At the conclusion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 499 Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, Brad Keselowski, immediately took to Twitter with complaints that the final restart was flawed. These complaints followed No. 34 Farm Rich Ford driver, David Ragan’s, actions during the final restart that led to his 2nd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Immediately following the conclusion of the race Keselowski tweeted, “Mad as hell about that finish. We were supposed to line up 10th when the 34 switched lanes entering 3 before green. That lane won. I’m happy as hell a small team won. Doesn’t change the fact that the restart was blatantly wrong.”
In the Media Center following his trip to Victory Lane, Ragan commented on Keselowski’s allegations. He said, “We were running 8th when I guess the one to go around the caution time, and NASCAR, I guess it’s standard procedure, they always go back through the running order and adjust any cars that need to be adjusted, I guess with film maybe when the caution came out in the back straightaway wreck, and I knew that we were probably a little higher than what we should be because we were running 20th or so when that wreck happened and we made it through, so they adjusted the lineup. The 95, the 2, and the 34. So NASCAR says that on the radio. They tell the spotters, tell the crew chief, and so the 95 pulls up. Well, obviously Brad wanted to start on the outside, because he knew the same thing that I knew, that the outside lane had an advantage on the restart, but he just didn’t want to listen to NASCAR. So NASCAR makes the call on where we line up at, and I listen to what NASCAR has to say.”
On Tuesday, after further review and inquiry about the final events of the Aaron’s 499, Keselowki extended a formal apology to No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver, David Ragan, and his fans. Keselowksi said, “I finally had a chance to digest what happened at the end of the Cup race at Talladega on Sunday. I owe David Ragan and his fans an apology. I placed blame on David Ragan for the restart lineup confusion when it wasn’t his fault…It was a confusing time for all of us. I want to send a sincere congratulation out to David Ragan and everyone at Front Row Motorsports. It was a very cool win for our sport.”
Later Tuesday Ragan tweeted a response to Brad’s apology. Ragan said, “Good to hear from Keselowski today. He didn’t have to correct the wrong, but he did and that was pretty cool.”
With the misunderstanding behind them, both drivers can focus their attention on the Bojangle’s Southern 500 this Saturday at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC.
Kesmouthski seems to be “inserting foot in mouth” lately doesn’t he?