Brad Keselowski chomped his gum menacingly as he sat at the desk in the media center at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday.
Having just walked through doors adorned with AI-generated posters depicting Keselowski and Carson Hocevar, who spun Keselowski in the Southern 500 on Sept. 6 and then was dismissive of it after the fact, Keselowski then fielded a plethora of questions about the incident.
“My challenge this weekend is to maximize the performance I can while also not letting a fire spread, for all intents and purposes, or being taken advantage of,” Keselowski said. “How to walk that line is difficult. It’s one of those things you just live and figure out in the moment, and it will play out however it plays out.”
Hocevar didn’t seem to care that he spun Keselowski, while Keselowski was understandably frustrated and said that Hocevar’s “day was coming.”
Keselowski, a grizzled veteran of 42, was far more composed on Saturday prior to Cup Series practice and qualifying, but he didn’t necessarily back down from his previous comments, either.
“Bring it. I’ll fight back with anybody in the garage,” Keselowski said. “I’m not afraid of that.”
Carson Hocevar won’t be apologizing anytime soon
Keselowski is far from the only driver Hocevar has wronged this season or in his career. He’s had run-ins with well over half the field at one point or another and has shown no sign of reining himself in anytime soon.
Hocevar has drawn comparisons to “Swervin'” Ernie Irvan, who was similarly wild on the racetrack in the early 1990s before his fellow competitors talked with him about his antics. Irvan subsequently apologized to his peers, but Keselowski doesn’t see Hocevar taking a similar path.
“We’re in a different day and age,” Keselowski said. “This is greater than our sport; it transcends society as a whole, where that level of social interaction is not valued the same way it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago. At some point, everybody just has to touch the hot stove and learn.”
If Keselowski follows through on his prior threat to Hocevar, the hot stove the latter touches could very well be the outside wall at Gateway during Sunday’s race.
Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.
