Keselowski: New rules are a ‘tremendous opportunity’
Brad Keselowski has always contended that Sprint Cup cars should be hard to drive. So he’s thrilled with the low-downforce rules that will be in effect for the 2016 season.
NASCAR has shortened the spoilers and made other changes to the cars from the 2015 season, mimicking the experiments at Kentucky and Darlington last year. The changes are designed to make the cars less aerodynamically dependent and put more emphasis on driver ability.
“I see a tremendous opportunity but maybe I have too much optimism in me,” The 2012 champion said Wednesday. “The two races we ran with the rules package, Darlington and Kentucky, were two of the best races for Team Penske between the 2 and 22, leading the most laps with our two cars.
“I think I sat on the pole at least one of them and had the cars to beat. That will be the rules package for the whole season and I am thrilled to death at that. It will put an increased level of importance on the driver to navigate cars that will just be harder to drive. I am looking forward to that challenge. I think it will be good for the sport and I am very much embracing the opportunity.”
Keselowski had the pole at Darlington and qualified second at Kentucky. He finished sixth in the Bluegrass State and was second at Darlington. Logano, who won three races in the Chase and could have won a fourth, was second at Kentucky and fourth at Dover.
Logano won the Daytona 500 in 2015 and tied series champion Kyle Busch for the wins lead with six in 2015. He didn’t have a shot for the title, however, after he was taken out while leading at Martinsville by Matt Kenseth.
“I guarantee you there is no complacency with this guy sitting on the end,” Logano said of his team owner Roger Penske. “I think all of us know that. We have lived through that. We want to win trophies for Roger and win a championship. Anything less than that we don’t consider it success.
“I am proud of what our team has done the last three years I have been at Team Penske and being able to improve each year. The first year we won one race, then five races and now six races. It gets harder as you keep going but we have to keep going. That is what keeps us driven.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
