FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
Some interesting comments here.
Brad Keselowski raced Jimmie Johnson as hard as he could without wrecking them both during a late battle for the lead Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Though they slammed doors on a late restart, Johnson emerged victorious while Keselowski finished second.
Keselowski had run-ins with other drivers when he first broke into the Sprint Cup Series, but Johnson didn’t think Keselowski would just wreck him.
With the win, Johnson extended his points lead over Keselowski to seven points with two races remaining.
“I’ve always raced him with a clear mind and not worrying,” Johnson said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “Racing stuff happens and you make mistakes, everybody does, I make plenty myself.
“It never crossed my mind that he would make an intentional move to dump me.”
Johnson said that Keselowski has become a less reckless driver in the past two years.
“There is only a few people out there wired like (to dump people),” Johnson said. “In today’s world, there’s probably less—like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
“People race really, really hard, and I think Brad did. But just to go in the corner and dump someone, that’s tough to do. Then you play into the karma thing and there’s always next week.”
Johnson and Keselowski have a mutual respect for each other. Keselowski went to victory lane to congratulate Johnson after the race. He says he is still thankful to Johnson for helping him and checking on him last year after an accident in testing at Road Atlanta in which Keselowski broke his left ankle.
“Essentially, he cared when he didn’t have to,” Keselowski said. “I thought that was very nice of him.”
Keselowski didn’t want to elaborate because of the personal nature of the accident.
“Chad and I … ran down there (in a car)—we were one of the first people on the scene, helping him get out of the car, helping him find his bearings,” Johnson said.
“I checked up with him when he was at the hospital. It was a heck of a crash. I was just concerned for him. Maybe that was something he had experienced with other racers.”
While Keselowski was the only driver to go to victory lane last week at Texas, other drivers acknowledged Johnson’s second straight win.
Clint Bowyer did by saying some things to Johnson on Friday morning.
“He said a lot of things that I can’t say on TV,” Johnson said. “Something about the rear end of anybody and I’m that part for winning last weekend—not the cheeks, the other part, in his words.
“Highly entertaining when it comes to Bowyer, as you all know.”
Brad Keselowski raced Jimmie Johnson as hard as he could without wrecking them both during a late battle for the lead Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Though they slammed doors on a late restart, Johnson emerged victorious while Keselowski finished second.
Keselowski had run-ins with other drivers when he first broke into the Sprint Cup Series, but Johnson didn’t think Keselowski would just wreck him.
With the win, Johnson extended his points lead over Keselowski to seven points with two races remaining.
“I’ve always raced him with a clear mind and not worrying,” Johnson said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “Racing stuff happens and you make mistakes, everybody does, I make plenty myself.
“It never crossed my mind that he would make an intentional move to dump me.”
Johnson said that Keselowski has become a less reckless driver in the past two years.
“There is only a few people out there wired like (to dump people),” Johnson said. “In today’s world, there’s probably less—like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
“People race really, really hard, and I think Brad did. But just to go in the corner and dump someone, that’s tough to do. Then you play into the karma thing and there’s always next week.”
Johnson and Keselowski have a mutual respect for each other. Keselowski went to victory lane to congratulate Johnson after the race. He says he is still thankful to Johnson for helping him and checking on him last year after an accident in testing at Road Atlanta in which Keselowski broke his left ankle.
“Essentially, he cared when he didn’t have to,” Keselowski said. “I thought that was very nice of him.”
Keselowski didn’t want to elaborate because of the personal nature of the accident.
“Chad and I … ran down there (in a car)—we were one of the first people on the scene, helping him get out of the car, helping him find his bearings,” Johnson said.
“I checked up with him when he was at the hospital. It was a heck of a crash. I was just concerned for him. Maybe that was something he had experienced with other racers.”
While Keselowski was the only driver to go to victory lane last week at Texas, other drivers acknowledged Johnson’s second straight win.
Clint Bowyer did by saying some things to Johnson on Friday morning.
“He said a lot of things that I can’t say on TV,” Johnson said. “Something about the rear end of anybody and I’m that part for winning last weekend—not the cheeks, the other part, in his words.
“Highly entertaining when it comes to Bowyer, as you all know.”
