Brad Keselowski on wrecking himself and teammate Ryan Blaney: 'I just lost it'
For NASCAR drivers, wrecking while fighting for the lead in a race is a particularly brutal blow. Battling for the lead with your teammate and wrecking both cars is, obviously, so much worse.
But that’s exactly what happened with Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney on Sunday at the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Early in the final stage of the race on Lap 96 of 156 total, Blaney in the No. 12 Ford had the lead and was running on the outside of the two-mile track when Michigan native Keselowski in the No. 2 Ford caught up to him on the inside. But as he got underneath Blaney, Keselowski got loose, lost control and turned into the No. 12 car.
Keselowski first slammed into the outside track wall and destroyed his car, and then Blaney eventually did the same. Despite the hard contact, both drivers were cleared by the infield care center.
In his 12th full-time NASCAR Cup Series season, Keselowski has yet to win a race at his home track. He does, however, have seven top-5 finishes at the Michigan track, including Saturday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 where he finished second to Kevin Harvick.
And after not finishing Sunday’s race — the second of a doubleheader weekend for the Cup Series — Keselowski placed dead last in 39th while Blaney was 38th.
In an interview with NBC Sports afterward, Keselowski — the 2012 champ who recently signed a one-year extension with Team Penske — took full responsibility for wrecking himself and his teammate. He said:
“I just lost it. It’s my fault. I feel really bad for my teammate, Ryan Blaney. He didn’t deserve that. I just came off of Turn 4, and was behind me and he gave me a push. And I swear, I went into the corner like 20 miles an hour faster than I had been all day and got past , and I went to get underneath the 12, and I just slipped. I lost the back a little bit, and when I went to collect it, he was there and I wiped him out and myself out.
“So I feel terrible for everyone at Team Penske and especially Ryan Blaney. Gosh, he didn’t deserve that. I should have whoa’d way up. I had been running wide-open on the bottom all day and thought I could do it again. But with that big push, I overestimated the grip and ruined our day.”
After Blaney was cleared by the infield care center, he didn’t fault Keselowski too much in his interview with NBC Sports. If he was furious with his teammate, he didn’t show it.
But he did call the wreck “unfortunate for the whole Penske organization.”
Blaney told NBC Sports:
“We had two fast cars battling for the lead, and it just stinks that happened. He had a run, like he said, and he didn’t think he had as big of a run as he had and just got loose and, unfortunately, got us both. It’s a shame to end our day like that with the Knauf/Menards Ford Mustang. We were so fast.
“We had to battle back from having to pit again and got to 10th for the second stage and then got the lead. I was like, ‘All right, we can finally go back at it,’ and just got together there. That’s unfortunate, but it’s not gonna carry over. Things happen. Mistakes happen. It’s just a shame both of us got taken out.”
Race winners in 2020, both Keselowski and Blaney are already automatically qualified for the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs, which begin in September. Keselowski has three checkered flags so far this season — most recently at New Hampshire Motor Speedway earlier this month — while Blaney has one from Talladega Superspeedway.
The NASCAR Cup Series next race is Sunday, August 16 at Daytona International Speedway’s road course.