Penalties and Problems at Pocono - Keselowski Not Happy With Gordon's Comments
Brad Keselowski was asked to make a pass through penalty during Monday's race at Pocono after a "body modification" during his pit stop. Keselowski became agitated when his crew chief told him he had to pit, and that he was just told by NASCAR officials.
But the real issue seems to be the bad blood between Keselowski and Jeff Gordon. Gordon made a comment during his analysis of the stop that the 2 team also did the same thing to their car at Las Vegas earlier in the year.
Brad Keselowski was asked to make a pass through penalty during Monday's race at Pocono after a "body modification" during his pit stop. Keselowski became agitated when his crew chief told him he had to pit, and that he was just told by NASCAR officials.
But the real issue seems to be the bad blood between Keselowski and Jeff Gordon. Gordon made a comment during his analysis of the stop that the 2 team also did the same thing to their car at Las Vegas earlier in the year.
That’s because Jeff Gordon is in the booth,” Keselowski said. “They need to get some people in the booth who aren’t inbred to the sport and own teams and have internal knowledge, because that’s pretty crappy. But it is what it is.”
Keselowski, who finished third, indicated a belief that his team was being singled out. He said “every car I saw” had some body modifications following pit stops, though he acknowledged he did not know whether the No. 2 team’s was more egregious than others.
Jeff Gordon took to Twitter to explain his side of the comments:
My mistake comparing @keselowski @LVMotorSpeedway incident today @poconoraceway but @NASCAR called car down pit road to fix issue not me.
— Jeff Gordon (@JeffGordonWeb) June 6, 2016
With roughly 20 laps remaining in the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 and Keselowski running in the top five, commentators Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Gordon discussed Keselowski's penalty and surge to the front on the television broadcast:
Jeff Gordon: “Do you guys remember the last time that this happened and the results? I think it was Las Vegas. Same penalty (roll 2016 Las Vegas video of No. 2 crew member’s body making contact with the car during a pit stop). Here it comes … hip check. Bam.”
Mike Joy: “What does that do?”
Gordon: “It just caves in those doors, and what it does is it creates a flare in the fender right in front of the right-rear tire. What that does, and they’ve found this in the wind tunnel – it just creates a little more sideforce; gives them a little bit more downforce and speed to be able to lean on. You can maybe free up the car a little more and have a little bit more to lean on to make the car go faster.”
Joy: “And to your point, when that happened at Las Vegas, where did he end up?
Gordon: “He won.”
As to Keselowski's comments about being "inbred to the sport"? Gordon has an answer for that too.
I will admit I am biased in the booth....to anyone making it interesting and exciting for all the @NASCARONFOX viewers!
— Jeff Gordon (@JeffGordonWeb) June 6, 2016