Joe Sebo / AP

Intentional on-track crashes could be subject to criminal penalties like aggravated assault if a driver or fan were injured.

Morrow didn't agree. He said if the intent is clear, a driver is in danger of civil and criminal liabilities.

"You assume a hell of a risk when you drive a race car, but one of those risks is that another driver is not going to try and kill you," Morrow said. "It's whether or not [the contact] is intentional, and they very well in this situation stated intent."

If a driver sued another driver, it wouldn't be argued whether either assumes the risk of crashing. Instead, it would be argued whether a driver, just by participating in the sport, consents to retaliatory contact, said Mark Conrad, a sports law professor at the Fordham University School of Business.

"In theory, a basic case could be made for an assault but it could be a defense that this is something in the realm of the sport," Conrad said. "I'm not a big NASCAR viewer. But this [Atlanta wreck] does strike me a little bit beyond that. That's something that a jury would have to determine. I don't think it would be dismissed out of hand."

If a fan were injured and tried to sue, there would be similar arguments on whether the injuries were just the nature of the sport. Tickets to NASCAR races often include a waiver that states the ticket holder assumes the risk by attending the event. That release could help a driver's defense but wouldn't guarantee a case would be dismissed.

"It's basic law in North Carolina, you can't sign a release to waive an intentional [action]," Morrow said.

Still, NASCAR races are inherently dangerous to attend, Bray said.

"You are assuming some risk in attending that inherently dangerous sporting event," Bray said. "Before a spectator could look at going after, in this case Carl Edwards, they would have to get past the fact they were attending an inherently dangerous event, they chose to sit close to the track.

"Let's say they did [get past] that, they would have to prove it was reasonably foreseeable [by Edwards] that when Edwards did it, that they would be injured. With all the safety features in NASCAR now, is that reasonably foreseeable? It would be a question for the jury."

Conrad agreed and said it would have to be determined if a fan's injury went beyond what a person could reasonably expect when attending a race.

"It would not be an easy case but it is possible," Conrad said. "It would be normal contemplation of danger. It's an up-in-the-air question. I don't think you could answer that question very easily one way or the other. It would make a very interesting case.

"Fortunately [in the Edwards/Keselowski incident] nobody was hurt."

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