France felt Keselowski’s move at Texas was fine

Brian France says NASCAR is a contact sport and has no problem Keselowski hitting Gordon

NASCAR chairman Brian France, who for at least two years has pushed for racing to become more of a 'contact sport,' believes Brad Keselowski did nothing wrong in the way he raced Jeff Gordon in the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway.

Keselowski tried to wedge his car into a gap between Gordon and Jimmie Johnson on a late restart in an attempt by Keselowski to win the race. It caused contact between Keselowski and Gordon, who got a flat tire and spun after the incident. Gordon went from racing for the win to a 29th-place finish and confronted Keselowski after the race in a scene that quickly escalated into a brawl between teams.

France felt Keselowski did exactly what NASCAR expects from drivers racing for a win.

"He did exactly what I would expect any driver that has that much on the line to look at an opportunity, shoot a gap is what he did," France said on SiriusXM Radio. "It was unfortunate that they touched and that Gordon's tire got cut and all the things that happened for him. Very unfortunate. (But) late in the race, things are going to happen when guys are legitimately trying to win races or compete at a high level."

Both drivers are trying for one of four berths in the Nov. 16 championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A win in any of the three races of the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship earns a driver an automatic berth into the finale, and both Gordon and Keselowski were racing for that spot.

The win instead went to Jimmie Johnson, and the eight-driver Chase field heads into Sunday's race at Phoenix with all four spots at Homestead still up for grabs.

As far back as 2012, when NASCAR was beginning a series of rule changes to improve the on-track product, France has pushed for drivers to let it all hang out when a win is on the line.

"There aren't a whole lot of people who don't want to see more lead changes, or a photo finish, or slamming and banging coming out of the fourth turn," France said prior to speaking at the 2012 Beyond Sport's annual summit in London. "We are unabashed about wanting that. It's a contact sport and if you have a chance to win and are in second place on the last lap, would I expect there to be some contact if you have a faster car? Absolutely." more at AP Story