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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — If there’s an underlying tension among some of the four drivers competing for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, an exchange between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski on Thursday brought it to light.
“Sometimes you just don’t like a guy — fact of the matter,” Busch said, commenting on their long-running rivalry. “I never ran into Matt Kenseth; I don’t think Matt Kenseth ever ran into me, so there is a respect factor out there on the race track and you certainly do a better job sometimes when you’re around some of those guys that you may or may not necessarily like, but as once a wise man told me, I think it was Chase Elliott, I race those like they race me.”
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The remarks came during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel ahead of Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch and Keselowski have had their share of on-track run-ins through the years, and their comments about them often have been unapologetic. Sunday, they’ll both compete for their second championship with other title contenders Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.
Keselowski, who answered first, was more muted in his response.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he said. ” … From my perspective (it would be) a little bit foolish to get caught up with any one person. I do think that both of us are fortunate to have great cars, great teams and when you run up at the front a lot things are going to happen. I feel like where we’re at in the sport right now, we’re both going to be here for a long time to come.
“If you looked across the field, every one has had some run-ins with each other. Probably all four of us have probably run into each other through the course of our careers. That’s part of the fun of the sport as well.”
During later interviews, both drivers again were asked to discuss their relationship.
Busch said Keselowski is “too different” and he didn’t think they’d ever be close.
Keselowski added: “We probably get caught up in all these relationship things and forget about the reality of what this stuff’s supposed to be all about, and that’s going on the race track and racing.”
They’ll do plenty of that starting Friday.
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