Brad Keselowski continues to recover from a broken right femur, suffered while slipping on ice during a family skiing trip in December, but his first real test was positive as he experienced a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500 without aggravating the injury.
And he finished fifth, too.
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Overall, last weekend did not provide any addition discomfort beyond getting in and out of the car, and he expects tomorrow at Atlanta Motor Speedway to go the same, minus the crashing.
“Alanta’s going to ramp up the intensity,” Keselowski said during a Saturday media availability. “It’s not necessarily a faster racetrack but since it’s smaller, you carry a lot more G-Forces here. So, it’s a little bit more of a physical workload. COTA next weekend will be a big challenge so I’m going to get through this weekend and see how it goes before making a decision on COTA but feeling good for Atlanta.”
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Brad Keselowski racing through significant injury to start season
The decision to be made at Circuit of the Americas is whether or not the 2012 Cup Series champion will need reserve driver Joey Hand to take over at some point after the green flag. Road courses require a lot more right foot work on braking and it may be too tall of a task at this stage of his recovery.
On the bright side, NASCAR rules award points to the driver whom starts the race, and not the one who finishes. So if Keselowski qualifies and takes the green flag, he would receive points based on whatever Hand accomplishes behind the wheel.
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Hand is a world renown road racing specialist.
“We’re glad to have him,” Keselowski said. “You know, he’s the Ford reserve driver for all the road courses and he’s won all the big races that you can win across the globe (and) a great guy too. He’s been very helpful.”
24 Hours of Le Mans winner
24 Hours of Daytona winner
12 Hours of Sebring winner
Star Mazda champion
American Le Mans champion
“I’m just going to see how I feel,” said Keselowski. “You know, I’ve got some more tests next week to get through, medical tests and physical tests, and I’ll probably just see how those go and make a decision on what’s best for the team.”
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Keselowski also said it’s to be determined who’s seat goes in the car next weekend, with Hand being slightly smaller than Keselowski.
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