NASCAR CUP SERIES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
BRAD KESELOWSKI MEDIA TELECONFERENCE
Ford Performance NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski met with members of the media today via Zoom to discuss the upcoming race weekend at Richmond and the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Ford Mustang — WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY ANNOUNCEMENT TO RECONFIGURE TO A SHORT TRACK FOR 2022? “It is crazy. I didn’t even think it was real at first. I thought it was one of those satire sites. But it wasn’t. It is interesting. There is always a nostalgia effect, especially since I won at California Speedway, so you have that feeling that you don’t get to run a track you won at. You remember the moments, victory lane, all that kind of good stuff. Then there is part of me that thought having another short track could be really, really cool. So I don’t want to say I am indifferent because I am not indifferent about it, I just want to see how it plays out. It is like I am watching a soap opera and I want to see what the next part of the plot is as it develops. But it definitely got my attention.”
HOW ARE YOU LOOKING AT RICHMOND THIS WEEKEND AND WHAT DOES THAT TRACK MEAN TO YOU IN GENERAL? “I am super pumped about it. We have ran a handful of short track races this year. I don’t know if we count the 1-mile tracks as short tracks or not. It seems like one year we might and the next year we don’t But we have really kicked some butt at those tracks. Our expectations going into Richmond are really high. We expect to lead a lot of laps, be up front and potentially bring home our fourth win of the year. I am very, very pumped and optimistic about it. I think the team told me we are bringing my Loudon car. Same paint scheme and everything and that car was just flying at New Hampshire. So we are very hopeful for a big strong showing at Richmond.”
COMING INTO THE YEAR, DID YOU HAVE EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT THIS TEAM COULD DO SEEING WHAT THEY HAD DONE WITH RYAN (BLANEY)? “It has been a good year. I don’t want to say we are right where we want to be. Where we want to be is where Harvick and Hamlin and those guys are. I want to have seven or eight wins. That is where I want to be. But we are in good shape. We have three wins, we have a lot of bonus points. We have a lot to be proud of. I don’t know if I really came in with any expectations. In fact, probably the opposite. I didn’t want to have expectations. I just wanted to do the best we can and see how it plays out.”
CHASE ELLIOTT NOTED EARLIER TODAY ABOUT THE DIFFERENT APPROACH OF THE NASCAR LEADERSHIP WITH A LOT OF CHANGES THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS YEAR AND COMING IN THE FUTURE. HOW DIFFERENT ARE THEY APPROACHING THINGS AND IS THERE SUCH A THING AS TOO MUCH OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT? “It is very provocative and I mean that in a good way. I think we are really starting to see Jim France and his leadership style, I don’t want to say get comfortable, but kind of find their path and direction. It has been a little bit of a breath of fresh air in some ways. I would say that the move at Auto Club Speedway has a good feel to it in the sense that it feels like this is something coming right from the top. It feels like there has been a fair amount of thought put into it, at least from my perspective. I think we have seen a couple different examples of that with things that just kind of feel like they are Jim. He has got his own style and I don’t think it is bad and I am not sure I would say that where we were before was bad. I thought there was room for improvement but I feel like I am in the middle of a book and I am just reading chapters and it is almost like there is a different writer now with these chapters and Jim is writing them and they are pretty interesting and compelling. It is hard to view them as a whole because naturally none of know everything that is going on behind the scenes but in the moment there is more that I agree with than I disagree with and that is probably a good thing.”
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE IN PARTICULAR OTHER THAN AUTO CLUB HAS JIM’S FINGERPRINT ON IT? “Just the fact that we were able to get to the track and race over these last few months when not every sport but most other sports were kind of dancing. I think that has the feel of him with a down to earth, figure it out and make things happen. When I think of Jim France I think of someone that leads in that way of, ‘Hey, we are going to get to the race track and not throw in the towel.’ There were plenty of instances where that could have happened throughout the pandemic and then the thing that happened at Talladega. He has a real good pace, persistence that in some ways almost turns into a healthy tenacity that I appreciate about him. You are alluding to something Chase said and I don’t know his whole quotes or want to take it out of context but I can definitely feel Jim’s leadership.”
HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH RICHMOND FROM WHEN YOU STARTED TO WHERE YOU THINK YOU ARE NOW IN THIS PLAYOFF RACE? “I definitely have a better feel for the track than I did my first year and a better feel for what I need out of the car. I made significant changes to my driving style. Martinsville and Richmond are very much about reps.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN THE RACE? DARLINGTON WAS AGGRESSIVE BUT NOT CRAZY LIKE WE THOUGHT. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN GENERAL AT RICHMOND? “I think I am looking at the end of that race and curious if it will have the long green or a short run. I am anticipating it will have some long green runs but I am not sure. I am looking to Bristol to be more chaotic just because of the placement in the playoffs more than anything else.”
SO RICHMOND WILL BE RICHMOND AS WE NORMALLY SEE IT? “Yeah, I think it is more about where the race falls than the actual race track and how that elevates the risks and chances that people are willing to take.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT AN IDEAL CUP SERIES SCHEDULE, IS THERE A CERTAIN NUMBER OF SHORT TRACKS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE, NUMBER OF INTERMEDIATE AND ROAD COURSES? WHAT IS THAT BALANCE IN YOUR MIND THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE? “There are four distinct genres of tracks. The short track genre, the superspeedway genre, road courses, and traditional 1.5 to 2-mile track. I think I would like to see short tracks represent at least 30-40% of the schedule. 1.5 mile has to have their place somewhere around that 25% mark. Road courses, maybe a little less, 10-15%, and then your superspeedways to finish out the percentage pie. Short tracks to me should be about 40% of the schedule of NASCAR.”
TRAVIS GEISLER SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT TEAM PENSKE IS JUST MISSING A LITTLE ON SOME TRACKS. DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN CONTEND WHEREVER YOU GO? “I think the strengths of Team Penske right now are the restrictor plate tracks and the short tracks. Road courses are pretty weak right now. I think we are 10th-15th as a company with what we have. I think the 1.5-mile tracks we are 5th-10th but we are in the top-five for the others. It is really hard, as much as Harvick has made it look so easy, it is really hard to have great cars on all the tracks. I don’t know if there is a team out there that has great cars on all the tracks. We would like to be good at three out of the four instead of two out of the four. The 1.5-mile tracks are probably the most important for us to improve on for the intermediate type tracks. I would agree that Travis is being realistic with what he said.”
THAT BEING SAID, HOW WILL LOUDON AND RICHMOND TRANSLATE TO PHOENIX? “I feel really good about Phoenix. We ran so great there in the spring. We got wrecked and rebounded to win a stage and lead a lot of laps and kind of got shuffled with the way the yellows fell at the end to what was going to be a win into like an 11th which was a real bummer. I feel pretty good about going back to Phoenix in the fall. We just have to get there. We have to get through the rounds and get through these 1.5-mile tracks and the Roval and all that kind of stuff. That is not going to be easy.”
