JOLIET, Ill. -- As the No. 1 seed in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski has studied the grid and the path to the championship. And there is one particular element that alarms him.
Brad Keselowski: Contender round ‘scares the (expletive) out of me’
The stretch of races at Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega “scares the (expletive)” out of Brad Keselowski, the Chase’s No. 1 seed.
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, is fretful about the second round known as Contender, encompassing races at Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
“The contender bracket, that one scares the (expletive) out of me,” Keselowski said. “Kansas and Talladega are just two tracks where they have been wreck-fests.”
NASCAR has divided the Chase into four segments after expanding the field from 12 drivers to 16 and implementing eliminations. Four drivers will be dropped after the third, sixth and ninth events of the 10-race playoff.
The notoriously unpredictable Talladega, where multi-car wrecks are a common occurrence, is the elimination race in the Contender round. Kansas has had an average of 14.5 caution flags in the past two Chase races.
In preparation for what it feels will be a precarious slate of races, Team Penske used one of its allotted four tests at Charlotte, which Keselowski said was a safeguard against potential trouble at Kansas and Talladega.
A win by a championship-eligible driver ensures advancement to the subsequent round.
“The only way you can really feel comfortable with that bracket is if you go to Charlotte and win the race,” Keselowski said. “I think that bracket will break some hearts and that is the most concerning thing to us.”
Both Kansas and Charlotte are 1.5-mile ovals, the kind of track Penske has excelled on this season. Keselowski is the only driver with multiple victories on that sized speedway (Las Vegas, Kentucky), while teammate Joey Logano went to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway.
Keselowski wasn’t alone in expressing concern about the Contender round -- Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson shared similar sentiments.
“I think Kansas, Talladega and Charlotte will be our biggest obstacles,” Hamlin said. “Luckily, that stretch of races is early so there are more opportunities for guys to take themselves out.
“Kansas is the big race for us ... We’ve really struggled there since they repaved the track. I think Kansas is as much of a wild card as Talladega.”
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