Keselowski hoping for doughnuts at meeting with Edwards, NASCAR

Yes, Brad Keselowski was joking when he said he hoped there would be doughnuts at Saturday's meeting with Carl Edwards, car owners Jack Roush and Roger Penske and NASCAR in light of Edwards wrecking Keselowski at Atlanta two weeks ago and sending Keselowski's car airborne.

 

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR VP of competition, wouldn't say what series officials plan to say in the meeting. Here's what's likely to happen. Both drivers will get a chance to air their grievances with each other and explain why they've acted or reacted in the manner they have. At some point, NASCAR likely will give the drivers (although Edwards might have gotten it at Atlanta), the speech about the sport has been around before they got here and will be around after they leave and NASCAR has proved they can run races without them and do just fine. The point being do they really want this to escalate and force NASCAR to react?

 

Edwards didn't want to talk about the meeting before it happened, but he did lash out at Kevin Harvick for calling him a fake. Edwards is expected to talk after the meeting Saturday.

 

Keselowski did talk Friday at Bristol to the media. Here's some of what he said:

 

Q: Will Edwards be an easy target now for payback now that he's on probation?

 

KESELOWSKI: He's maybe an easier target for everybody else but me. I'm not thinking about him to be honest. I think it's a disservice to my team to be really worried about him. It will be interesting to see how everybody else reacts to it.''

 

Q: What do you expect in your meeting with NASCAR and Edwards?

 

KESELOWSKI: "I don't know. I know I'm going to bring my ears. I'm going to listen as much as I talk and there's a lot of high-profile people I'm sure that are going to be there, and I think you have to come in with the right mindset to take anything away from it.''

 

Q: Do you expect NASCAR to be focused on you and Edwards during the races this weekend?

 

KESELOWSKI: "I really don't think they'll have any focus on us to be honest. From what I've seen they're letting things flow.''

 

Q: Define what "Boys have at it'' means.

 

KESELOWSKI: "That will be my question when I get to meet with them. That's something we're all trying to understand. It sounds like it's somewhat of a work in progress.''

 

Q: Reaction of other drivers?

 

KESELOWSKI: "I haven't really talked to any drivers. The only driver I saw was Jeff Gordon, and I just bumped into him and he was pretty cool. I've always gotten along well with Jeff. He told me about some of trails and tribulations he went through and how there's no real way to make it through without going through the  hard times. I really appreciated his support.''

 

Q: More on reaction of other drivers and if they reached out to him.

 

KESELOWSKI: "The only time I really ever talk to other drivers is when I bump into them. Nobody really reaches out to me. I try talking to a few of them and they didn't really seem that interested. To be honest even ones that I don't really feel that I've done anything to make them mad. I think everybody is trying to do their own thing.''

 

Q: Disappointed drivers are talking more to press about your instead of to you?

 

KESELOWSKI: "I understand it. I've used this analogy to explain this situation through the last few incidents Ive had. Other drivers stand to benefit when they talk about me in the media from the sense it diverts attention away from their own struggles and it puts more pressure on me. It's like you're trying to tear somebody else's house down so you can build your own, which I understand it. I think if they had really legitimate gripes, they would probably come up to me and say something. I would hope. I know that I would.''

 

Q: Not going to change your driving style?

 

KESELOWSKI: "You're not going to make your competitors happy. It's not possible. Part of running well is making your competitors angry. I'm sure that there's a part where they're angry because I make contact with them. Like I said all along, I can point the finger back the other way and say just as many times where I've been right as wrong. I'm not going to sit here and whine about it. It's all even in my mind. When you first come into this sport, I don't think other drivers are OK with it being even.''

 

 

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# Joey Logano won his first Cup pole Friday at Bristol with a lap of 124.630 mph.

 

The top 10:

 

1. Joey Logano .... 124.630 mph

2. Kurt Busch .... 123.857

3. Dave Blaney ... 123.849

4. Jimmie Johnson ... 123.818

5. Jeff Gordon ... 123.698

6. Juan Pablo Montoya ... 123.626

7. Matt Kenseth ... 123.499

8. Carl Edwards ... 123.403

9. Marcos Ambrose ... 123.308

10. David Reutimann ... 123.269

 

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