HEMBREE: Can Vegas Contain Keselowski?

Sprint Cup

HEMBREE: Can Vegas Contain Keselowski?

New champion’s Las Vegas celebration might set a few records…

Mike Hembree | Posted November 19, 2012 Homestead, FL

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, celebrates in Champion Victory Lane after winning the series championship and finishing in fifteenth place for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Gett

If Brad Keselowski blows up a building in Las Vegas – and this is much more possible than you might think – during Champion’s Week activities in two weeks, it might be my fault.

After the dust and champagne and beer had settled from Keselowski’s preliminary victory celebration and his raft of post-race interviews Sunday night, I asked him if his highly anticipated week of celebration in Las Vegas might include an explosion or two.

He responded quickly. Too quickly.

“That was not a good idea to give me,” he said. “You know what would be awesome? Do they have any buildings that need to be torn down that we could blow up? That would be a great NASCAR PR stunt. I just planted a seed, didn’t I? No one’s ever thought of that one, have they?”

There seems little question that Keselowski, after somewhat of a break this week for Thanksgiving, will make a big impact on Las Vegas – a town in which it’s difficult to stand out – the following week when the NASCAR circus rolls into town for several days of end-of-season celebration, culminating with the star-spangled Nov. 30 awards banquet.

If Sunday night’s post-race carnival of celebration after Keselowski won the Sprint Cup championship provides any hints, it would be wise for Miller Brewing Co., his primary sponsor, to begin trucking in many kegs of its products to Las Vegas for the hoopla to come.

If you were watching live television after the race Sunday night, you perhaps got the impression that Keselowski had been overserved before he hit the airwaves for an extended post-race champion’s interview. He was buzzed – and it wasn’t just the excitement of the moment.

It didn’t help that fans crowding around the celebratory scene were chanting, “Brad wants beer! Brad wants beer!”

Keselowski was in the moment.

“It was great, man,” he said. “People love beer. I can be a big asshole, but, at the end of the day, people still love beer.”

It’s clear that Keselowski will be a different sort of Sprint Cup champion. He’s younger (28, the eighth youngest champion in history) than most who have won the big trophy, he’s on the leading edge of the social media technology that drives much of his generation, and he likes to think that he’s still a regular guy from Michigan who drove into NASCAR and, with a lot of help, happened to conquer all.

He isn’t a regular guy now, however, and his star is likely to ascend on a wild trajectory. His blue collar isn’t quite as blue.

“Maybe I could be a little more professional and a little less rough around the edges on some things, but that just comes with time and age,” he said. “I’ll find that, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the core of what you are and the passion that’s driven me to where I am. I would rather be defined by the passion I have for the sport and what I do rather than for being rough around the edges.”

And that definition will continue to be formed in two weeks in Las Vegas.

With or without explosives.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Hembree

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