DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brad Keselowski said he won’t lift next time when blocked, upset with the move William Byron made just before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit Keselowski and triggered a 25-car crash Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was just a bad block,” Keselowski said after exiting the infield care center. “There are times you can make a block, there are times you can’t. When you got a guy with a big enough run and you can’t throw a block. I made the mistake of lifting instead of wrecking (Byron) and that’s my fault. I take the blame.”
Asked if it was just inexperience on Byron’s part, Keselowski said;
“You got a list of drivers that are making moves that are unqualified to make and it causes big wrecks. That was one of those. It was my fault because I lifted. I should have wrecked him and sent a message to the whole field.
“So we’ll wait until Talladega and every one of those rookie drivers or guys that don’t know what the hell they are doing we’ll drive through them and wreck them until they stop blocking us and we don’t have this problem no more.”
Byron was involved in an accident later and said of what Keselowski stated: “He got hit from behind. I didn’t get hit from anywhere. If he would have hit me I would have tried to move or save it, but I never got hit.”
In an in-car interview with NBC after winning the second stage, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the blame for that crash and another one in the race.
“It’s been crazy partially due to a few of my issues,” Stenhouse said. “That first one I thought us and (Keselowski) were going to have a run on (Byron) to the inside, then (Keselowski) had to check up really late into 3 there.
“Then the other one I just tried to sidedraft (Kyle Busch) at the wrong place, got sucked into him and turned him around. It’s crazy here, trying to get into the playoffs, gaining points, trying to get ourselves into position for the win. … Hate that we tore up all our Ford teammates, that didn’t go as planned. We’re going to have to do it with the teammates we have left out here.”
Later on Twitter, Byron’s crew chief, Darian Grubb, responded to a tweet by Keselowski’s spotter, Joey Meier.
