Intense Brawl Between Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski Following AAA Texas 500
Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 ended with Jimmie Johnson winning for the fourth time at Texas Motor Speedway, but it was a tense encounter between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski that wound up making headlines.
Gordon was about to take lead over Johnson when Keselowski slammed into him and caused him to spin out with a flat tire, allowing Johnson to maintain the lead. The incident caused Jeff to fall behind and finish 29th. “Out of nowhere I just got slammed by the 2. And I cut my left rear tire”, Gordon told ESPN. “He’s just a dips**t. The way he races, I don’t know how he’s ever won a championship. I’m sick and tired of it. We had the car. We had the position.
“He gets himself in this position, and he’s got to pay the consequences. I’m going to race him the same way he races me but that kind of stuff is just uncalled for”, Jeff said.
After the race was over, Gordon approached Brad and started shouting, which quickly caused a brawl between the two and their crews. A shoving match escalated when Jeff pulled Keselowski to the ground. Both men suffered wounds on their faces following the incident. “We were just racing for the win. I didn’t wreck him. Just racing hard, and he left a hole. Everything you watch in racing, (if) you leave a hole, you’re supposed to go for it. It closed back up; we made contact. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s day. I wanted to win the race, and that was our opportunity”, Brad said.
Kevin Harvick, who placed second in the race, also became involved in the fight after he gave Brad a shove towards Gordon when the shouting began to get tense. “I mean if you are going to run into people all the time you are going to have to fight your own fight”, said Harvick.
Gordon says he became fed up with his young rival “doing stuff way over his head.”
“I’m proud of Jimmie Johnson for winning that race.”, Jeff said. “I didn’t want that you-know-what to win that race. He gets himself in this position himself and as far as I’m concerned he’s got to pay the consequences. … It’s total crap.”
Jeff Gordon has been known to go after competitors before. Gordon was involved in a brawl with Clint Bowyer in 2012 after he wrecked Bowyer’s car. Jeff was promptly fined $100,000 and placed on probation. There is no word as to whether or not any fines or penalties will follow Sunday’s fight. Gordon is renowned as one of racing’s most well-known drivers, and in 1998, Jeff was ranked as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.
