from a media press conference after qualifying 2nd at Phoenix, #2-Brad Keselowski answers some questions pertaining to the brawl at Texas and waht drivers think of him:
Q) IT SEEMS THE MAIN BEEF WITH YOU IS THEY FEEL YOU DON’T LISTEN TO THEM AFTER THE RACE AND YOU TURN YOUR BACK WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO TALK. DO YOU FEEL THERE’S ANY VALIDITY TO THAT?
Keselowski: ‘To answer your first thing, I honestly haven’t paid that much attention to it. I knew early on in the week it was gonna be one of those weeks and I kind of put my head down and focused on Phoenix and my Madden team to kind of get me through, so I honestly haven’t spent a lot of time with all that stuff and the rhetoric. I think at the end of the day we all have our own biases. I don’t think it’s really productive for me to get into the he-said, she-said because at the end of the day we disagree. That kind of is what it is. I think the more I dig into becoming what someone else wants me to be, the less I stay who I am and who I am is someone who can win races and be a championship threat year over year with a great team that supports me, a great cast of family and friends. I’m not looking to become what everyone else wants me to become, so I have not spent a lot of time on that rhetoric and I don’t wish to spend a lot of time trying to justify anything I do or don’t do. I feel pretty good about the actions I’ve taken. Certainly I’m not perfect. I’ve made some bad ones, but I didn’t make any bad ones last week and I still feel that way.’
Q) DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR ACTIONS AND IF YOU WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY WHEN JEFF GORDON CAME UP TO TALK TO YOU?
Keselowski: ‘You always think about that stuff. I’ve thought about it and moved on, and feel good about it.’
Q) DO YOU FEEL THE SIX WEEK SUSPENSION FOR THE CREWMEN WHO PUNCHED WAS APPROPRIATE?
Keselowski: ‘I didn’t really think that much about it. They took an action. Again, I go back to I have my own set of biases on that, obviously. I don’t envy their job, that being NASCAR, at any given time. I’m glad I’m a competitor and not an official because I think no matter what decision they would have made there would be someone saying it was the wrong one. I’m not sitting here clapping for joy or angry either way on that direction. I don’t take any pleasure in someone else’s pain, so it kind of is what it is there. That’s why I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. I hate to use that clich©, but I can’t spend all my time worrying about the other people. I have to worry about winning this weekend, this race, and this championship. That’s where my focus is and will continue to be. Really, a lot of these conversations and a lot of these talking points are meant to serve as a distraction, so to sit here and really comment on a lot of them would really be to justify them because I know the things that I’m doing are the right things.’(Ford Racing)(11-8-2014)
