Monday, October 20, 2014
Associated Press
TALLADEGA, ala.
Brad Keselowski refused to be knocked down — not by Matt Kenseth, who jumped him from behind after a disastrous race at Charlotte, and not by garage-wide condemnation over his post-race meltdown.
He kept his head up and arrived at Talladega Superspeedway determined to shake off a bad week that earned him a $50,000 fine from NASCAR and moved him to the edge of elimination in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Only a win would keep his title hopes alive.
Only the toughest of drivers could tune out everything that had happened and ignore the weeklong chorus of criticism from his peers.
Keselowski pulled it off Sunday with an improbable victory that moved him into the third round of the Chase. He used a push from Team Penske teammate Joey Logano on a restart in overtime, and then got last-lap coverage from, who else? Kenseth.
“I know there’s probably some people out there that aren’t really happy I won. I can understand that. But I’m a man like anyone else and not real proud of last week. But I’m real proud of today,” said Keselowski, who found comedic relief in his assist from Kenseth.
“It was funny how this racing world works out. I don’t know why it is that way. I don’t know why it seems like every week where there’s either a fight in the garage or a mishap or something like that happens, those two cars and people end up together.”
His professionalism under attack and his season slipping away, Keselowski still managed to focus on the difficult task at hand. He was in a three-way race to Victory Lane with six-time and defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., all three needing to win to stave off elimination.
It was Keselowski who grabbed the checkered flag.
“I’ll take the 50 grand and the win this week, wouldn’t you?” said Keselowski team owner Roger Penske. The owner and driver can just take the fine out of the winner’s check of $288,361.
But Penske, winner of the IndyCar title this year with Will Power, strongly defended the driver who gave him his first career Cup title two seasons ago.
“These guys are jealous of the job he’s done this year,” Penske said. “He’s won six races. He’s made poles. He’s been up front. Nobody likes to see a guy win like that.
“I want him to get mad. I don’t want him to take it. We talked about it (last week). I said, ‘Brad, put it in the rearview mirror.”’
Logano and Kevin Harvick, the winners of the first two races in the second round, also advanced to the third three-race round along with Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Hamlin and Kenseth. The field will be cut to four after the ninth race. Points are reset after each round and the title will be decided by finishing order in the Nov. 16 finale at Homestead.
After the race, NASCAR said Newman’s car failed inspection because it was too low on both sides of the back of his Chevrolet. Penalties will likely be issued Tuesday, but that infraction typically is docked 15 points. Newman holds a 27-point lead over Kasey Kahne, who was eliminated Sunday.
The much-anticipated championship battle between Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports took a major hit. Penske got both Keselowski and Logano into the third round, but Hendrick had three of its four drivers eliminated Sunday. Only Gordon advanced.
“Great teams, great drivers, great friends. I hate to see them not in there,” Gordon said about Johnson, Earnhardt and Kahne. “I really thought the chances of two of them getting in were very good, and certainly one of them. I thought two of us would be in there, and I thought there’s a decent chance three could be there.”