Brad Keselowski – He Protests Too Much?

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May 17, 2011

Brad Keselowski is one of the bright young talents in NASCAR racing. He’s won a Nationwide Series championship and even had a surprise win at Talladega in the Sprint Cup series, but this weekend’s strange behavior makes one wonder about what his agenda really is. Keselowski had a good car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Fed Ex 200 race at Dover International Speedway, but the circumstances of the final laps left him with a crashed race car and a less than stellar finish. What happened next was certainly strange.

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]As the race came down to its conclusion, it was between Carl Edwards and Joey Logano for the win. As is usually the case, late cautions caused the race to go to the two lap green-white-checker finish to settle things. This policy was established a couple of years ago so that fans could always, or nearly always, see a race finish under green flag conditions. Edwards and Logano fought hard to win the race. That is a requirement of their jobs. Edwards got inside of Logano and the driver of the Joe Gibbs Toyota entry seemed to get loose and slide up toward the wall. Edwards got by, but Logano slammed the wall, came back across the track and slammed into Clint Bowyer whose car got on its side and nearly jumped the wall separating the track from the pits. Both cars were junk. Edwards won the race.

Edwards was shaken, deciding to not do his customary back flip. Visibly upset, Edwards stopped to check on Logano and Bowyer and headed to victory lane. Finally, when Edwards was given a taped recording of the final lap, did he settled down. He did not hit Logano. It was hard racing, That wasn’t enough for Keselowski.

In an interview on the telecast, Keselowski, asked to explain what happened in those final laps, said it seemed that Edwards had hit Logano to get past him and win the race. When presented with the evidence that Edwards had indeed not touched Logano, Keselowski went into a long explanation of how aerodynamics can cause a car to get loose and probably that was what Edwards had done to get past Logano. Never mind that this has been done forever. When going for the win, you do what you have to do.

To add insult to injury, those listening to Sirius Radio’s post-race coverage with Claire B. Lang, a caller said Keselowski had tweeted the same thing and that the driver was trying to call it. He finally got through to Lang to go into his long explanation of how fans do not know what happens on the track and how a driver can pass another and not hit them. His caveat that he considered it hard racing and not “dirty” was a veiled attempt to hide his real agenda.

If we go back to the April 26, 2009. Keselowski was in a car owned by James Finch, and as usually is the case, found he in line for the win. He was behind Edwards on the final lap. Edwards blocked Keselowski on the low side and Keselowski, knowing that going lower and across the “yellow line,” drove into Edwards at the end and won the race. Edwards’ car was propelled into the catchfence along the tri-oval and came to earth as a piece of scrap metal. Keslowski was his only Sprint Cup race on that day.

Memories are long and Edwards retaliated against Keselowski in a couple of races, resulting in horrible crashes . At one point, Keselowski’s father, NASCAR veteran, Bob Keselowski, had harsh words for Edwards. Apparently, Keselowski still hasn’t gotten beyond that.

To add insult to injury, Keselowski found Kyle Busch’s actions in the final laps objectional. Busch, in the midst of the storm on that final run, ran into Keselowski. Keselowski found objection with that, saying that he “owed Busch one.” Keselowski not only headed to his Twitter account to state his point of view, which is refreshing and wonderful, he took the media to task, saying that they had no right to say Edwards was not at fault in his skirmish with Logano and that there weren’t really good people in the television booths (he said that wasn’t the case with radio, meaning NASCAR’s MRN). In others words, they didn’t agree with him.

Me thinks Brad protests too much. It’s time for him to realize that some things just happen in racing, especially on the last lap with the win on the line. He should know. He must have forgotten that day in April two years ago, but my father always told me that those things are always lost from the memory bank. Keselowski is young and he is learning. I hope.,

HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE GOODYEARS AT DOVER

By

SM Staff

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May 17, 2011

During the NASCAR weekend at the Dover International Speedway, the final outcome of the Sprint Cup race was determined by the number of Goodyear tires the teams used during their final pit stops. The Nationwide Series event ended with a violent crash that made the speedway’s official mascot, Miles The Monster, smile and the Camping World Truck Series race was about a familiar winner and his standard practice of generating new career numbers. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]HOORAH to driver Matt Kenseth, crew chief Jimmy Fennig and Roush Fenway Racing for winning last Sunday’s Fed Ex 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks. The event marked the team’s second win of the season, their second win in five races this year, their second win at Dover and Kenseth’s 20th career win.

HOORAH to Kenseth and Fennig for the last second tag team decision to only take two tires, during what turned out to be the final pit stop of the race, when the other race contenders opted to take four tires. The result was excellent track position for the restart that led to a 2.1 second margin of victory. It turned out that Goodyear Tires, and the number of them selected on pit road, would play a huge factor in the outcome of this race.

HOORAH for Mark Martin and his crew chief Lance McGrew. Feeling like they had nothing to lose, they chose to gamble on zero Goodyears to put their car into the lead. with a little over 30 laps left in the race. The result was the second place finish this team badly needed.

The popular opinion, especially with the television broadcast analysts, was to take four Goodyears during this final stop. WAZZUP with that option not working? This was especially true of Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson who were major players in this race. After leading 117 of 400 laps, Edwards had to settle for a seventh place finish. Johnson, who led 209 laps, wound up with a disappointing ninth place finish. The good news here is the fact that Edwards and Johnson were able to maintain their one-two status in the points standings.

WAZZUP with Clint Bowyer and his crew chief, Shane Wilson, who felt the sting from both the two and four tire pit options? During a lap 40 competition yellow, Wilson called for a two tire stop which turned out to be a disaster. Bowyer nearly fell a lap down to leader Johnson in the aftermath of the move. However, adjustments by Wilson, during ensuing stops, allowed his driver to become a contender who led 29 laps late in the race. Not wanting to get stung by a two tire stop again, Wilson chose four tires on the final pit road appearance but the best Bowyer could make of it was a sixth place finish.

What was the major difference here? It appears that the rubber worn into Dover’s concrete surface, by the late stages of the race, allowed the additional grip needed for Martin and Kenseth to get away with their zero and two Goodyear calls.

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WAZZUP with Stewart-Haas Racing and their overall ineffectiveness during the Dover Cup race? Efforts to come up with the adjustments needed for Tony Stewart’s Chevrolet were totally ineffective. Adding insult to injury was a pit stop where very little gas wound up inside of the car’s tank. This miserable night ended with Stewart finishing 29th a whopping six laps down. The news wasn’t much better for the Stewart-Haas Racing second team, driven by Ryan Newman, who finished 21st two laps down.

During the course of his long night in Dover, Stewart came over the radio and said “I’ve got no @#%&ing confidence in our team right now.”

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HOORAH to driver Brian Vickers, and his Red Bull Racing Toyota team, for their fifth place finish in Sunday’s Cup race. This badly needed strong finish provided some strong emotions for Vickers. This time last year he was in a hospital, being treated for a very serious blood clot condition and subsequent heart surgery, that had him wondering if his racing career was over.

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HOORAH to Carl Edwards for winning last Saturday’s 5 Hour Energy 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series at Dover. The Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver led a dominant 87 of the 209 laps. The event marked Edwards’ 32nd series win and moves him to fourth on the series’ all time win list.

WAZZUP with that horrific accident that followed the green-white-checker restart in this race? Heading towards the checkers, Joey Logano’s Toyota tagged the front stretch wall and slid into Clint Bowyer who was driving a Kevin Harvick owned Chevrolet. Bowyer’s car went into the air, landed on its side and then slammed hard into the inside wall. Fortunately, the mandated safety equipment did its job and Bowyer was uninjured.

The same could not be said for Glen Wheeler, a Kevin Harvick Inc mechanic. WAZZUP with this crew member being stuck by a flying coil spring from the impact of the Bowyer’s wreck? Wheeler sustained severe swelling in his left leg from the hit and had to be taken to a local hospital. The next morning he was released and allowed to fly home to North Carolina where he will continue medical evaluation.

HOORAH to race winner Edwards for declining to perform his traditional post race back flip because he thought he may made some form of contact with Logano to cause this terrible wreck.

HOORAH to the ESPN camera man who caught all of the action and clearly proved that Edwards did not touch Logano’s car and was, in no way, not responsible for this wreck.

HOORAH to the ESPN camera, mounted on top of the Bowyer car, that survived the majority of this wreck so we could all see this action from a breathtaking view.

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WAZZUP with the amazing circumstances of a lap 87 wreck, in the Nationwide Series event, that ruined the racing audition of Roush Fenway Racing’s Kevin Swindell? Alex Kennedy lost control of his car and crashed into the inside back stretch wall. Kennedy wanted to get his car back to pit road as quickly as possible for possible repairs. During that effort he pulled an ill advised and timed U turn and drove directly into the path of the Swindell car who was unfortunately slammed hard into the wall.

Swindell was subbing for Roush Fenway driver Trevor Bayne who has been out of action due to illness. It was a golden opportunity for the young driver to shine before team owner Jack Roush in hopes of advancing his career as a NASCAR development driver. Instead he was sidelined in an incident that was widely regarded as senseless. NASCAR agreed and summoned both Kennedy and his spotter to their official trailer for an official conversation.

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HOORAH to Kyle Busch for winning the Lucas Oil 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Dover Friday night. The event marked Busch’s 27th series win, his third win of the season and his second truck win at Dover.

Busch’s stats in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series are simply amazing. He has 96 wins in all three series including ten wins this year: five in the Nationwide Series, three in the Camping World Truck Series and two in the Sprint Cup Series.

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In our final comments this week HOORAH to Ricky Stenhouse Jr, driver of the #16 Ford, for Roush Fenway Racing, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Stenhouse donated his share of the team’s prize money, during Friday’s Nationwide race, to the Mississippi Flood Relief.

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Another HOORAH goes to Carl Edwards and his fellow Roush Fenway Racing employees for coming to the aid of one of their own. Back on April 8th, Edwards won the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at the Nashville Super Speedway. With that came the traditional speedway trophy: a Gibson electric guitar custom painted by famed NASCAR artists Sam Bass.

In the days that followed that win Roush Fenway Racing was shocked to learn of the death of one of their own, Jonathan Bunting, who tragically died in an auto accident leaving behind his wife and two children. Edwards wanted to help the family and set up a special online auction with the Nashville guitar as the grand prize. The bidding concluded a month later and the guitar, along with a special one of a kind sketch donated by Sam Bass, raised $20,400. The worthy cause was helped by an additional $30,000 plus from donations from RFR employees, drivers and their sponsors.

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The final WAZZUP of the week goes to NASCAR Nationwide Series development driver Ryan Truex for making the monumental mistake of admitting one of his special fears on live television. During an interview on the SPEED Channel, Truex admitted that he was seriously afraid of spiders. I hope he’s ready for what’s coming down the line. You know it’s going to be a short amount of time before some merry garage prankster plants a rubber spider inside of his racing helmet. Don’t be too surprised if Dale Earnhardt Jr is the first to make this move because this type of fun is right up his alley.