Keselowski gets back on track

Matt Kenseth had just finished meeting with the media, and then he had to change places with, of all people, Brad Keselowski.

They walked by each other, and if one acknowledged the other, it wasn’t apparent.

At least this time no physical confrontation occurred, but the encounter Monday shows the feelings between the two remain almost as hardened as they were when they tussled in October in Concord, N.C.

The two were back together, or at least in the same vicinity, testing on the 1½-mile tri-oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I haven’t talked to him today,” Kenseth said. “I think you leave that stuff behind.”

Keselowski had the opportunity to speak publicly about the dust-up with Kenseth and his reputation with fellow drivers, but the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion focused his comments elsewhere.

Kenseth went after Keselowski following that Charlotte race after the two played bumper cars. Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin also mixed it up on the track with Keselowski.

That sparring made more news for NASCAR than the new playoff format, but it was the elimination procedure that could have fueled the hard feelings because so much was at stake.

“The Chase was changed to add excitement and to engage our fans on a whole other level and help grow the sport,” Keselowski said. “Are we able to grow the sport and make it better with the new Chase? That’s how it should be measured.”

The controversy also overshadowed Keselowski’s fine season.

He made it to the top eight in the Chase for the Sprint Cup but didn’t advance to the winner-take-all finale at Homestead, Fla.. Keselowski won six races last year, the most of his career, topping the five wins from the championship season.

“2014 was pretty much everything you could ask for out of a season other than winning the Sprint Cup championship,” he said. “We were right there, and that’s certainly something we’re proud of, but we can’t look back when we’ve got to look forward. We’ve got a massive challenge in front of us to try to have a year as successful as we did in 2014 and to be even more successful to run to a championship.”

The next run starts with the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 22.

NASCAR has instituted rules changes that will decrease horsepower, a move the it hopes will provide closer races.

Those changes make testing his No. 2 Penske Ford particularly important for Keselowski, especially because private team testing is banned this season. Monday’s testing was a Goodyear event, which is permitted under the rules.

“I think more so than the changes to the car, the testing ban makes every test you do have that much more critical,” Keselowski said. “So in that light, a lot of what testing is isn’t so much developing the car, which you do, but you’re developing your people, developing your techniques. We added two or three more people to our team — there’s turnover every year — so we’re trying to develop them and get them up to speed.”

With Keselowski and Kenseth, Las Vegan Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger took laps. Busch, who has been accused of assault by former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll was not available to the media.

But Keselowski and Kenseth were there in the media center, and their brief encounter seemed a bit awkward.

“Brad’s not really a guy that sits down with anybody that I know of to work things out or talk about things or explain his position,” Kenseth said shortly before that interaction. “You move on. You leave that stuff in the past, and every day’s a new day. You hope you get treated with the same respect you’re going to give somebody else.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.