AVONDALE, Ariz. – Brad Keselowski, winner of last Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, certainly does have blinders on.
Though it’s politically correct for a driver to say he’s concentrating solely on his own team’s program, it’s also impossible not to notice what the competition is doing.
Accordingly, Joe Gibbs Racing’s sweep of the top three spots in Friday’s qualifying session wasn’t lost on the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.
“There’s a balance between watching other teams and focusing on your own,” Keselowski acknowledged after qualifying 19th for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. “A lot of people would tell you to just do your own thing the best you can, and you’ll be all right, but that’s not really how sports work. You line up against other teams all the time.
“So I think you have to keep your focus on yourself and the other teams at the same time, and I guess in one way it can make you kind of cross-eyed. There’s a reason the Gibbs cars are 1-2-3 right now. They have a lot of speed and are doing things at a very high level. They had a shot at winning the first three races and have been very close to doing that.
“I don’t know if anyone else can say the same. It’s our goal to go out there and find some speed to be able to put up the numbers they are putting up like in qualifying today. Hopefully, we can do that. They have a lot to be proud of with the things they have done to their cars to make them so fast. Of course we want to do the same and get ahead.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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