Moral victories are usually reserved for losers, but this does not apply to Brad Keselowski following a duel with the winner of the race Joey Logano on Sunday NASCAR race.
Keselowski is approaching two full seasons without a Cup Series win, but his No. 6 Ford continues to show encouraging signs. Best of all, though, was that the RFK Racing driver/co-owner and Logano put up a flawless battle throughout, sparing fans from another late party of wrecks by displaying some real driving skills and showing mutual respect.
Brad Keselowski calls it a “hell of a battle” with Joey Logano
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano was a worthy winner Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He dominated the first two stages and continued to run well in the second half of the race but was unable to break away from the pack. After Brad Keselowski passed Aric Almirola with 52 laps remaining, Logano regained the lead on lap 227 of the scheduled 260 on the 1.54-mile oval.
But Keselowski persisted and quickly passed Logano for a 29-lap lead. This lasted until Logano regrouped and pushed with the white flag flying. He won the checkered flag after a 44-lap green flag race in which two pros scratched each other without getting dirty.
“Hell of a battle,” Keselowski said in his on-track interview. “The coolest thing is that two veterans showed that you can run a race here side by side, draft and not destroy the field. It can happen if you run with respect, and I think everyone did a great job.
Logano said, “We were kind of fighting back and forth, side by side, side by side, drafting each other. OK, that’s what you’d expect. It’s fun to compete against the best like that.
Respectful shopping came at the right time
The idea of two drivers choosing to “run with respect”, as Brad Keselowski In other words, it’s been a recurring topic in NASCAR since the start of last season, when four of the new Next Gen car’s first eight points races ended in green-white checkered finishes. This coincided with Ross Chastain starting to make his way into competition and with two early season wins.
Others followed, notably at Charlotte, where the longest scheduled race on the calendar turned into a Coca-Cola 620, and talk of late-race aggression rarely subsided for more than two or three weeks in a row. Some questioned the value of the first 90% of races if the conclusions were to descend into chaos.
The hot topic on the track this season became Denny Hamlin’s admission on his podcast that he had put Chastain into the wall in the final moments in Phoenix, continuing their year-long feud. The two seemed to have talked about it afterwards, but Hamlin’s later revelation earned him a fine and a points penalty from NASCAR officials.
Just before the gripping Logano-Keselowski duel, Kyle Busch moved from Hamlin versus Chastain to a broader observation about the state of civility — or lack thereof. Busch started when a journalist suggested that Mark Martin and his contemporaries were practicing better etiquette.
“Now you are on the right track because we have completely lost any sense of respect in the garage between the drivers,” he said. “That’s where the problem lies, is that no one cares about anyone else, and it’s just a problem where everyone takes advantage of everyone else as much as they can.”
Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano had history on their side
Don’t expect the NASCAR Cup Series to be very tricky based on Sunday’s civilized duel at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This was an isolated case so far.
Although they may have had disagreements on occasion, Logano and Keselowski were teammates on Team Penske from 2014 to 2021, when the latter left to take a stake at Roush Fenway Racing. Additionally, Keselowski’s observer, TJ Majors, worked for Logano’s team. These guys know each other and their circle of friends, which helps keep them in control.
It’s hard enough to keep your teammates on the same page – as demonstrated by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott last season – so expecting two guys without shared experience, like Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain, to remain civil, that’s too much to ask.
Do you have a question or observation about racing? John Moriello of Sportscasting publishes a mailbag column every Friday. Write to him at (email protected).
