The biggest turning point in Brad
Keselowski's fast-rising career as a
NASCAR driver, oddly enough, may have
been happened off the track.
Keselowski was driving the Nationwide Series
entry for team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. at
Charlotte in May when he got into a couple inci-
dents under caution with Denny Hamlin. The final
run-in involved Hamlin turning Keselowski's car
as the race neared a close, which prompted a scuf-
fle between the two crews on pit road.
After the incident Hamlin and Keselowski
ended up sitting next to each other in the media
center to answer questions, because they finished
second and third, respectively. Hamlin came
across as arrogant and speaking down to his
younger rival; Keselowski stood his ground and
stuck up for himself and his team.
Keselowski's performance that night was
praised by his car owner, other competitors and
the media.
"The incident in Charlotte really forged a bond
between the entire team, it really welded those
guys together very tightly," Earnhardt Jr said.
"They felt very strongly they had some injustice
done to them at Charlotte, and I felt it really moti-
vated them."
Since then, Keselowski has earned his first two
Nationwide Series wins " at Nashville and an
impressive come-from-the-back victory last
Friday at Bristol, Tenn., which moved the 24-
year-old native of Rochester Hills, Mich., to with-
in 122 points of series leader Clint Bowyer with
nine races left.
The Bristol victory also provided Keselowski
with a boost of confidence and reassurance that he
was not, as he said, "a one-hit wonder."
"A second win is very important, especially in
the same season. There are a lot of drivers who
can say they won a race but there's not a lot that
can say they won two," he said. "It puts your foot,
not just in the door, but it gets you all the way in.
"It doesn't seem like it but we've been racing
like 17 straight weeks now and Nashville was
almost 10 races ago. We were on a mini-drought."
Keselowski's development this season has been
fast and constant. He debuted with JR
Motorsports late last season and, after turning in
some impressive performances, was asked to
return for a full season in 2008. He quickly gained
a reputation as a smooth driver on the track and a
personable and engaging personality out of the
race car.
"We saw a lot of development in him last year
after we made the driver change. We put him in
the car and he did exactly what Dale Jr. thought
he would do," said Keselowski's crew chief, Tony
Eury Sr.
"Some of the race tracks we've been to this
year, he's been a rookie at and he hasn't per-
formed like a rookie. We're working hard for this
championship. We're going to give Clint a run for
it."
Eury Sr. speaks from experience. He won two
championships as Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief in the
series in 1998 and 1999.
"I think working with Tony Sr. " he's a great
mentor and I've experienced that myself,"
Earnhardt Jr. said. "Tony Sr. definitely has your
back at all times.
"Tony Sr. has been a good leader. He gets
people under to work hard in any situation
and put forth the effort."
Keselowski is equally opti-
mistic about his champi-
onship chances.
"I think we have been
equal to if not better than
Clint. I said before that
we need to win races in
order to have a shot at
that and we did exactly
what we needed to do,"
he said. "This is going
to be a nail-biter. It's
going to be a battle."