Keselowski: Kenseth is 'entitled to his opinion'

Keselowski struck the driver’s side of Matt Kenseth‘s car as the field came to pit road following the completion of last week’s Bank of America 500. He also ran into the back of Tony Stewart‘s car, unintentionally it appeared. He was pursued by Denny Hamlin as the two made their way through the garage area, and by night’s end was involved in an altercation with Kenseth between two team haulers.

Kenseth called Keselowski’s actions on the track, which also included contact on a late-race restart, “high school stunts.”

Keselowski said he was aware of his fellow competitor’s comments, included talking about an incident at Richmond earlier this year as well as damage he contends Kenseth did to his Team Penske entry while taking the “wave around” following a late caution.

“We had a little contact at Richmond,” he said. As for the contact, “(Kenseth) is always entitled to his opinion as I am to mine. We are both entitled to (our) opinions. Obviously we have a difference of them or what happened Saturday wouldn’t have happened.”

Both Keselowski and Stewart were fined for their post-race actions at CMS last week (NASCAR officials clipped Stewart for $25,000).

“Maybe I should have had a bigger one, I don’t know,” Keselowski said. “I thought (Sprint Cup Series Managing Director) Richard Buck was really classy and I thought that was really nice of him. It isn’t something that I didn’t understand.”

Other drivers weren’t pointing fingers or placing blame a week after the incident, instead citing the pressure of the new format along with the pressure of competing against 42 others for the better part of a year. Disagreements are going to occur.

“We all have frustrations toward each other at some point,” Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman said. “And we can get along with each other five days later. That’s part of what we do.”

Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson said Keselowski’s “always been a pretty tough racer.

“He’s in a position where he doesn’t want to be in right now, along with a few other guys,” Johnson said. “When you’re in that position, it’s hard to hit that 100-percent mark. Sometimes you end up at 105 or 120 and you end up doing things you might not want to or make little mistakes that cost others.”

Keselowski, along with Johnson, Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., are outside the top eight in points heading into Sunday’s GEICO 500 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET). Only the top eight remain in title contention and two of those eight slots have already been taken by Contender Round winners Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.

Keselowski said he isn’t worried about losing the respect of his peers. Earning that respect is important, but “I think you have to temper that with the knowledge that when you are successful you are a target.

“That isn’t just me, that is everyone,” he said. “That is just part of the ebbs and flows we talk about all the time.”

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