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Brad Keselowski admires how Roger Penske embraces technology

Obama Welcomes NASCAR Champion Brad Keselowski To The White House

The same year Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Cup, Roger Penske showed him a thing or two about adapting to new technology.

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We all know how much Brad Keselowski loves his cell phone, not just to make phone calls, but also for texting and using social media apps.

But when it comes to an iPhone and his boss, Roger Penske, Keselowski has a tale he loves to tell.

It was in 2012, the year Keselowski won the NASCAR Cup championship and Penske had just received his first iPhone.

We’ll let Brad, who told the story Wednesday during the NASCAR Media Tour in Charlotte, regale you with the details:

“Roger is a very polished man, and I like that about him. Some would use the word stoic, and he does things with so much class and elegance that it’s really inspiring to you.

“But one thing that sticks out to me was when Roger got his first iPhone. He was a Blackberry guy, a longtime Blackberry guy, and the iPhone came out and he wouldn’t use the iPhone.

“He got this iPhone and he was trying to learn how to use it. … He picks up this iPhone and was like, ‘How does this work? How does that work?’

“He puts it in front of you and you’re on the spot. You want to show him, but you don’t want to show him up. So you show him a few things and he’s learning how to use his iPhone, and you’re like, ‘He’s got a long way to go.’

“The next time I saw Roger about a month later at another race he was using it and he was using it proficiently – almost as good as I could use it.

“It’s kind of the story that explains why he’s so successful. He’s willing to pick up new technology, new things even as he’s in his seventies and beyond, and continue to expand and get better.

“That’s my favorite Roger Penske story. The next time you pick up some new technology and you don’t know how it works, you’ll know how I feel because he makes me feel so guilty when I can’t figure out how something works.”

Follow @JerryBonkowski