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closeYoung driver, team build on confidence with Bristol win
Keselowski and Eury Sr. see stretch as their run to Nationwide Series title
JIM UTTER
The Charlotte Observer
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008
Tempers flare between members of Brad Keselowski's No. 88 team and Denny Hamlin's after the Carquest 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in late May. JEFF SINER/The Charlotte Observer
The biggest turning point in Brad Keselowski's fast-rising career as a NASCAR driver, oddly enough, might have come off the track.
Keselowski was driving the Nationwide Series entry for team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Charlotte in May when he got into it with Denny Hamlin under caution. The final run-in involved Hamlin turning Keselowski's car as the race neared an end, prompting a post-race scuffle between members of their crews on pit road.
Later, Hamlin and Keselowski ended up sitting next to each other in the media center, answering reporters' questions after finishing second and third, respectively. Hamlin came across as arrogant and seemed to be speaking down to his younger rival. Keselowski stood his ground and stuck up for himself and his team.
Keselowski's performance that night was praised by his car owner, other competitors and the media.
"The incident in Charlotte really forged a bond ... it really welded those guys together very tightly," said Earnhardt Jr. "They felt very strongly they had some injustice done to them at Charlotte and I felt it really motivated them."
Since then, Keselowski has earned his first two Nationwide Series wins, the first at Nashville in June. And last week he scored an impressive come-from-the-back victory at Bristol, Tenn. That win moved the 24-year-old native of Rochester Hills, Mich., to within 122 points of series leader Clint Bowyer with nine races left.
The Bristol victory also provided Keselowski with a boost in confidence and reassurance that he was not, as he said, "a one-hit wonder."
"A second win is very important, especially in the same season. There are a lot of drivers who can say they won a race, but there's not a lot that can say they won two," he said. "It puts your foot, not just in the door, but it gets you all the way in.
"It doesn't seem like it, but we've been racing like 17 straight weeks now and Nashville was almost 10 races ago. We were on a mini-drought."
Keselowski's development this season has been fast and constant. He debuted with JR Motorsports late last season and, after turning in some impressive performances, was asked to return for a full season. He quickly gained a reputation as a smooth driver in the car and an engaging personality out of the car.
"We saw a lot of development in him last year after we made the driver change. We put him in the car and he did exactly what Dale Jr. thought he would do," said Keselowski's crew chief, Tony Eury Sr.
"Some of the race tracks we've been to this year, he's been a rookie at and he hasn't performed like a rookie," Eury Sr. said. "We're working hard for this championship. We're going to give Clint a run for it."
The vetean crew chief speaks from experience. He won two championships as Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief in the series in 1998 and 1999.
"I think working with Tony Sr., he's a great mentor and I've experienced that myself,” Earnhardt Jr. said. "Tony Sr. definitely has your back at all times.
"Tony Sr. has been a good leader. He gets people under him to work hard in any situation and put forth the effort."
Keselowski is as optimistic as his crew chief about a championship.
"I think we have been equal to, if not better, than Clint. I said before that we need to win races in order to have a shot at that, and we did exactly what we needed to do," he said.
"This is going to be a nail-biter. It's going to be a battle."