Brad Keselowski focused on good finish with JR Motorsports, not Denny Hamlin
Brad Keselowski will make his final start for JR Motorsports in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Related story: Denny Hamlin vows to retaliate against Brad Keselowski
MIAMI – Brad Keselowski says he enters his final race of the 2009 Nationwide Series season – and his final race with JR Motorsports – thinking about finishing second in the series standings, not Denny Hamlin.
Keselowski is 60 points behind Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards for the second spot in the point standings going into the Ford 300 on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but CJM Racing’s Hamlin has vowed to retaliate against him for contact in recent races.
“Is second a big deal to me? Of course, it is,” Keselowski said prior to signing autographs Wednesday in Miami Beach. “Certainly, I would have liked to win it this year, but things just didn’t work out. We had an awesome season.”
And what about Hamlin if he’s on his bumper?
“I would not put that at the top of my [worry] list,” Keselowski said. “That’s probably the best way to put it. The top of my list is finishing out the year getting a good solid run and continuing the streak of top-10s and top-fives I’ve got.”
That streak is pretty incredible. After opening the year with a best finish of 12th in the first four races, Keselowski has had a great final 30 races with 22 top-five finishes and 28 top-10s. In his last 15 races, he has 13 top-five finishes.
Last year, Clint Bowyer won the title with 14 top-five finishes – eight fewer than what Keselowski has this year. With his current point total, Keselowski would have won the title in six of the last seven years (when there were 34 or 35 races in the season).
“I feel like if I could duplicate this season next year, I would win the championship,” said Keselowski, who is 250 points behind soon-to-be-champion Kyle Busch.
Of course, next year Keselowski won’t be driving for JR Motorsports. After the Ford 300, Keselowski will be a full-time driver for Penske Racing. He has already taken over driving duties for Penske’s No. 12 Cup car and will drive full time for the organization in both the Cup and Nationwide series next year.
“It’s bittersweet,” Keselowski said about going into his final race for JR Motorsports. “I have a great opportunity ahead of me. I can’t tell you how great an opportunity it is. At the same token, I don’t have a lot of friends outside of racing, and I tend to make my friends on the teams that I have. So to leave the team I have is essentially to leave my friends.
“That’s the hard part. You feel like you’re leaving all your friends behind. But in this sport, if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. If I had stayed doing the same thing next year, it would have been bad for my career. So I had to make a move.”
