Brad Keselowski unapologetic: 'I'm not going to back down'
FORT WORTH — Brad Keselowski left Texas Motor Speedway battered, bruised and blasted by a growing chorus of veterans who think he doesn't show the proper deference befitting a NASCAR champion.
The Team Penske driver doesn't care.
With a hard-fought third place that ended in his second postrace brawl of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, his championship hopes are alive, and that is all that matters to the scrawny star who has emerged as the most polarizing iconoclast of stock car racing's premier circuit.
"I've gone through these battles before and come out stronger, and I'll go through them again," said Keselowski, sporting a cut on his cheek and a busted lip after being roughed up in a pit fracas that erupted after Jeff Gordon grabbed his fire suit and Kevin Harvick gave him a shove. "But what I'm not going to do is back down. I'm not going to get in the spot where I was in 2013, where I tried to be exactly what they all wanted me to be, because what they want me to be is a loser, and I'm not here to lose. I'm here to win. That means I'm going to have to drive my car, harder, stronger, faster than everybody out there. That's what I feel like I did today.
"Will those guys race me hard or harder than others? Absolutely, I'm certain they will. I can't fault them for that. I'd rather have enemies in NASCAR than have friends and be sitting at home."
After upsetting Denny Hamlin (who chased Keselowski's through the garage), Tony Stewart (who rammed his car in the pits) and Matt Kenseth (who put him in a headlock) after last month's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the list expanded to Gordon and Harvick after Sunday's AAA Texas 500.
Keselowski collided with Gordon in a three-way battle for the lead with winner Jimmie Johnson on the first of two attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. The contact with the No. 2 Ford cut the left-rear tire on Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet, sending it into a turn 3 spin and 29th-place finish.
"He's just a dip---," the four-time champion said of Keselowski. "I don't know how he's ever won a championship, and I'm just sick and tired of it. That's why everyone is fighting him.
"You can't have a conversation with him. He gets himself in this position, and he has to pay the consequences. I'm going to race him the same way he races me. That kind of stuff is just uncalled for and I'm not going to stand for it."
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After being shouted at by Gordon, Keselowski was attempting to walk away when he was pushed backward by Harvick, triggering a brawl among a few dozen team members.
"If you're going to drive like that, you'd better be willing to fight," Harvick said. "It's like I told him, 'If you're going to drive like a madman, you'd better be willing to take a few punches.' He was going to stand behind his guys. Jeff Gordon deserved to at least have a face-to-face conversation with him.
"I said, 'You're the problem. Get in your own fight.'"
Keselowski, who also has feuded in the past with Harvick (who gently slapped him during a postrace interview at Atlanta Motor Speedway two years ago), retorted that "if I wanted to be a fighter, I would have joined the UFC or have a management team like he does" (Kevin Harvick Inc. represents fighters Donald Cerrone and Miesha Tate).
"Kevin likes everybody to fight for some reason," said Keselowski, adding that "true race fans" don't want fights in NASCAR. "I came here to race, not to fight. I raced as hard as I could, and these guys just didn't like it."
Keselowski is on probation through next week for his postrace actions at Charlotte, where he slammed the cars of Hamlin and Kenseth after the race. It's unlikely he'd face further punishment for Texas, though, as he wasn't an instigator. NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton said video of the incident would be reviewed exhaustively, and that penalties would be assessed against anyone for punches, which are considered "over the line." It didn't appear that any drivers were swinging fists.
Mostly lost in the postrace hubbub was another impressive comeback by Keselowski, who rebounded from a 31st at Martinsville Speedway in last week's opener to the third round of the Chase. He remained seventh in the standings, but he improved to five points behind Gordon for the final transfer spot in the Chase entering the Nov. 9 race at Phoenix International Raceway that will set the four-driver field for the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After winning the 2012 title, Keselowski missed the Chase last season and has talked often of desperately wanting a second championship to prove he isn't a fluke. During a lengthy postrace interview in the media center, he justified his aggressive move on trying to shoot a gap past Gordon by referencing late racing legends Ayrton Senna and Dale Earnhardt — multitime champions who competed with an edge and rarely yielded — insisting while he didn't claim to be either, they both would have approved of his decision.
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"Last year I got away from being as aggressive as I was in 2012," he said. "I'm here to win races for Roger Penske. That means when there's a gap, I have to take it. If it requires a tiny bit of rubbing, that's OK. I'm not trying to dish out something that I couldn't take myself. But these guys have their own code, and they race differently than that. That's their right.
"With a 10th to 15th place car, we almost won. That happened because of that attitude and that fight. That's going to make some people mad because they don't race that way. I understand that. I'm not trying to dish something out I couldn't take. The way I raced today is what I would define as great racing that defined this sport, and I hope it will continue to define it for years to come. If a guy like me caves, it would be a shame for the history of this sport.
"Would I be disappointed if I just (wrecked) somebody to win the race? Yeah. I think you look through my history of racing, and that's never been the case.
"Today, there was a gap. It closed up. By the time it closed up, I was committed, and I stayed in it. That almost won me the race. It hurt somebody else's day. That's a shame. But the reality is there was a gap. I'm not Dale Earnhardt or Senna. They would sit here and tell you they would go for that same gap. I'm not them, but I'm inspired by that, and I'm going to race that way."
He seemed to gain support for that position from Harvick, who was asked if Keselowski was "out of control and driving over his head."
"No, I don't think so," Harvick said. "I think he's just racing as hard as he can for his team. He's trying to get all he can. But when it gets down to that type of racing, those things are going to happen exactly like they happened after the race. But I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as you're ready to roll."
Noting that NASCAR has "the safest cars in the world; can take some pretty hard hits," Keselowski said he'd be prepared for more flak from the establishment.
"I'll be back next week, and they'll have to face it," he said. "That's not in their interest, just like it's not in mine. If what I did was so wrong to those individuals, then they should race me back that same way. They have that ability, and I wouldn't be mad at them if they did."
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