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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Bristol Awaits Keselowski Offensive
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol will see an unrepentant Brad Keselowksi...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted March 12, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Brad Keselowski has a lot of catching up to do in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with his current points standing at 33rd place. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
About 320,000 eyes – 319,999 if a pirate shows up – will be on Brad Keselowski next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway as he races for the first time since last Sunday’s dustup with Carl Edwards at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Edwards will be the driver racing under probation (for three races), but attention is likely to swing Keselowski’s way, thanks to the rugged and ready approach he takes to driving. That, and the fact that he said this week he has no plans to change that approach.

“I feel lucky to be in race cars that are as safe as they are, to be able to be here talking today and to be able to say, ‘Hey, I’ll take the lick,’ and I’ll get out of the car and come back the next race weekend and drive just as hard just to prove a point that I wasn’t wrong and I still don’t feel like I’m wrong,” Keselowski said in an interview this week.

In other words, Keselowski plans to continue to push the envelope, even after Edwards sent him a strong message – on behalf of the entire garage area, some say – at Atlanta that his driving style needs to be softened a bit. Other new drivers who came into the sport with fire in their eyes have experienced the same sort of hard-knocks education.

Veteran driver Jeff Burton, who knows the behavioral parameters of the garage as well as anyone, said he won’t place himself in a position to tell Keselowski how to operate, but he did present some advice this week.

“Brad needs to look himself in the mirror and make a determination about what’s best moving forward,” Burton said. “Nobody is expecting Brad or anybody to give anything. But he needs to understand there’s a consequence to how you race. And he needs to find a way to mend some fences.

“And he also needs to stay in the mindset of, ‘I’m here to win.’ It’s a balancing act. He needs to tip a little more to the conservative to find that balance because he’s found the limit. Now he needs to go find balance.”

Drivers who have a good relationship would not have created the early-race accident between Edwards and Keselowski that ultimately led to chaos at Atlanta, Burton said.

“The first incident was as much Carl Edwards’ fault as Brad Keselowski’s,” Burton said. “Carl did nothing wrong. He was trying to get in a spot. Brad did nothing wrong. He was trying to protect his spot. But they were both wrong because of what happened (their cars touched, sending Edwards into Joey Logano and then into the wall).

“Both of them could have prevented that incident from happening. And because of their relationship, they didn’t. If I had been where Carl was and Mark Martin had been where Brad was, that incident would never have happened. And that’s the kind of respect they need to show each other.

“Brad has to learn that he doesn’t have to prove to the world that he is a tough guy. He’s made the decision that he’s not going to cut anybody any slack. He’s made the decision that he’s going to race aggressively all the time. He’s going to have to live with the consequence of that.

“I like Brad. He’s a good person. He’s a good race car driver. I think he’s learning the hard way. I don’t think he’s doing a good job of stepping back, learning from his situation and figuring out how to do it better versus having his feet dug in the sand and saying this is how I’m always going to do it.”

Keselowski said this week that his in-your-face driving style has separated him from other young drivers and put him on a road to success that the vast majority of “developmental” drivers won’t visit. With that in mind, Keselowski said he’ll continue to race hard, hold his line and keep pushing forward.

At Bristol, they’ll be watching.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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