Whatcha got, Brad Keselowski?
Tick, tick, the countdown to the Chase championship continues, and you are behind the guy they call "Five-Time." "Six-time" doesn't sound quite as catchy, but that's a possibility that looms large with Jimmie Johnson ahead by seven points with only two races to go.
Phoenix, then Homestead.
Whatcha got, Brad Keselowski?
"It's going to take a lot of punches for us to flinch," Keselowski said Tuesday when I asked him about his mindset going into the last two races.
It's a fitting analogy because Nov. 7 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of "Smokin" Joe Frazier, one of the toughest men in boxing history.
Keeping in line with the boxing theme, Keselowski is going to have to throw some haymakers to take down Johnson. He will have to drive aggressively and take chances — as he's done throughout the season. But he is having to do it by himself because no other driver is within striking distance of the championship, which would shake up the dynamics.
Keselowski can clinch his first Cup championship by winning the last two races, assuming Johnson doesn't lead the most laps in those races.
Not very good odds.
"It don't feel good, but there is a part of you that just feels like you're first in class," he said after losing to Johnson in Texas. "When you execute like they can, you're unbeatable. I'm confident that we can execute at a high level. I'm confident that the way it's worked over the last three weeks we haven't caught good breaks or bad breaks, and he's caught several really good ones.
"I'm confident that will come back around, and when it does, we'll change these seconds and fifths or whatever they are over the last few weeks into wins."
The road to the championship will be challenging for Keselowski. Johnson goes to Phoenix as a four-time winner, with a track-best 5.3 average finish. Keselowski has one Top-5 finish in six starts at Phoenix.
Johnson has all the momentum, too. He has won the last two races, including an exciting duel to the finish with Keselowski at Texas. Keselowski finished second, losing five points to Johnson.
Keselowski and his crew never recovered from a snafu on pit road that cost him the lead and forced him to gamble with a two-tire pit stop late in the race. Johnson, with four tires, had all of the advantages in the final laps.
"We're not giving up," Keselowski said. "We have a lot of tools in our tool box to continue to fight.
"My goal is to go to the next two races and win. That's quite frankly where my head is at, and we control our own destiny if we do that. I feel like we have an opportunity to win at Homestead. It's the same type of track as far as the asphalt configuration and the tire compound that we've been very successful with at Texas and Chicago. So I think that's going to play to our strength."
He needs other things in play, too.
A few haymakers would help.
Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego or e-mail him at gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com
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