|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NASCAR CUP SERIES: FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO 301August 2, 2020Brad KeselowskiLoudon, New Hampshire THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our race winner, Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Western Star Alliance Parts Ford. Walk us through your race today to kick it off. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, I mean, just had a great car and a great team effort. I was able to get into a really good rhythm at certain points in the race, just kind of take control. That felt really good. Third win of the year, but first kind of win where we've been able to kind of take control of the race. Gosh, that feels good. That feels so good. Proud of my team, Jeremy Bullins, how things have been coming together. Still a lot of racing left in this season. Gosh, I would love to make a run at that championship. I'm dying to get the second championship. We've been knocking on the door the last few years, had some run‑ins, some bumps and bruises. Looks like we'll have a shot at it this year. I'm really thrilled to death about that. THE MODERATOR: We'll open up the floor for questions for Brad. Q. After the race you mentioned the fact that working with Jeremy Bullins and this team, in some ways you felt gave you a kick in the butt as far as making you even better. Is that something you realized after some period of time working with them? What's the advantage in feeling that way? BRAD KESELOWSKI: I've had a great team since I've been here in Cup. What do they say: Good is the enemy of great. Sometimes I've allowed myself to fall into that good category. Good isn't good enough. This has been a really good challenge for me. In a lot of ways it removes some sacred cows in the ways I approach things. I think that's a good thing. The low downforce on the cars this year is really clicking with me on the short tracks, which is good. Like I said, to remove the sacred cows from me and my way of thinking, that can be really healthy. Q. You mentioned how important it was to get a dominant win. You raced Denny Hamlin, who has had one of the best teams so far this season. Was that sort of an added bonus? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, I try not to focus on who you beat. You just make sure you beat everybody (smiling). I feel like if you worry or focus on one car... You focus on them all. I would rather finish second and lose to a car we really wanted to beat than finish third and not beat them. We want to beat them all. Certainly they deserve a lot of respect, the 11 car. I try not to focus on any one team. Just going to be thankful for the day we had today, the effort our team put in. They deserve a lot of credit. Felt like I drove a really strong race. Able to get in nice rhythms at certain times, dictate kind of the pace, make a difference. That felt really good. Q. Racing with Denny like that, you swapped the lead multiple times today, is that enjoyable? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, oh, yeah (smiling). It was a lot of fun. He was pretty good on the restarts, real short runs. We were really good on the longer runs. The PJ1 kept coming and going. One lap it would be in, not in, the next lap it would be in, then it would wear off the racetrack. The low downforce on the cars was awesome because you could run behind somebody and not just be stupid slow. That was really cool. I thought we put on a great race. I was really proud of it. Proud of it for our sport and for our team. Proud for our sport because we got away from rules that didn't make for good races and we went to rules that I think made for good driver battles. Denny and I had a heck of a driver battle. Q. You mentioned the hunt for the second championship. In such a unique season, what is it going to mean for a team that wins the championship or maybe can get to the final four? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, it's certainly a challenge. I think races like today are a perfect example of it. PJ1 on the racetrack has zero laps on it, super treacherous. On top of that, no practice, no idea how your car is going to drive. You have to fire off in that corner, you got to find a way to make it stick or the guy behind you is and he's going to beat you. It's a heck of a challenge. I've never done anything like that. You got to unload off the gate and be ready to go. Coming off a season last year where we had high downforce on the short tracks at least, the cars had a lot of grip. Now it's the opposite, cars don't have very much grip at all. You start throwing all these things at the drivers, no practice, PJ1, low downforce, you're starting to get back to seeing the drivers stand out and show their talent in the Cup Series. I'm glad to be a part of it, of course glad to win a race tonight. Q. You talked about no practice. Do you really know what your fuel mileage is with no practice? BRAD KESELOWSKI: You have some guesses based off of previous data. Do you know precisely? No. You just have some rough numbers. You get numbers in‑race. In‑race you can do math and work it backwards. Our team does a great job with that. A lot of others do, too. Q. You watch other sports, probably talk to athletes from other sports. You're in the middle of your kind of silly season free agency. How different is it in NASCAR versus maybe it would be in football or baseball, the sponsor element? BRAD KESELOWSKI: It's certainly been much different than years previous in my career. Nobody likes it. There's nobody really winning, I can tell you that. You try to keep perspective. I still have a great job. A lot of people don't have a job at all. I don't think what they want to do is hear me whine about mine. But then again, I do recognize if my contract had fallen differently, I would probably be in a much better place with respect to when it ran out time‑wise. It's part of it. The landscape is very strange, not just because of the virus, but I think one of the things that really stands out that's changed the landscape is the threshold or the bar, so to speak, you have to pass as a driver to be eligible for the Cup Series. It's been lowered significantly since I've been a part of the sport. That's starting to bring a wave of kind of paid drivers, so to speak, drivers that pay for their ride. That really does a lot of damage to the contract market when there's drivers out there that are willing to pay for your ride, let alone you getting paid. They're willing to pay to take your ride. That really changes the marketplace pretty dramatically. So that's been part of it, too. But all in all, again, I'm thankful to have a spot in the sport. Hoping it will last for a long time. If it doesn't, I know I did all I could do. Q. You have two shots at Michigan next week. What is your mentality going into there? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Pretty pumped. We've been really running well. I haven't quite executed perfectly until this weekend. I think we have a great shot of doing just that at Michigan. Competition is going to be really tough. I think we all know how good Harvick is on those really big tracks. I'm going to have to be perfect to beat him. I'm thrilled that I have the opportunity with a car that has been fast. We'll see how it plays out. Q. You've had years before, 2015 particularly, where you've been dominant, but didn't have a lot of victories. How do you process that? Are you frustrated or look at it performance‑wise you're doing everything you can, just didn't work out? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, it was a strange year. Just felt like we led a ton of laps, always fell apart at the end which was really frustrating. It comes and goes that way. I've had other races or seasons, I think probably 2011 stands out, where we won three races, barely led any laps. You kind of ride that rollercoaster, accept it for what it is. But 2015 was tough that way, without a doubt. Q. Are you talking to other teams right now or focusing on talking to Penske about your contract? BRAD KESELOWSKI: I don't have anything signed at the moment. I'm hopeful to be real close. I'll wait until that's done before saying anything. THE MODERATOR: Brad, thank you so much for joining us and congratulations on the win. We'll see you at your home track next week. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Thank you. Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|