BROOKLYN, Mich. — Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon said they had discussed their run-in last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, with Keselowski backing off his suggestion that Dillon had intentionally triggered the crash that ended his night early.
Keselowski discussed the incident Saturday before practice and qualifying for Sunday‘s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Michigan International Speedway. The RFK Racing driver and co-owner will start Sunday’s race 26th as he vies for his first victory at his home-state track.
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In last Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400, Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford careened into the outside wall after contact from behind from Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, shortly after a restart on Lap 192 of 300. The two had an earlier altercation, when a jam-up to avoid Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s car on pit entry eventually sent Dillon spinning after contact involving Keselowski and teammate Chris Buescher.
After the wreck that derailed Keselowski’s day, No. 6 spotter TJ Majors called the contact intentional over the team radio, and Keselowski bristled during his interview after a check at Nashville’s infield care center. But data from both cars showed that Dillon backed off the throttle to avoid the collision in what was a rapid-fire sequence.
“I looked through all the data and had some conversations with Austin,” Keselowski said Saturday at Michigan, “and there was a lot that happened in one really quick moment that, after having a chance to look at, made a lot more sense to me.”
Dillon said Buescher had texted him “right after the race” about the earlier contact, and Dillon reached out to Keselowski shortly thereafter.
“I mean, I think he understood after I explained things to him that it wasn’t intentional,” Dillon said after qualifying 21st for Sunday’s 400-miler. “Things just happened, and it was quick and fast, and the apron at Nashville is not fun, and everybody that touched a rear bumper last weekend got turned, so just unfortunate events.”
Dillon said he reached out to Majors as well. “I talked to TJ, too,” Dillon said. “He said, ‘After I took a day, I’m better.””
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NASCAR affirmed midweek that no conduct penalties would stem from the incident, but the veteran Keselowski pressed for more deterrence from competition officials for pit-road entry infractions. Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet caused a logjam as it tried to stop for service, and the first incident involving Buescher, Keselowski and Dillon originated from that.
“There was a lot of things that happened,” Keselowski said. “I’ve had so much conversation with NASCAR as well, that as analytics has really entered the sport, drivers were being weighed really heavily on how well they get on or off pit road, and you can get on and off of pit road slightly faster by making some really aggressive and egregious moves, and that happened at Nashville, but it’s not the only place it’s happened, and it’s not with one driver, it’s with a number of drivers, and there are rules to prevent that from happening, and penalties that are supposed to be enforced that haven’t been happening, and so I think that’s a conversation that will probably evolve over the next few weeks.”