NASCAR’s Matt Kenseth has no regrets for going after Brad Keselowski

Matt Kenseth said Friday he had no regrets for attacking fellow NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski in the garage after last weekend’s race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

“I don’t regret my actions,” Kenseth told reporters at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, site of Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race. “You never want to get into confrontations, at least I don’t. But I guess everybody has their breaking point.”

Mad about contact with Kenseth’s car during the Charlotte race, Keselowski shoved his No. 2 Ford into Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota after the race ended as the cars came down pit road toward the garage.

Kenseth, furious that Keselowski would hit his car after Kenseth already had begun taking off his safety gear inside the car, then went after Keselowski in the garage. He tried to put Keselowski in a headlock before crew members pulled them apart.

That Keselowski would “pull those high-school stunts playing car wars after the race was just absolutely unacceptable,” Kenseth said. “That definitely put me over the edge.”

NASCAR on Tuesday fined Keselowski $50,000 for his actions but Kenseth was not penalized.

Keselowski also met with reporters at Talladega but generally avoided rehashing the events with Kenseth. “He is always entitled to his opinion as I am to mine,” Keselowski said.

Asked if he had any regrets about Charlotte, Keselowski focused on the task at hand: “It is a huge weekend for me and our team, where we have to really put out a clutch moment, and I don’t want to lose sight of that by spending a whole bunch of time on all that other garbage.”

Keselowski and Kenseth are among the remaining drivers in NASCAR’s 10-race Chase for the Cup who pretty much have to win the Talladega race if they hope to advance in the championship playoff.

Under the Chase’s new format this year, four of the initial 16 Chase drivers are eliminated after every third race until only four remain in contention at the season finale. That means that after Talladega, which is the sixth race, the field will be cut to eight drivers from 12.

Drivers who win races in the Chase automatically advance to the next round, followed by those highest in points. Kenseth and Keselowski are ninth and 10th in points, respectively, heading into the Talladega race.

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