‘We can’t have cars flying,’ Keselowski says in wake of Talladega win, Logano crash
Brad Keselowski is fresh off his sixth career win at Talladega and his first NASCAR victory of the 2021 season. After celebrating with his family in Victory Lane last Sunday, the No. 2 Ford driver is already in championship mode.
“I think that’s ultimately where the focus is,” Keselowski said. “What do we need to be doing to win a championship?”
Keselowski spoke with the Observer this week about how wins might mean more this year, safety at superspeedways, whether drivers should be the face of the vaccine campaign and more.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Alex Andrejev: What was it like finally getting to experience a win with your family back? (Talladega was the first time Keselowski’s family was at the track to see him win since the pandemic hit.)
Brad Keselowski: That was really cool. My oldest daughter was so excited. She’s 5 going on 6, and that was really cool for her. She kept asking me, “When are you going to win, Daddy?” And Wednesday or Thursday night before the race she made me a card, and then she told me Saturday night before we left for the racetrack that she thought I was going to win and she was all pumped about it. I was really feeling the pressure, Alex. But then we did win and she was so excited. The problem is that now she thinks this is normal, right? So I’ve got to be really careful with that. In the eyes of a child it’s like if you don’t win you’re like meh, chopped liver.
AA: (Laughs) Right, well this year especially, it seems so hard to have multiple wins. What’s the next focus? Is it trying to get two wins, more points, helping Matt DiBenedetto try to get into the playoffs with Team Penske?
BK: I think the focus is on whatever we can do to win the championship and try to set ourselves up to be in the best possible position, and that’s complicated. There’s no definitive answer to that, but I think that’s ultimately where the focus is: What do we need to be doing to win a championship?
AA: Does it feel like getting multiple wins this year is more important given the different winners? Michael McDowell mentioned after Talladega that he was happy to finish in the top-three, but he would rather have two wins and not have to worry about points.
BK: Yeah. I mean, no joke about that. There are more winners this year than I think we’ve seen in a long, long time. So it’s really, really important to win, but it’s becoming more important to win multiple times just to make sure you’re all the way in.
AA: You won during the Month of the Military Child and Your Checkered Flag Foundation was honoring a military child on your car during the races this month, including at Talladega. What else can you share about the campaign?
BK: There’s a lot of specific reasons why we do this with my foundation. It’s a chance to recognize and honor military children who have been through some tough circumstances. Every child that we recognize has a different story, and I don’t want to put them all in one box, but I would say that losing a loved one in service to our country is a really painful thing to experience. I can’t imagine what that must be like. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have a family member who serves in an active conflict, let alone a parent who might lose their life, so it’s a chance for us to honor and recognize them. It’s the least we can do, to be honest, as part of the purple campaign. On the car, we put a military child’s name above the door during races for the month of April, and I’m glad we were able to get one of them to Victory Lane. That’s really cool.
AA: Have you been doing anything to celebrate the victory still or is the attention already turned to Kansas?
BK: We debrief and we go full-steam into winning Kansas. We were really good there last year, so it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. We’re starting on the pole because of the algorithm for starting position, and I’m really excited about it.
AA: Have you watched any replays from Talladega?
BK: Yes, that was one of the things I did do.
AA: So what did you make of Joey (Logano’s) crash? He talked about safety and the need to keep cars on the ground and you said the same post-race. Do you have any more thoughts on that after watching the replay?
BK: Well, two thoughts: My initial thought is that we have to be really, really careful. We can’t have cars flying. We can’t control where they’re going to land and scary things can happen. We have to be really careful about it. Ultimately for the health of the sport in order to ensure its sustainability, we can’t risk anyone getting hurt in the cars or even more so outside of the cars, and flying cars is the clearest way to jeopardize that position. If that is the short side of it, the long side of it is that I didn’t realize how bad Joey’s car itself was and the damage that it sustained. I got a chance to see some of the photos of it and it was damaged in a more compromising way than I had anticipated. We are certainly flirting with the boundaries of a driver fatality. At some point that’s part of the risk we sign up for, but we also should be cognizant of methodologies to reduce that risk at all times.
AA: Joey mentioned the big spoiler as contributing to the big crashes. What do you see as the reasoning behind those wrecks and what should potentially be changed? What do you see as the solution?
BK: A significant technological innovation that doesn’t compromise the entertainment level for our fans, but significantly brings up the safety level for all parties involved. And the key term there is “all parties involved.” It’s not just the drivers when the cars are flying. There’s a risk factor that goes up exponentially for everybody, so we need to be very careful.
AA: Kansas is obviously a very different track than Talladega. What can fans expect to see this weekend?
BK: It’s a tough track. It’s one of the tracks that I’ve had a lot of success at, so I’m proud of that. One of the things that makes it really stand out is you’ve gotta run so close to the wall. You’re really, really on the edge there. It’s almost turned into a little bit of a Darlington. The track is wider than Darlington is, but the preferred groove is right next to the wall. You’re just really on the edge is probably the proper way to say it. Any small mistake in your day is done. So I like the challenge of Kansas. We’ve won there before a couple of times. We’ll be starting on the pole, which should be a huge advantage for pit selection and more.
AA: Looking ahead to Darlington, there will be a limited number of guests back in the infield. How has it been to be able to see more fans back and start moving more toward these “normal times”?
BK: It’s a lot better, to be quite honest with you. It feels like we’re getting back to normal a little bit more each and every day, and I’m happy for our industry, but most importantly I’m happy for our fans and for people everywhere that we seem to be getting back to this normalcy.
AA: (NASCAR president) Steve Phelps told reporters Sunday that he wanted to see more drivers get involved with promoting the vaccine. How do you feel about that? Do you think drivers should be doing more to be the face of the campaign?
BK: I don’t know if I have a strong opinion on the topic. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to it. I think there are temptations, the pros and the cons to this, to jump on the bandwagon, but I think there’s a place in the middle. I get weary of anyone that is on either side of the camp of one size fits all. I think there’s a place in the middle. I think it goes back to personal decisions and that’s a great thing about it. I think there’s certainly some validity to those who have chosen to get the vaccine, and I completely respect and understand it and encourage even some of my own family members. I think there’s some validity to those who have not, so I don’t have a strong, absolute position on it.
AA: Anything I missed?
BK: The way that the season’s shaping up, it’s a very unique season. No doubt about it, there are a lot of different things going on. FOX ran this promo at the start of the year: “Best Season Ever.” I think it was a little tongue in cheek, but it’s shaping up to be one of the best seasons ever for sure, and I’m happy for our sport.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 12:25 PM.
