Eight years ago, Brad Keselowski became the first Generation Y driver to win the Cup championship and celebrated as a spunky, self-assured 28-year old might after the significant personal accomplishment.
He found the largest beer glass around to drink from.
The image of Keselowski tilting the baby-sized glass — it was the size of a baby! — and beer sloshing about remains an iconic image of that championship race. And so was his interview afterward that included a reference to Winston Churchill and turning to the crowd behind him to tell them they were on live TV.
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It’s a scene — should Keselowski win the title — that could be repeated. He’s bringing the glass to Phoenix Raceway for the race (coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC).
“My wife has told me that she will prepare the glass as long as I promise to drink responsibly,” Keselowski said Thursday. “There’s a little backstory to it. Those people that know me know that I like to leave things as they were, meaning that we located the glass from 2012. It still had beer in it, a little bit on the bottom. Needless to say that was not a pleasant sight, but it was authentic, so my wife is cleaning it as we speak. She’s going to wrap it up, put it in a nice bubble-wrapped box, and hopefully we’ll be getting it out Sunday night.”
Only packing the necessities #Goingfor2 pic.twitter.com/pZLn75LI0I
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) November 6, 2020
Keselowski isn’t the only driver who will do something special should he win the Cup title.
Denny Hamlin, seeking his first Cup crown Sunday, admits he’s never touched a Cup championship trophy.
“I don’t like to touch the trophy before you actually win it, so I’ve never actually touched a NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy,” he said. " I want to be able to touch it.”
To do that this weekend, he’ll need to beat Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano for the championship.