Brad Keselowski has had to do a fair bit of explaining and backtracking following a couple of comments on Twitter yesterday about Danica Patrick following his third-place finish in the Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a race in which Patrick finished fourth.
Keselowski, understandably frustrated after a day which saw him playing a fuel mileage gamble into a lead entering the final lap only to have a cut tire relegate him to a third-place finish behind winner Mark Martin, was miffed by what he saw as disrespect when he was not interviewed on TV following the race. Meanwhile, Patrick was surrounded by media after recording the highest finish by a woman in any of NASCAR's major series in its sixty-three year history.
Keselowski, who won the Nationwide championship last year, started by saying:
Before broadcast ends I'll go ahead and say tv skipped me for Danica. Imagine that...
Shortly thereafter, Keselowski attempted to make light of the situation by tweeting:
haha I hope! “@davgrant: @keselowski Well you probably don't look as good as her in a bikini!”
Keselowski followed this with an exchange on Twitter with Allen Bestwick of ESPN. Bestwick asserted that the reason Keselowski wasn't interviewed on ABC's post-race show was because the crew sent to interview him was unable to locate him. Keselowski asserted he was at his car for a few minutes following the race's conclusion, subsequently walking past an ESPN crew on his way to the track's media center to talk with assorted print media members and then left the media center while the television broadcast was still on air.
Keselowski next "went there" with this tweet:
haha In fairness, She did run really well. “@charlotte_11N14: @keselowski they can't admit they all have a hard on for Danica ~
From there, Keselowski apparently realized he needed to swiftly tone it down:
I truly am happy for her She ran well. “@smokinace88: @keselowski So you didnt like Danica getting a good place finish today?”
that's for u the fan to decide... exactly y tv must treat us the same “@SpTfN: You don't think she's a bigger story than your flat today?
I concede, Def. A gr8 story But not the call out about being unavailable @JowersRN: I think Danica deserved the camera time over you today.
Interspersed with these tweets were retweets by NASCAR writers such as Tom Jensen, editor-in-chief at SPEEDtv.com, supporting Keselowski's opinion.
The subject of whether Danica Patrick receives more publicity than is warranted has been a hot-button issue since she first came to prominence in IndyCar, intensifying since she added NASCAR participation to her racing resumé last year. A fact often lost in the furor over whether it's how she handles the curves on a race track or displays her curves in assorted magazines that brings her the most attention is how Patrick is indeed a talented driver. Her greatly improved results this year in Nationwide, including her fourth-place finish yesterday in a race where even without a successful fuel mileage gamble she would have placed solidly in the top ten, provide ample testimony to this fact.
Keselowski is justified in feeling slighted by not making a post-race appearance on television yesterday. However, he would be well advised to keep his disappointment strictly a matter between himself and the broadcast networks, leaving Danica Patrick well out of it.
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