Joe Sebo / AP

Brad Keselowski (12) flips after being nudged by Carl Edwards, top, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Atlanta on Sunday.

Although suspensions are rare in a sport that rewards consistency and being on the track for every race, they're not unprecedented.

In 2007, Robby Gordon spun out Marcus Ambrose during a Nationwide series race in Montreal, ignored a black flag and was suspended for the following day's Cup event at Pocono. That same year, truck driver Ted Musgrave was ordered to sit out a race for hitting a competitor during a caution period.

The facts in this case seem pretty clear.

"It looked like it could have been a payback from the No. 99 on the No. 12," Pemberton said. "We talked with Carl after the race and we have an understanding about it. ... Carl said he got into him. He said he didn't expect the result."

Keselowski defended his actions in the first incident Sunday.

"He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted (off the accelerator). I couldn't lift fast enough," he said. "I was underneath him and tried to cut him a break. It was too late, though. He turned down. I apologized to him, but there was nothing that I could do in that situation."

The race need a couple of overtime restarts before Busch pulled away for the win.

After the Keselowski smashup, Busch pulled off a brilliant move to slip between Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer, snatching away the lead going into turn one. But he couldn't get all the way around to take the white flag before a seven-car crash broke out behind him.

On the second green-white-checkered attempt, Busch powered away on the restart, zipped around the track two more times and beat Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second to win the Atlanta spring race for the second year in a row. It took 16 extra laps to finish a race that was scheduled for 325.

Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Menard.