’ antics, having provided the race’s next best highlight by causing “The Big One” more than 150 laps earlier.

“That’s a whole morning of Fox News coverage down the tubes,” Kenseth’s publicist complained.  “Edwards can do it all and, at the end of the day, he was The Big One – pretty much all by himself.”

Asked if he had any advice for his favorite driver, Stumpbuckle just grinned and shrugged.  “I’d tell him that backflips are fine and dandy, but just make sure you see those checkers first.”