CUP: Keselowski Eager To Make Big Impression

Sprint Cup

CUP: Keselowski Eager To Make Big Impression

Penske Racing's Brad Keselowski will compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2010...

Lee Montgomery | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted January 02, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Brad Keselowski will compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Penske Racing in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

When Penske Racing driver Brad Keselowski talks about getting ready for his first full NASCAR Sprint Cup season, he sure does aim high.

He doesn’t talk about Sam Hornish Jr., a Penske teammate who has limited Cup experience like Keselowski. He doesn’t even talk about Kurt Busch, the Penske teammate who made the Chase For The Sprint Cup last year and has a Cup championship.

No, Keselowski aims a little higher. Much higher, in fact.

“The Cup level is all about perfection,” Keselowski said in a conversation before the 2009 season finale. “That’s what Jimmie does best. He’s perfect.”

That’s Jimmie, as in Jimmie Johnson, the four-time defending Cup champion. Johnson, of course, has been perfect the last four years, winning the Cup title four years running.

No one has been able to knock Johnson off the last four years, not Jeff Gordon, not Tony Stewart, not Mark Martin, not either of the Busch brothers.

Why? Because, as Keselowski says, he’s perfect. But is that kind of perfection even attainable?

“The 48 sure does make it look that way, don’t they?” Keselowski said with a smile. “I hate to sound like a smart [guy], but they do make it look that way. … I like to grade myself after a race, like that was 85 out of 100 or 92 out of 100. What makes the 48 team so special is when they win, they score like a 99 out of 100 – or 100 out of 100.”

Johnson doesn’t win by lucking into it, he wins by leading laps, running up front, using excellent strategy. In other words, he does everything right.

“They don’t have to recover from anything because they never made a mistake to begin with,” Keselowski said.

Some, Keselowski is told, would consider it egotistical to think you could be as good as Johnson and his No. 48 team.

But Keselowski, as he often does, turns the tables.

“How do you compete when you’re already defeated before it starts?” Keselowski said. “Before Jimmie got in, they would’ve said it was egotistical for him to think he could compete with Jeff.”

Keselowski says sarcastically that Johnson won one Busch Series race before he moved to Cup, so how does he figure he can compete with Gordon?

“Well, he came in with the right attitude, didn’t he?” Keselowski said.

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Lee Montgomery

SceneDaily.com

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