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Despite Kansas wreck, Keselowski vows to continue to "race for wins"

Brad Keselowski, who entered NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup tied with the most wins this season (four) with Kyle Busch, is suddenly in danger of being eliminated from title contention.

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford

Action Sports Photography

Exiting Turn 4 with 78 of 267 laps left in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Keselowski drifted up the track and immediately in front of Denny Hamlin but got loose in the process and Hamlin hit his No. 2 Ford from behind.

That sent Keselowski spinning into the grass infield, where the splitter of his car tore into the grass and did tremendous front-end damage to his car.

Keselowski, however, vowed he will not change the way he races.

“I could have probably raced a little bit less hard, you know I had a big points gap coming in here,” Keselowski said after the incident. “With this format, that is probably the smart thing to do.

“But I don’t want to race like that. I want to race for wins. I don’t want to points-race, I don’t care what the damn format is.”

 

Accepting blame for the incident

As the race went under caution for the incident, Hamlin said he had nowhere to go. “I didn’t want to hit anyone, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said of his radio.

“I thought I had room – my fault,” Keselowski said over his team radio immediately after the incident.

With Keselowski’s car in the garage for repairs, he was listed as 38th in the running order with 35 laps remaining. It means Keselowski is seven points below the cutoff entering the final race of Round 2 next Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Following Talladega, the four Chase drivers lowest in points without a win will be eliminated from title contention as the field is cut from 12 to eight. Keselowski had entered Sunday’s race with a 24-point cushion over ninth-place.

Talladega may be the perfect track for Keselowski

One bright spot for Keselowski: He won this spring’s race at Talladega and has won three of the Sprint Cup Series’ last eight races on restrictor-plate tracks.

At Kansas, he returned to the track on Lap 219 but his car began smoking badly and NASCAR threw a caution for possible fluid on the track. Keselowski immediately returned to the garage.

“My guys busted their butts to get the car back out there. If my team keeps putting out this effort, I don’t worry about things,” Keselowski said. “We’ll go win another race, or win Talladega and we’ll be fine.”

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