NASCAR’s Brad Keselowski May Be A Fighter, Not A Lover

Outside of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the award for “Best Interview Session” on the recently completed NASCAR Sprint Media Tour (the annual preseason gab-fest with 200-plus reporters) went to controversy magnet Brad Keselowski.

As the media circled around him, Keselowski already knew what the questions were going to be about.

Just because 2009 is gone doesn’t mean Keselowski’s rivalry with Denny Hamlin is going to disappear anytime soon – especially since Hamlin again fueled the fire by responding to a tweet from ESPN’s David Newton just before Keselowski’s interview.

The Twitter sequence, if you missed it:

@dennyhamlin: heading up to birkdale to shoot some hoops..

@dnewtonESPN: Can u take Brad K to the hole?

@dennyhamlin: I’d rather play a 10yr old girl

And with that, Keselowski’s media availability was underway. The first question involved Newton asking the new Penske Racing driver about Hamlin’s “10-year-old girl” tweet.

To his credit, Keselowski tilted his head back and laughed loudly.

“Cause he knows he’d win” against the 10-year-old, Keselowski retorted.

Both drivers seem to understand that their rivalry is highly entertaining to watch as an outsider. And thankfully for the rest of us, they don’t shy away from talking about it. It appears likely to continue this season, which will be Keselowski’s first full-time campaign in the Sprint Cup Series.

Keselowski told reporters a story of how he sent a “Peace On Earth” Christmas card to Hamlin’s house and signed it “Your Friend, Brad Keselowski.”

“I mean, I didn’t want to get too wordy,” Keselowski said. “Nobody likes it when you get wordy.”

Keselowski didn’t include his picture (“It was ‘Peace on Earth!‘ You can’t ruin ‘Peace on Earth’ with a picture!” he said) but did write his return address in hopes of getting a Christmas card back from Hamlin.

To his dismay (at least jokingly), Hamlin wasn’t in the card-giving spirit.

Fans know Keselowski as a lightning rod for controversy, but he’s actually extremely intelligent and articulate. It’s just that inside the race car, strange things happen to the polite, almost-geeky Michigan native.

“For lack of a better word, you just take no shit,” he said. “Once I get in [the car], I get a little mean sometimes. [The competitiveness] brings out that edginess and that drive.”

And interestingly enough, that’s the part Keselowski truly enjoys about racing. Maybe that’s why he’s so fun to watch - at least if he’s not in your rear-view mirror.

“I enjoy the fun of pulling up behind somebody and that guy going, ‘Oh no, not him,’” Keselowski said. “That part is fun. I don’t necessarily enjoy the media part of [the controversy].”

With that in mind, Keselowski said, “I really would like to win a race without controversy. I think that’s one of my key goals for 2010. Just one!”

Was Keselowski always this way? He suggested reporters call his middle school principal to find out, but later admitted he had been known as a fighter in his younger days.

“I don’t know if I kicked ass,” he said with another hearty laugh. “I was involved in some scuffles, but it depends which side you were on.”

Another reporter asked Keselowski if he fought with boys or girls.

Keselowski laughed again.

“It was boys,” he said, “but I appreciate you asking.”