Bad blood aside, did Brad Keselowski do anything wrong?
What happened Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski has caused me to look at more replays than the law probably allows. I've tried to look at it from every angle.
I kind of knew how I felt about it, but it wasn't until I saw a replay from Kevin Harvick's roof cam that for me pretty much tells the story.
Now everybody needs to respect the fact that with only 10 laps to go, these drivers that were up in the middle of all this were facing incredible pressure. If you won at Texas, you were automatically guaranteed a berth in the final-four championship race at Homestead. If you didn't win and are in the bottom four in points, then you only have this weekend at Phoenix to win or your chase for the 2014 championship is over.
I still don't condone just flat out wrecking somebody, but I have to say after seeing that footage from Harvick's roof cam, Gordon opened up a very wide hole. To me, it looks like Jeff came down on Brad more so than Brad coming up into Jeff. I actually think that if Jeff looks at the replay, he might actually look at this whole thing differently.
Trust me, I get Jeff Gordon's frustration. With only two laps to go Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, he was going to win the race. But two cautions later and two green-white-checkered attempts, Jimmie Johnson wins the race. Now, did Brad shoot that gap with the hope of cutting Jeff's left rear tire down? I say with confidence that no he did not. I know the Gordon fans are going to like me for saying this, but I swear I don't know if Jeff wouldn't have done the same thing that Brad did, if the roles were reversed.
I have a lot of respect for Jeff Gordon and I truly understand his reaction Sunday after the race. Jeff is one of our sport's all-time greatest drivers and a future NASCAR Hall of Famer. I also know that everyone who isn't a Brad Keselowksi fan wants to put all the evil of the world at Brad's feet. With all that said however, I just can't convince myself that Brad did anything wrong on that race track Sunday.
VIDEO: Gordon, Keselowski brawl at Texas Motor Speedway
