The race at Talladega brought mixed emotions for Ford. While Ryan Blaney clinched the victory and secured his place in the next round, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher didn’t quite have a good time. After being involved in a wreck in Stage 3, Keselowski failed to finish the race. With his role in the wreck, the RFK Racing driver drew comparisons to Ross Chastain. Luckily for him, a NASCAR insider sings in his favor.

Over the years, Keselowski has been seen as a mature and experienced personality on the track. While he has been time and again involved in wrecks, his intent has never been in real doubt. However, what happened at Talladega has certainly raised some eyebrows.

Brad Keselowski gets involved in a multi-car accident at Talladega Superspeedway

It is true that the pressure of the NASCAR Playoffs sooner or later seems to get to everyone. When even the likes of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr have struggled in their own ways, it speaks volumes about the competition’s intensity. Going into the race at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski was one of the favorites to win.

In his stellar career, the #6 driver has enjoyed the taste of victory six times. Safe to say, with a record like that, he definitely has an idea or two of how things work at the track. However, this notion was questioned when he was involved in a wreck on Sunday. After winning Stage 2, Keselowski was found struggling in the final stage.

With his effort to make something happen, he was caught pushing rookie Carson Hocevar through the tri-oval bend frontstretch. In the process, he clipped Hocevar’s left-rear quarter panel and sent him sliding into the pack. This saw Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon spin into the outside SAFER barrier.

Unfortunately, the incident resulted in Dillion catching Keselowski in the left rear and spinning toward the inside wall. After being airborne for a brief period, the aerodynamic roof flaps brought the car back onto the pavement. However, the crash ended Keselowski’s race, seeing him finish 32nd at Talladega.

With this act, many doubted Keselowski’s intent and compared him to Ross Chastain, who was guilty of causing wrecks earlier this season. Veteran journalist Jeff Gluck spoke about the matter on his podcast “The Teardown”. “Well, Keselowski has a track record of success. He’s won so many times, he’s won so many Talladega races. He knows what he’s doing”, said Jeff.

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Gluck further explained why Keselowski doesn’t merit the wrecking criticism. “It works and so I think when you see somebody like that is sort of a superspeedway master, I mean, it’s not like he wanted to wreck”. he said.

Recalling an incident from 2014, veteran sports reporter Jordan Bianchi said, “So, I mean there has been criticism at times of Brad, but I don’t feel like he causes all these wrecks. I think there’s a misperception that he caused a lot of wrecks like he’s been caught in a lot of wrecks, but I don’t necessarily feel like a lot of them are his fault”.

While The Athletic journalist felt this way, the man Keselowski himself gave his perspective on the incident after the race.

Brad Keselowski gets candid about the wreck at Talladega Superspeedway

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Winning at Talladega would have done wonders for Brad Keselowski and his title ambitions. Unfortunately, it wasn’t his day to register his seventh win at the track. While a lot has been spoken about the wreck he was involved in, Keselowski thought it was frustrating from his perspective.

Speaking after the race, he said, “I didn’t hit that hard, so I’m fine. I would’ve been OK but the toe link was broke, so I wasn’t able to keep moving. Just unfortunate. We got shuffled to the outside line here. The 42 (Hocevar) pulled up in front of me. I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s go. We’re gonna go back up to the front.’ And I just pushed him and he kind of instantly spun out. I don’t think he did anything wrong. I just think his car probably wasn’t driving that good.”

Keselowski added, “It’s frustrating, you know? We were able to win the second stage, and we were in good position there for a long time and just kind of unraveled on us. That’s how it goes here sometimes.” While nothing much can be done about it now, the #6 driver would have to make it count at Charlotte Motor Speedway in order to ensure a berth in the next round.

It remains to be seen how he approaches the race, given that he’s just two points above the playoff cutline right now. Can he survive without a win next weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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