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The image of newly crowned Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski toasting an adoring crowd with an oversized glass of beer will be etched in the minds of NASCAR fans.
He brings an impression of youth and a little bit of the common man missing for the past seven years in stock car racing.
Although he's not the youngest champ at 28 years old; he's 13-years younger than Tony Stewart last year's titlist and eight years younger than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson.
Due to his penchant for Tweeting Keselowski appeals to a younger hipper segment of fans which had been lacking previously.
Ironically, all the hoopla around NASCAR premier-league title wasn't on his radar scope.
In just three years he vaulted from being the junior member of Penske Racing to a team leader.
“I never dreamed of, at a young age, of being a Sprint Cup champion,” Keselowski said on SpeedTV. “I thought I would be doing well just to be a guy who's winning races in the Truck Series. That was as big as my goals were. But obviously, as different opportunities came up, I had the opportunity to drive for James Finch (one car team called Phoenix Racing) when they raced at Talladega, with Rick Hendrick and so forth; I started to think that big. But it's amazing how those things change. I'm living beyond what I could have ever asked for in life, and I feel very, very fortunate.”
Keselowski's father, Bob, was an ARCA series racer from the Detroit who along with brother, Brian Keselowski, gave him the start he needed to make his rather quick - in only 125 races fastest since it took 1993 champ, Jeff Gordon, 93-races- ascent to NASCAR's brightest prize.
He said it was both a help and a bit of a hindrance.
“I grew up with a family race team. When you're a part of a family, in anything you do, it's great in some ways and awful in other ways. The great parts are that you always have each other's backs. No matter what happens, you are always together; even when there are times (when) you don't want to be.
Then there's also the bad part, when sometimes you get really emotional and do things, say things and act ways that you wouldn't act around other people. What's hard for me to understand when I first got separated from my family's race team was how to be a part of that, and how to have the best of both worlds.
How to be with a group that has that respect for one and other, that you really struggle to have as a family, but also has that motivation to be behind you - you need both to be successful.”
At first the move to Penske was an uphill challenge
“So I didn't understand teamwork, I didn't understand those things. The point I was trying to say after the race, and the story in general, is that to be a member of a great team, no one person is strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, but together you are.
For me, I didn't know that until I started to experience it. It's been like a drug for me, but you get a little of it and I want more for the team. I want more teamwork across the board because I know that we'll continue to be stronger as that happens. “
And his Sprint Cup rivals better start to worry as his said on Sunday night “the best is yet to come.”
He brings an impression of youth and a little bit of the common man missing for the past seven years in stock car racing.
Although he's not the youngest champ at 28 years old; he's 13-years younger than Tony Stewart last year's titlist and eight years younger than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson.
Due to his penchant for Tweeting Keselowski appeals to a younger hipper segment of fans which had been lacking previously.
Ironically, all the hoopla around NASCAR premier-league title wasn't on his radar scope.
In just three years he vaulted from being the junior member of Penske Racing to a team leader.
 |
| Brad Keselowski, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. (Photo: NASCAR) |
“I never dreamed of, at a young age, of being a Sprint Cup champion,” Keselowski said on SpeedTV. “I thought I would be doing well just to be a guy who's winning races in the Truck Series. That was as big as my goals were. But obviously, as different opportunities came up, I had the opportunity to drive for James Finch (one car team called Phoenix Racing) when they raced at Talladega, with Rick Hendrick and so forth; I started to think that big. But it's amazing how those things change. I'm living beyond what I could have ever asked for in life, and I feel very, very fortunate.”
Keselowski's father, Bob, was an ARCA series racer from the Detroit who along with brother, Brian Keselowski, gave him the start he needed to make his rather quick - in only 125 races fastest since it took 1993 champ, Jeff Gordon, 93-races- ascent to NASCAR's brightest prize.
He said it was both a help and a bit of a hindrance.
“I grew up with a family race team. When you're a part of a family, in anything you do, it's great in some ways and awful in other ways. The great parts are that you always have each other's backs. No matter what happens, you are always together; even when there are times (when) you don't want to be.
Then there's also the bad part, when sometimes you get really emotional and do things, say things and act ways that you wouldn't act around other people. What's hard for me to understand when I first got separated from my family's race team was how to be a part of that, and how to have the best of both worlds.
How to be with a group that has that respect for one and other, that you really struggle to have as a family, but also has that motivation to be behind you - you need both to be successful.”
 |
| Brad Keselowski celebrating his Sprint Cup title at Miami-Homestead Speedway. (Photo: NASCAR) |
At first the move to Penske was an uphill challenge
“So I didn't understand teamwork, I didn't understand those things. The point I was trying to say after the race, and the story in general, is that to be a member of a great team, no one person is strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, but together you are.
For me, I didn't know that until I started to experience it. It's been like a drug for me, but you get a little of it and I want more for the team. I want more teamwork across the board because I know that we'll continue to be stronger as that happens. “
And his Sprint Cup rivals better start to worry as his said on Sunday night “the best is yet to come.”