UPDATE (Saturday, July 8 at 11:40 p.m. ET): Following mixed reactions to his comments from fans and many others within the NASCAR world, Brad Keselowski tweeted a followup statement.
I lost "Truth and Grace" after wrecking out today so I wrote a Follow up on my post wreck comments- pic.twitter.com/LmORJArdjp
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) July 9, 2017
In addition to his statement, Keselowski also spent time responding to fans questions on Twitter. The Team Penske driver’s main complaint with the current-generation of cars seemingly is that, while they’r difficult to drive — as drivers wanted — they become essentially undriveable in traffic.
ORIGINAL STORY: Brad Keselowski admits the crash that ended his race was caused by him overdriving his car, but he says he wouldn’t have to if NASCAR designed a better one.
Keselowski called out the sport’s governing body after he wrecked out of the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, claiming the current regulations result in a “poorly designed race car,” according to Ford, via Jeff Gluck.
NASCAR was concerned that there would only be one groove for drivers to use at Kentucky, so it sent a Tire Dragon out on track Saturday morning to develop another line. Keselowski, though, said that didn’t do a lot to solve the problem.
“The way the car is, it needs a lot more help than a Tire Dragon,” Keselowski said in a statement. “It is a poorly designed race car and it makes racing on tracks like this very difficult to put on the show we want to for our fans.”
With the current generation of stock cars, the Team Penske driver reportedly said it’s extremely difficult to pass on intermediate tracks. As a result, restarts are even more important than they are elsewhere.
“You have to put yourself in bad situations to do that and that is where we were,” Keselowski said. “If you don’t make those moves on the restarts, then you run in the back. Or you have a bad day.”
Trevor Bayne drove across Kasey Kahne’s nose on the restart after Keselowski’s wreck, but Kahne similarly noted that drivers are all but forced to take those risks, according to Chevrolet, via Jeff Gluck.
When asked what the best solution is for this problem, Keselowski reportedly didn’t mince words.
“It is time for the sport to design a new car that is worthy of where this sport deserves to be and the show it deserves to put on for its fans,” Keselowski said.
Thumbnail photo via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Images
