iNSIDE SCOOP: Mind Games

Brad Keselowski likes to play mind games. So does Jimmie Johnson. Matt Kenseth, by all accounts, considers them a waste of time.

Consider last year’s title run at this point. Johnson left Texas with a seven-point lead and got to Phoenix feeling pretty good about himself and his chances at another title.

Keselowski started in on the mental side, and the young driver from Michigan claimed that he got in Johnson’s head by running him hard through practice and the race.

OF course, there was a catalyst to all of this. Crew chief Chad Knaus told media after Texas that Kenseth, a 15-year veteran, was a more formidable foe than Keselowski was last year because he was more controlled, more mature and tougher to get off his game.

Keselowski heard and didn’t mince words when asked about it Thursday night.

“That team’s [the 48] success comes from almost the ‘gosh, golly gee’ approach of not racing hard and just beating you on pure speed, which has been their traditional advantage,” Keselowski began. “For them, I wouldn’t want to have to race somebody that is going to race me hard because that’s not their wheelhouse.

“That was one of our strengths last year. If I were going to give Matt a piece of advice, I’d say use the s--- out of him every time you get. Run him hard because that’s his weakness.”

Think back, if you will, of the flap that arose from Keselowski’s muscling of Johnson during a late-race restart at Texas. It was real. It didn’t stop during practice at Phoenix, either.

 “We ran him really hard at Texas (in the race) and then again here at Phoenix, maybe not so much in the race but definitely in practice, and there were some practice sessions where I got by him and just ran him really hard and had a lot of fun with it,” Keselowski said.

“In the race, they drove the car too hard until it blew out a tire. You can look at it and say it was a tire failure or whatever, but those in the garage that know how the cars work, know that it was reaching too hard and the failure was caused from that.”

It was the way that Keselowski likes to race, and while Johnson has and can use muscle when necessary, it’s not his usual mode of operation.

 “I had some fun (in that Phoenix practice last year),” Keselowski said. “I’m not going to lie. Maybe that’s why I’m not very mature, I don’t know.”

Johnson, in Phoenix today for his presser, was asked about Keselowski’s comments. He didn’t mince words, either.

“I guess we need to ask Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, who else have I raced for a championship, Carl Edwards a lot of those guys how we race,” he said. “We race hard.  That is not a weakness of ours by any stretch.  Last year here they were better than us for sure.  We worked real hard to play catch up through the course of the weekend.  Sure we had a tire failure and yes we overworked the tire.  We created an issue ourselves.  We were lacking some speed.  The No. 2 had us covered the entire time here and that particular run where the tire blew I look back on it and think ‘man if I would have preserved my tire a little bit more and didn’t overwork my equipment and didn’t speed up that tire blowing and create that issue we would go to Homestead with a much smaller deficit and have a much better chance of racing.’ So that is the lesson I take from last year’s race here.”

At this point, I’d say the point was Keselowski’s. He forced Johnson to re-examine his failure of a year ago, and while BK isn’t in the running, he’s playing a part in this year’s title run.

Johnson wasn’t done.

“Again, we love to race hard;  that is what we are here to do,” he said. “I know some want to say we have been to Homestead and didn’t have to race for it, but you look at our last championship with Denny (Hamlin) and we had to come from behind and win down there, finished second and won the race.  Racing is what I’m good at.  I’m not the best at putting up the fastest lap, the best at qualifying or the best at topping the speed charts in practice, but look who passes cars on the race track.  I’m good at racing. That is my sweet spot.” 

Guess that Keselowski hit a sore spot with the five-time champ. That could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing. Whichever it turns out to be, it’s going to be a theme that will arise again.