By Jerry Jordan, Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For most NASCAR Cup Series teams, Saturday’s practice for the Busch Clash event later today was uneventful but that wasn’t the case for Brad Keselowski, who hit the fence at the exit of the garage and damaged the right side of the No. 2 Penske Ford.
“I hit the fence, literally the fence,” Keselowski said, after spending four hours with his team making repairs to the car. “It hit the jack post and tore it up, so we just put a new side and jack post on it. Everything else on the car is great. It was really fast. We got it handling really good in the one run we did in the draft, so we should be in good shape.
“Just trying to make sure everything is right and that I can be supportive as I can be. It’s a different group of guys and they are all really hungry and motivated I just want to make sure they know I am, too.”
As his crew jumped into action to repair the car, Keselowski also took to the tools, fitting parts, grinding and even doing a little tack-welding to ensure the car was back to normal. During the off-season, there was a crew swap at Penske Racing and Saturday was the first time the team had worked in crisis conditions together at the track.
Keselowski said he had confidence in his new crew that it could be a “championship-caliber group” and part of that came from the fact they brought him a fast car to Daytona.
“When you come to the racetrack and your car is fast, it kind of speaks volumes,” Keselowski said. “I am never going to be as good as these guys (working on the car) but I don’t want to walk away. They’re a pretty good group of guys and they know their ins and outs.”
He admitted he made a mistake in getting into the exit fence saying, he was the one holding the steering wheel. He also said it was somewhat embarrassing and not “much fun” but he was glad to realize that the car would be okay.
“Yeah, at the end of the day, I am the one holding the wheel and pushing the gas peddle so any mistake that happens is mine,” Keselowski said. “It happens but I am thankful it wasn’t worse than it was.
“The good thing is what little I do know about working on cars, is that I knew it was going to be okay.”