Melee Magnet: Controversy follows Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski got spun out of the lead by Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series race last weekend at Bristol and then proceeded to refer to Busch as “an ass” during the driver introductions for the Cup Series race the following night. It was just the latest in a litany of altercations that have plagued Keselowski since he began racing in NASCAR’s national touring series in 2004. Keselowski has seldom appeared to be the instigator in any of his racing incidents, but that hasn’t prevented him from continuing to be labeled as the reason they take place.
In 2007, Keselowski was leading a Truck Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park, ironically filling in for Ted Musgrave who had been sidelined for an altercation that occurred the week before at Milwaukee. Keselowski started on pole and led four times during the event. However, with nine laps to go, Travis Kvapil aggressively moved the Michigan product out of the way and held on to win the race while Keselowski limped home 16th. Little did Kvapil know that he was starting a trend that would follow Keselowski to this day.
The next season found Keselowski leading the Nationwide race at Las Vegas with under 10 laps to go when Mark Martin drilled Carl Edwards in the rear bumper on the frontstretch and turned him dead right into Keselowski, ruining his best chance to the point to notch a victory in the Nationwide Series. But that was just the beginning of things in 2008.
When the series got to Charlotte, Keselowski was racing Denny Hamlin very hard throughout the race and it ultimately blew up under a late-race caution when Hamlin ran into Keselowski’s car. Hamlin felt that Keselowski wasn’t showing him respect and Keselowski was of the opinion that he had a very short time to prove himself in the series and wasn’t going to give anyone an inch they didn’t deserve. The feud continued throughout the season as Hamlin felt like Keselowski wrecked him at Watkins Glen and roughed him up on several other occasions.
The 2009 season then saw Hamlin wrecked at Dover by you-know-who, forcing him into a bad position that ended up with a wrecked car at California and another at Phoenix. After the Phoenix race, Hamlin vowed that it was going to stop, and proceeded to spin out Keselowski at Homestead in the season finale to put the feud to bed.
2010 rolled around and the foil for Keselowski turned out to be Carl Edwards. In the Talladega Cup race the previous fall, Keselowski held his line coming to the checkered flag as Edwards tried to force him below the “out of bounds” line with a blocking maneuver. The end result was Edwards’ car going airborne and being demolished by the catch fence while Keselowski continued on for the victory. Atlanta found Edwards and Keselowski close together early in the race when Edwards came down onto Keselowski’s Dodge, only to end up wrecked. Late in the event, Edwards got his car back on the track and took the opportunity to retaliate. The outcome was Keselowski’s car flipping over in a scary crash, ruining a top-10 run.
Of course, the feud wasn’t over yet, as the two got together at the end of the Nationwide race in St. Louis when Keselowski used a clean bump and run to get the lead from Edwards on the last lap. Edwards came back and wrecked Keselowski before he could get to the start/finish line, setting off a savage melee that collected a number of cars. The aftermath left Keselowski and Edwards on probation for the remainder of the season.
Friday night found Keselowski’s latest on-track altercation with Busch. Keselowski was leading the Nationwide race and Busch was giving him everything he could for 10-15 laps, but unable to complete the pass. After numerous attempts, Busch finally was able to get his car past Keselowski, using a “slide job” to put himself out front. As Busch moved in front, his car wiggled and the two cars made contact with Busch bouncing off the wall and Keselowski scooting back into the lead. Busch immediately got back to Keselowski and promptly turned him to retake the lead. Keselowski recovered to finish on the lead lap, but in 14th place at the end of an event he could have won.
This wasn’t the first time the two drivers had gotten together this year, though. On the last lap of the Daytona Nationwide event in February, Keselowski and Busch made contact and spun while Tony Stewart went on to the win. Keselowski ended up 13th while Busch came home 18th.
There are two things that are apparent from all of this activity surrounding Keselowski. Several drivers do not think too highly of his driving style and the youngster isn’t going to change how he drives any time soon.
From the beginning of his career, Keselowski has made no bones about the fact that he’s out to win races and is willing to run as hard as possible to accomplish that. Keselowski’s personality — brimming with confidence, bordering on arrogance — doesn’t seem to be helping him much, either. That bravado may very well be as responsible for what happens to Keselowski as much as his aggressive driving style.
The end result is that the potential for a fantastic rivalry or two is on the horizon assuming one thing can happen: Brad Keselowski needs to step up to the plate and start winning some races at the Cup level. If that happens, we could witness some genuine rivalries that the sport has not truly seen since the late ’80s when Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt were going at it hot and heavy.
When Jeff Gordon came into the series, there was a perceived rivalry with Earnhardt, but the Intimidator never won a championship after Gordon won his first. Tony Stewart has claimed two titles since that time, but Gordon has never developed a real rivalry with him, partly because of Gordon’s inability to win races lately and because of their quasi-association with Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson, has dominated the series over the last four years and, as a result, has squashed the hopes of Edwards or Busch developing a rivalry with him. After all, it’s only a rivalry if each side is competitive.
If Keselowski and Busch, Edwards or Hamlin can start winning multiple races and competing with each other for wins and titles, the sport could get the much needed shot of interest that it so desperately needs. It would be comparable to the home run chase of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and the rejuvenation that it brought to baseball in 1998.
The only question is, how many more drivers are going to wreck Keselowski before he can get to that point?
