CHARLOTTE — Wearing the cap of a NASCAR champion is a cool thing. Brad Keselowski has met Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps at a Baltimore Ravens game. He has gotten a Twitter shout-out from Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. He's even contemplating buying a tank.
But his NASCAR Nation ride has certainly seen its share of bumpy trials, like the time when he drove for JR Motorsports and moved into a house owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Junior's large property in North Carolina.
"I really expected I would be driving through the gate and there would be women in the fountains," Keselowski said. "Awesomeness, like the Playboy Mansion."
Keselowski made have missed out on some babes in the woods, but it's a minor blip in the grand scheme of things:
Life is good for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.
At a soon-to-be-29 (Feb. 12), Keselowski has earnestly embraced his role as one of the ambassadors for the sport, and that's a great thing for NASCAR.
He brings talent, aggressiveness, a touch of cockiness and 358,000-some-odd Twitter followers to a sport that needs to bridge the age gap between the stars of yesterday and the hopeful new blood of today.
"I care about this sport," he said during the NASCAR Media Tour last week. "I don't want to be the champion of a sport that isn't as strong as it can be. I want to be a leader in this sport, quite frankly. In order to do that, I'm going to have to be vocal."
Keselowski has been heard loud and clear — from calling out Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer for their bumper-cars antics in Phoenix that could have entangled other drivers to the beer-sipping sound bites of a champion after clinching the title in Homestead last November.
But mostly, Keselowski resonates loudest with his driving ability. He is not one to sit back and wait for his crew chief to make a call. He wants in on the action. He is engaged to the fullest, whether it's a two-tire or four-tire pit-stop call, or taking a risk in a fuel-mileage scenario.
"When it's time to make the final play, I want the ball," he said. "I feel like that's what winners and champions do. I might fail. Hell, I've failed. We've all failed. But I want to look back and say at least I took a shot. I didn't watch as time ran out. And the misses I have along the way make me better prepared for the opportunities to come."
He will shift to Ford as his new car manufacturer now that Dodge has left the sport. He will have a new teammate in Joey Logano, who comes over from Joe Gibbs Racing. So now he's the veteran and not the new guy, defending his turf at all 36 tour stops this season.
"He has been a common thread throughout this organization," owner Roger Penske said of Keselowski. "He's been the glue. He's positive. If we have a bad pit stop, he doesn't complain. It's 'We'll get them next time.' That kind of an approach has made a huge difference. He's helped us galvanize this team."
Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego or e-mail him at gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com
Future of the 3
It is a numbers game that evokes pure passion for NASCAR fans:
When, if ever, will Richard Childress bring back the iconic No. 3 Chevy that was the signature ride of the late Dale Earnhardt?
Not any time soon, but the clock is ticking. And it will be a family thing — one of the Childress' grandsons, Ty Dillon or Austin Dillon, or maybe Dale Earnhardt Jr. (although he does not drive for Richard Childress Racing). Ty and Austin both drive No. 3s, but not in the Cup series.
"The big question is the Cup car," Childress said during the NASCAR Media Tour sponsored by Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I'm not going to drop a bomb. I'm just going to tell it like it is. I really haven't had any plans of putting the 3 back in the Cup but this past season with Austin running the Nationwide as much as he has, it's kind of re-energized a lot of the fans.
"The fans come up, they e-mail, they call, asking when are we going to run the 3 in Daytona? Overwhelmingly people want to see the 3. Who knows? We haven't made any decisions at this time. The more the fans want to see it, one thing it does is that people talk more about Dale. We got people talking about Dale more and that's what I want to see. I don't want people to ever forget who Dale Earnhardt was and the great things he did in the 3."
Earnhardt — Childress' closest friend — ran the No. 3 until his death on the final lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. Austin Dillon will run the Daytona 500 this year, but the car number will be 33.
"Right now we have no plans running the 3, but who knows what may happen between now and the next few months," Childress said.
Danica dating dilemma?
The most pertinent takeaway from the recently revealed relationship between Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse involves competitive matters.
It has relevance on the track because they both are moving up to the Cup level full-time and will compete for rookie-of-the-year honors.
Will they compare any technical notes despite competing for different teams? Will they race each other differently? Will Stenhouse come to Danica's aid should a competitor take her out of a race on purpose?
"Obviously, we've been racing together for a couple years now. He and I have always gotten along. We've always had a lot of respect for each other on the track. There's never been an issue out there," Patrick told the Associated Press. "I always say I'll race people how they race me until they do something to make me change my mind. I don't anticipate that changing at all or us having any issues on the track."
Patrick waited until the last day of the annual media tour to confirm widespread speculation in the garage area: She and Stenhouse were playing more than just bumper cars on the NASCAR tracks.
"I have a boyfriend; his name is Richard," Patrick told the AP. "I think I am just finally excited to tell someone about this."
