Talladega winner makes good impression

Maybe it was the almost uncontrollable hearty laugh he brought into the media center. Maybe it was genuine, down-to-earth excitement he displayed while answering questions.

Maybe I was just drawn to this race car driver because I didn’t know who in the world he was, and I was eager to find out more.

More than anything, I took a liking to Brad Keselowski because he didn’t pull any punches. Actually, he reminded me of a young Dale Earnhardt Jr. with the way he boldly spoke his mind.

After his stunning win in what was an absolutely incredible finish on Sunday in the Aaron’s 499, Keselowski took a different view of the Talladega
Superspeedway and the wild racing which occurs on the track.

While some drivers and critics of the track warned changes need to be made before somebody gets killed, Keselowski offered a different tune.

“If we would have ran all race without a single lap of contact, everyone in the media center would have wrote about how boring of a race it was,” the 25-year-old
rookie driver said. “Instead, we ran one of the best races you could ever watch on TV with full contact the whole time.”

But what about Carl Edwards’ car flying into the safety fence which separates the fans from the track? It was Keselowski who gave him the nudge that led to
Edwards going skyward.

“I don’t want to wreck anyone, but to say a no-contact sport is fun, I don’t buy that. These guys want to see contact just as much as I want to give it and take
it.”

Cocky-sounding? Yeah. Refreshing? Yeah to that, too.

Keselowski comes from a racing family. His father, Bob, won a bunch on the ARCA circuit.

Brad has run races on the Craftsman Truck, ARCA and Nationwide series. The guy many of us know little of was named Most Popular Driver in the Nationwide
Series last year in a fans poll conducted by NASCAR.com.

So Keselowski has a following, and it’s certainly sure to grow now that he has a Sprint Cup win.

His daring attitude on the race track leads me to believe such will translate into more victories.

“There has to be some element of danger into it,” Keselowski said. “No different than a football player. Who doesn’t love watching football players hit each other
head-on as fast as they can?

“I think that’s how John Madden made his career, saying ‘Boom.’ That’s what the fans want.

“They want contact.”

Keselowski seems to love everything about the craziness and daring driving involved with the Talladega Superspeedway.

He embraces the challenge the track offers.

I find that refreshing.