DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Brad Keselowski said he’s done with Nationwide Series restrictor-plate races because of the dangerous conditions created by drivers who don’t react quickly enough to multicar wrecks.
The Penske Racing driver’s last plate race was the Feb. 23 season opener at Daytona International Speedway that ended with a last-lap pileup in which Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet sailed into the catchfence and scattered debris into the grandstands that injured 28 fans.
The crash started when leader Regan Smith tried to block a move by Keselowski, and Larson’s car went airborne after being rammed from behind.
“Guys in the middle to the back half of the field don’t lift (off the accelerator) and try to drive through (the wreck),” Keselowski said after qualifying 15th for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400. “That’s what caused the damn car going in the grandstands is guys didn’t lift and hit him going way faster than they should have been going. The speed difference is why that car went in the grandstands. I’ve seen that on every plate race the Nationwide guys do. There’s a list of 10 to 15 drivers that don’t lift for wrecks. That puts you in a very dangerous situation.”
Asked if it’s more likely on the last lap, the defending Sprint Cup champion said, “It’s every lap. It’s ridiculous.
“I’m trying to get away from it until someone can bring them drivers back in. Maybe the wake-up call was (February) here, but then again I saw it again (in the May 4 race) at Talladega. That was enough for me to say, ‘I’m good, thank you.’”
Keselowski said Dario Franchitti suffered a broken ankle during a Nationwide crash at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2008 crash in a similar incident to Larson’s.
“I don’t know how you can blame a spotter for something that happened right in front of you,” Keselowski said. “That’s your job as a driver. And there’s just a handful that don’t get it. They’ll have to hurt someone as they have in the past. It seems to happen in that series. I don’t want to be a part of that.”
Keselowski, who won the 2010 Nationwide championship, still will compete at the slower and smaller tracks on the circuit. His next scheduled Nationwide race is Aug. 3 at Iowa Speedway.
Keselowski is one of five Sprint Cup regulars who drove in the Nationwide race at Daytona in February but didn’t race in Friday’s Subway Firecracker 250. He said other Cup drivers told him they also were planning to skip Nationwide restrictor-plate races for the same reasons, but “they’d get mad at me if I (revealed) them by name.”
Matt Kenseth, one of four Cup regulars racing in Friday’s Nationwide event at Daytona, said he had no apprehension.
“In (the Sprint Cup) Series if there’s a wreck coming to the finish line, I haven’t seen very many people lift, either,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “I get passed (in) wrecks every time. It’s hard to know when the field is getting frozen. I’ve enjoyed running Nationwide again this year.”
After qualifying third for Saturday’s Cup race at Daytona, Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer said he wished he was racing Friday, too, and said Keselowski’s concerns were overstated.
“He’s been in some of the worst crashes I’ve seen, so I don’t know if I’d worry about it if I was him,” said Bowyer, the 2008 Nationwide champion. “I don’t think that’s a worry. It’s great racing. It’s a great product for the fan. The Nationwide Series is every bit as much exciting as the Cup races on these restrictor-plate tracks. Certainly if I had the opportunity, I’d be in it.”
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