With all the drama that took place Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, one of the topics folks are still talking about is why Brad Keselowski took the outside lane on a restart while he was leading late in the race?
On Tuesday’s NASCAR America on NBCSN, analysts Parker Kligerman and Jeff Burton gave their take on whether Keselowski was right or wrong:
KLIGERMAN: “He had seen success in the outside lane, had seen it work earlier in the race for his teammate, Joey Logano, and it had worked for himself, too. … I felt like this would leave him vulnerable with what exactly happened when Chase Elliott muscled past him. … That late in the race, you can’t be that vulnerable when you’re going for a win.”
BURTON: “He picked the top (line) because it worked lap after lap and time after time. He was looking at the evidence that presented itself throughout the day. That’s why he made that decision. … Maybe his trust level with Chase Elliott is different than it is with some other people. Maybe he believed Chase Elliott wasn’t going to run him up the racetrack because for the most part, Chase has been a clean race car driver, to the point where some people are being critical about it, that he’s not aggressive enough. … Obviously, it wasn’t the right thing to do in retrospect, but when the 24 ran him up the track to take the lead, that makes starting on the outside the wrong decision.”