Keselowski’s message to Spire: Bring it

Brad Keselowski is not backing down from whatever else might develop between him and Carson Hocevar.

Keselowski admitted Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway that, after more time to reflect on his frustration from last weekend, he will need to strike a balance going forward. The driver and co-owner of RFK Racing was left angry after Hocevar spun him off Turn 4 at Darlington Raceway. Hocevar had slid into his left-rear quarter panel on lap 107 of the Southern 500.

“Each race weekend presents its own challenges,” said Keselowski, “and coming to Gateway, obviously my car is not in the Chase, but we still have a lot to race for and commitments and things we need to do, and a lot of people that work really hard on the car. I have to balance that with the fact that different things happened last weekend, and that’s always the challenge. That’s my challenge this weekend: balancing going out and maximizing performance while also not letting a fire spread for all intents and purposes of being taken advantage of.

“So, how to walk that line is difficult. It’s kind of one of those things you live and figure it out in the moment, and it’ll play out however it plays out.”

In the immediate aftermath, Keselowski pledged that Hocevar’s day was coming. It was a straight, to-the-point comment that didn’t elaborate on a past history or what Keselowski had in mind for the future. Hocevar, meanwhile, didn't offer an explanation after the race, but he knew what Keselowski had said (having been told by a media member) and accepted that if he got wrecked, he was going to be wrecked.

But earlier this week, when asked for more on how the incident unfolded, Hocevar said he did not mean to spin Keselowski, that it was hard racing, and that sometimes things happen.

Then things escalated further when Jeff Dickerson, the co-owner of Spire Motorsports, appeared on a podcast with Jeff Gluck from The Athletic, where he acknowledged that Hocevar should not be running into other competitors, but maintained his personality was not going to be neutered. However, Dickerson’s response to Keselowski’s warning threw another log on the fire.

“We don’t want to get in a crashing cars contest,” said Dickerson. “They’ve got two cars in the Chase, too. What are we doing? What, he wants to dump Carson, so then Carson goes and gets [Chris Buescher]? All these unwritten rules out there. Chase guys, non-Chase guys. It’s like Brad knows these rules; he wrote them. So, if a non-Chase guy wants to do that, OK, then I guess whatever happens, happens. It’s the same to us.

“I can tell you, if Carson is going to get wrecked, there will be a commensurate response.”

Keselowski was unfazed by that response when told during his St. Louis media availability.

“Bring it,” he said. “I’ll fight back with anybody in the garage. I’m not afraid of that.”