Chase Capsules: Brad Keselowski - MotorSportsTalk

2-Brad Keselowski
Team: Team Penske
Crew Chief: Paul Wolfe
NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships: 1 (2012)
3rd Chase Appearance, Best Finish of 1st in 2012

Regular Season Recap: Inconsistency forced Brad Keselowski to give up his Sprint Cup title without a fight when he failed to make last year’s Chase. But early on in 2014, he made sure he’d be contending for a second championship by taking the checkered flag in Las Vegas. He’s since added three more wins at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Richmond, and he’s also bettered the number of Top-5 finishes that he had all of last year. All in all, an impressive turnaround from a disappointing 2013.

Chris’ Take: With stout equipment that can put up a fight against the Hendrick Motorsports camp, Keselowski definitely has the potential to race into the Homestead finale. Remember that he’s also got two wins on 1.5-mile, intermediate tracks, which make up half of the 10-race Chase.

Considering that such a 1.5-mile track, Chicagoland, and New Hampshire (where he won in July) are the first two on the docket, I could see him taking a win at either one to put himself into the Contender Round and then bank solid finishes all the way to Homestead.

Keselowski and crew chief Wolfe learned some rough lessons last year, and their hunger to get to the top again cannot be underestimated. They could hound the Hendrick camp to the bitter end.

Jerry’s Take: Brad Keselowski is bound and determined to prove that 2012 (when he won the Sprint Cup championship) was not a fluke, and that 2013 (when he failed to defend his crown, not even making the Chase) was the real fluke.

The key for success in the Chase will be for Keselowski to get off to a strong start at Chicago, where he has won before.

Honestly, I envision him getting past the first round (third race of 10 Chase events), but my gut says he gets eliminated after the second round (sixth race).

Tony’s Take: Welcome back to the 2012 champ a year after he missed out a year ago. The Brad K of 2014 is a more dangerous animal than in 2012. Then, he had to prove he could win a championship. Now, with one already in the bank, it’s about earning number two.

All year both Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano have qualified well, and that’s put them in solid position to capture more victories. He should get at least one if not two Chase wins, and seems a very solid bet to rival the Hendrick contingent all the way to Homestead.

Brad Keselowski’s Career Statistics at Chase Tracks
Chicagoland (1.5 mile) – One win, 2 Top-5s, 3 Top-10s in 5 starts
New Hampshire (1 mile) – One win, 4 Top-5s, 6 Top-10s in 10 starts
Dover (1 mile) – One win, 3 Top-5s, 3 Top-10s in 9 starts
Kansas (1.5 mile) – One win, 2 Top-5s, 4 Top-10s in 9 starts
Charlotte (1.5 mile) – One win, 2 Top-5s, 3 Top-10s in 10 starts
Talladega (2.66 mile) – Two wins, 3 Top-5s, 6 Top-10s in 11 starts
Martinsville (half-mile) – No wins, 1 Top-5, 5 Top-10s in 9 starts
Texas (1.5-mile) – No wins, 1 Top-5, 3 Top-10s in 12 starts
Phoenix (1 mile) – No wins, 3 Top-5s, 4 Top-10s in 10 starts
Homestead-Miami (1.5 mile) – No wins, no Top-5s, 1 Top-10 in 6 starts

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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