Brad Keselowski did not back off his assertion that Toyota was sandbagging, saying on NBCSN’s “NASCAR America Sunday” that if series officials don’t make changes, “it’s not going to be a show when we get to the (playoffs) if it keeps up like it did at Pocono and Indy.’’
Toyotas have won four of the last five Cup races and led 88.2 percent of the laps in that span.
Keselowski first raised the issue about Toyota on Friday after winning the pole for today’s Pure Michigan 400 on NBCSN.
“We had a strong suspicion that those guys (Toyota) would kind of tune it down this weekend, so not to post a pretty big number in inspection that maybe balanced back out the competition,” Keselowski said Friday. “And potentially that’s right because our team hasn’t done much differently and those guys are just not as fast as they’ve been the last few weeks.”
Kyle Busch responded to Keselowski’s comments by telling ESPN on Saturday: “Brad’s a (expletive) moron. We don’t just turn it down. We actually have a new engine package here this week. He’s a moron.’’
Keselowski told NBCSN before Sunday’s race that Toyota’s performance this weekend seems “fishy.’’
“NASCAR typically takes the cars from the field, the best cars from the field and checks to see where everybody is at performance-wise about three or four times a year,’’ Keselowski told NBCSN before the race. “Usually those weekends are either Indianapolis, Pocono or Michigan. Well they couldn’t do it at Indianapolis because most of the field wrecked and there weren’t any cars to check, and I don’t know why it wasn’t done at Pocono.
“So the whole field knows today that the cars are probably going to be pulled and go through a little bit of extra inspection. That doesn’t mean that anyone is cheating by any means. This is a chance for NASCAR to level the playing field and see who is where in the development cycles. I think everybody knows that.
“Surprisingly or not surprisingly, the Toyotas are about on the same page as everybody speed-wise as far as qualifying. We’re going to find out in the race today. It seems a little fishy right now, but we’ll see in the race.’’
Watch the above video for more of what Keselowski said on the matter.
