I’m a huge Brad fan. My wife is a Kyle Busch fan. My oldest daughter loves Kasey, and my youngest likes Danica. This makes race day fun at my house to say the least.

At the beginning of the season, my wife and made a bet: If Brad finishes higher than Kyle, she has to drink a Miller Lite. If Kyle finishes higher, I have to eat a whole package of M&M’s (which I can’t stand). This only goes for races that they are both entered in, and can span an entire weekend — CWTS, Nationwide and Sprint Cup. However, if Kyle places higher in Nationwide (like yesterday), and Brad finishes higher in Sprint Cup (like what will happen today), it is a push and there are is no winner.

So with the rules in place, last weekend in Daytona was fun for me. With Brad taking home second in the Nationwide race and third in Daytona 500 — both higher than Kyle — she made good with the loss, and had a Miller Lite. It was great. (Wish I had a picture of it, but didn’t have my phone on me at the time. When it happens next weekend, I’ll make sure to snap a pic.)

However, with the rain-shortened Nationwide race on Saturday and Kyle “given” the win, she took the early lead on the weekend. I didn’t like this one bit since the thought of eating M&M’s is, well, uggggggg.

Sunday, I hoped, would be different.

With Brad starting on pole for The Profit on CNBC 500 and Kyle beginning in seventh, Sunday’s race started off well for me. Despite not having the best car of the day, which belonged to Kevin Harvick, I never lost faith in Brad.

Brad ended-up leading twice for a total of three laps before piloting his yellow Alliance Truck Parts No. 2 Ford to a third-place finish. Luckily for me, that was six spots ahead of Kyle, and a push on the weekend.

Running total on the year:

Me – 1
Wife – 0
Push – 1

Next up for Cup is Las Vegas. To be honest, I’m worried that I might have to consume M&M’s this weekend. Kyle has an average finish of 14.70 in 10 starts including winning in 2009, four top-5’s and five top-10’s. In five career starts at Vegas, Brad’s average is 25.00. His best finish, 3rd, came last year. In the four other attempts, he hasn’t placed in the top 25.

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Looking back, no matter what happens for the rest of BK’s season or even career for that matter — win, lose or draw, he will always be a champion. And I think that is something that is very special. There are a number of drivers in NASCAR history who have never won a race. The performance of Brad and the team will forever be one of the greatest championship Chases of all time. And BK had to literally beat the best to win. He went toe to toe with Jimmie Johnson. Not too many drivers are able to say they have done that.

No matter what happens for the rest of BK’s season or even career for that matter — win, lose or draw, he will always be a champion.

I am also really happy that Brad was able to capitalize on the opportunity he had last year to win the championship. I say this with the utmost respect to the drivers who were close, and were just unable to get over that final step and win. Take, for example, the last few seasons. Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin — they practically had the trophy in their hands. But when it came to the end, Denny lost it at Homestead, and poor Carl was one spot and one point away from being the 2011 Champ.  Things could have gone bad for BK — like what happened to Jimmie at Phoenix and Homestead — but thankfully, the stars aligned, and Brad was able to bring the championship home. 

Thinking about this season, I truly believe that it took a champion to be able to roll with the punches that Brad was given. I really can’t think of an example this season where I can say, “Hey, that’s Brad’s fault for that.” He sped at Talladega on pit road — big deal, they all speed — and how is there absolutely no caution at the wreckfest that is Talladega for him to get his lap back? So besides those things, I really can’t think of anything. In my opinion, it was honest bad luck, just driving in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the car was running, for the most part it was in the top 5 or top 10.

When things were going bad, you didn’t see Brad storm off into his trailer and cry to the media and over Twitter, “Oh poor, me.” No, to use the phrase, he took it like a champ. And despite all the bad luck, if he didn’t get that penalty from NASCAR, he would have been in the Chase as well.

Looking back at the season, including his Nationwide and Truck starts, I think you can still call it a successful season. A championship trophy doesn’t have to define who you are as a driver. 

I look forward to a fantastic 2014 season from BK. I believe he has the character, leadership and drive, and he will take the experience of success and struggles of 2013, and put that towards another championship campaign. If it matters, since I am only a single fan from Canada, but regardless, I am truly proud of the effort Brad has put in this season. I congratulate him on his successes, commend him for not giving up during his times of struggle and I wish BK, Paul, Mr. Penske and the whole Penske organization the best of luck for 2014.

Let’s go get our trophy back!!

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Taking part in what is called the “Homestead-Miami Victory Tour,” Keselowski came down to Zoo Miami where he met Ron Magill, and from then on, the fun began. Brad spent the day feeding the giraffes, walking amongst the gorillas, standing next to a 500-pound tortoise, meeting an owl, standing amongst elephants and best of all, he even got to pet a cheetah. So the fastest race car driver met the fastest animal. I wonder who would win that race? I guess when you’re used to driving a car at over 200 miles per hour, fear is something you just don’t worry about much.

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I’ll be honest, in my house, college football takes center stage on the main television on Saturdays. We flipped between a couple of games and the race for the better part of the first half of the race. One of those flips was during the mishap with the jack. I don’t know what happened: if it got stuck or someone just didn’t move it in time or what, but right then, I felt that familiar emotion of disappointment. It’s something we’ve experienced all season when the bad luck breaks happen. I figured it would be fun to see if Brad could come back from it.

When the Blue Deuce took the white flag, all of the frustration and disappointment from this season finally went away. I can’t deny that I cried.

When football was over and I was finally in tune with the race, I saw the one thing I expected: Jimmie Johnson domination. That’s normal at Charlotte Motor Speedway. All night, Hendrick power was at the front of the field. There was a point late in the race where only ten cars were on the lead lap. As I said in my piece about Charlotte, the track is known for long green flag runs that can go a little long, but it almost always provides an exciting finish.

With 30 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson’s lead was cut because of a debris caution. Those few cards on the lead lap came to the pits. While Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon got out first due to a two tire call, Keselowski’s crew took four just to have some insurance on the final restart. Boy, did that call turn out to be the right one. On the restart, front runner Johnson lost several spots. Brad went to the outside and battled to get into the top three. He hunted down Matt Kenseth in the second spot, then, with roughly 20 laps to go, Brad set his sights on first place Kahne.

They battled during the closing laps of the race. I was holding my hands together so tight I couldn’t feel my knuckles. When the Blue Deuce took the white flag, all of the frustration and disappointment from this season finally went away. I can’t deny that I cried. The wins last year didn’t mean as much to me as the one this weekend did. The win this weekend made a statement to not only the fans, but to the garage, that Brad Keselowski isn’t a one-and-done type of champion.

After the race, Brad, Paul, and Roger Penske joined the media to answer questions about their win. Roger admitted he had the same reaction the fans did with the entire jack incident. “Here we go again, not a good night,” Roger said. He went on to talk highly of the team and the hard work put into getting this first win. It was not only a great night of celebration for Brad and the 2 bunch, but also for Penske Racing as a whole. Every driver in their stable in the different series (Cup, Nationwide, Indy) has won a race this season.

When questioned about the trials of this season, Brad spoke of the team’s luck. “I think we ran out of things they could throw at us with the jack tonight.” When Brad talked about the execution of this season, he included himself in the answer. Some drivers may put the blame on the team, but he admitted that he can be better and he strives to be better each week.

One of the things that surprised me the most was his answer to the question of what it means to him to win at this track.

“Winning in Charlotte is important for a lot of reasons. The most important is you look at your team, this is a bit of a traveling circus, 38 weeks year. There’s a lot of sacrifices, not counting testing and other demands. These guys sacrifice a lot to make me a hero. That’s not lost on me.”

It always impresses me just how much Brad cares about the team and their families. He makes a point to include them in everything, in a sport where the driver gets a lot of the glory. “It’s more about giving back to them in a way.”

Both Paul and Brad spoke about looking forward several times. Of course, there would be a lot of questions about the team missing the Chase. “I look forward, I don’t look back, unless someone asks me to look back,” Brad said. When I think back on this season, I think about the interviews Brad did, especially after Richmond. What he said tonight about not looking back rings true. He’s one of the few that realizes you can’t dwell on the past. I think that’s what makes him such a great champion. Sure, they were able to celebrate last year at Homestead, but one of the first things on his mind the next morning was how to do it again.

A reporter brought up some of the criticism Brad has gotten this season — not only from the fans, but some of the other teams in the garage. He made a pretty powerful statement during his press conference this evening. He said he gets that there are a lot of fans of other drivers out there that boo him. He doesn’t dwell on those who don’t like him. He said when you try to please everyone, “You end up being no one to anyone when trying to be everything to everyone.” That really struck a chord with me on a personal level. Those words are very true. Brad said he’s going to enjoy the successes with those who have supported him through the tough times.

“This is a key moment.” This win means so much to so many people even though there were times this season where the fans felt disheartened and upset, and the team may have been too tired to fight anymore. The fact is we never gave up on this team. Those of us who are true fans are still here, and not just fans because he won the championship. Those fans ran off a long time ago. I’m so proud of this team and everything they have accomplished this year. I hope, like Brad said, they are able to go out and win the rest of the races this season. What a statement that would be!

On a lighter note, Brad said he hasn’t been able to get his hands on a tank yet. It may take a couple of more wins this season to get the funding for it.
 

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It is no secret that Keselowski has had his run ins with Kyle Busch in the past. Remember the Bristol intros a few years back? But I, among many others (including Brad), thought those days were long gone. Kyle Busch, with one move, has lit a fire in the NASCAR nation, not only between himself and BK, but between the 2 and 18 fans throughout North America.

I have not seen social media blow up as much as it did Saturday afternoon in a very long time. There was more anger, rage and people down right ticked off than there were happy go lucky people, that’s for sure. From an 18 fan I know down in Alabama all the way up to me here in Ontario Canada, we were fired up. I for one definitely lost my cool, but to be honest, I don’t feel bad about it one bit. My driver was treated horribly for no reason, the driver who took him out denied the entire incident, so yes, I was mad. The media obviously loved this whole deal, but in my opinion most media members (while suppose to act non-biased) seemed to be on Brad’s side.  

Kyle shared post-race (after hearing Brad Keselowski’s comments of being wrecked by a dirty driver):

“Brad Keselowski knows what dirty drivers are because he’s done it plenty of times. I have yet to wreck a person on purpose.”

I’m sorry: What?

That was the statement that I completely lost my cool at. Clearly, someone has memory loss, and the whole Ron Hornaday incident never crossed his mind (among many many other incidents). Kyle claimed he was the “bigger man” and much classier than Brad. I don’t really understand how intentionally wrecking someone would translate into you being a “classy driver.” We all know who Kyle Busch is — he’s Rowdy, Wild Thing– but we also all thought we were seeing a “new” Kyle Busch this season. I guess we were wrong. He’s the same driver we all know and love to hate.

This whole situation is just incredible to me. Brad was wrecked for second place. Not first place — second place. Granted, the 22 and 54 are fighting against each other in NNS owner points, and the No. 18 of Matt Kenseth was bound to run out of fuel, which would possibly give the win to Brad, but it’s still a Nationwide race. We love seeing the passion and hard racing from drivers, but no one likes dirty driving. And that is exactly what we saw Saturday afternoon: dirty driving by Kyle Busch.

So what does this mean going forward? Brad gave us a look into the future after the race. He was asked if this incident would carry over into the Cup series, and replied, “(Freak) yeah it will!” Thank goodness. I knew Brad wasn’t going to just shrug this off. He may not have gotten even on Sunday during the Cup race, but like I have always said: Brad files incidents like this away. When he has been done wrong, he never forgets it.

Kyle Busch will be in every Nationwide Series race until the end of the year, while Brad will be sharing his seat with Joey Logano. But you can bet when Brad is in the seat of the No. 22 Discount Tire Mustang, there will be something to watch out for. He will wait until the perfect moment to teach Kyle Busch a lesson. I cannot wait for that moment. Brad isn’t scheduled to be in any more truck races, but you never know: there’s a little more than a month left, which may give the BKR team time to field a third entry for him to try his hand at another truck race.

Whichever series Brad is running in, everyone including me will be on their feet waiting for the moment the score is evened.

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